Here's a video of Leo playing with Oskar and Bel. The favorite game: jump on Leo! He seems to like it though.
Bel's hanging in there, but not really doing too well, but she looks ok in the video. Oskar's great, but needs to lose some weight (the perenial problem in our house--my husband overfeeds everyone).
Leo is in his new agility class, and this is a class vs. private lessons. So far, it's been a great class with so-so performance. The entire rest of the class is herding dogs: two GSDs (both reactive), two border collies, and an Australian Shepherd. I'm astounded by the eye contact the herding dogs make...it fact, it would drive me out of my mind if I had those dogs. Too intense and annoying....(and they're not even looking at me!)
Leo does not make eye contact with anyone, and was a bit anxious the first day, and kept his head turned away from everyone. He did fine though, as we were going over stuff we all knew. Second day was less successful, and I think we need to work on his motivation. I think he's still anxious from the other dogs/new location, but also he's bored (and obviously not the breed to be willing to do a million repetitions). He did everything off leash just fine, but he WALKED through everything. Not even a trot. He was just like, yeah, whatever, I know this. Then he flat out refused to do a jump/tunnel/jump combo. We tried treats, toys, and he ignored me entirely, so the trainer said "I'll hold him, and you call him" so we tried that....he started to trot to me, then turned around and leaped into her arms and gave her a big kiss on the face. :-)) Oh Leo!
So we got out the A-frame, because he likes that, and then he did deign to trot over it, but when he realized he couldn't do the teeter too, he lost interest again. The good thing is, it's clear he knows what to do, so it's not confusion about that. But I do have to figure out a way to keep him interested.
We're in an odd space because he does know all this, but on the other hand, we're not good enough to go on to another level yet. I suspect things will improve when we're through the first few classes--right now the trainer is just trying to figure out where people are with their handling and with their dogs.
But Leo? He's too cool for all this! Or so he thinks! *lol*
More on Leo and agility (and it's looking like our initial enthusiasm and thoughts that he might compete may not actually happen).
Today's class was ok, though I forgot to take Leo's harness off so he wouldn't work at all at first. Like no going over jumps, not even sitting, no down, nothing. Once I remembered to take off the harness, and it was a little cooler, he worked ok. The thing is, he does fine when no one is watching, but if the whole group is watching half the time he refuses to do anything. Even the trainer seemed embarassed, and did say, "no really, this dog flies through the course sometimes." I noticed she's no longer suggesting we might compete, and I suppose that's an honest evaluation--he can't deal with too many new people/dogs/places, so he'd not likely do well at a trial. (not that she's discouraging either--it's just when we worked one on one, he did so well I think she was really impressed, but now he often refuses to do anything).
And at one point, he just walked off the field, and someone said "well, there's a Japanese dog for you." True. But sad. He will usually do the contact stuff (a-frame, teeter, dog walk) but not the rest. I had super good treats (liver and dried green tripe) but he didn't care. We tried with a toy, but he's not super toy motivated, so while it did get him over some jumps, he walked over them.
(Then when everyone left except for me and trainer, he did all the jumps, the a-frame, and the teeter perfectly, and flew through the course. Little jerk! )
And...he fell in love. A new person came in with a little pit bull. The new person is another instructor, and her dog is probably a bit more advanced than this class warrants, but she just wanted to bring her in for practice. She was a gorgeous little grey girl, and Leo spotted from across the field and started hopping and whining, and then whatever focus he had was gone. He wanted to be by her so badly! (She did not seem to return his affections--she ignored him, because she was working!).
And I thought, pitties are a bit much for me--a bit too velcro--but I love how they look, and I don't find their biddableness annoying in the way some dogs annoy me with it. (I can't deal with the intense focus of the border collies or, even worse, the malinois, for example). She wasn't constantly watching her handler in that obsessive way the herding dogs in class do, though she was clearly very focused. She was just a lovely girl, and really worked well. (And Leo loved her, and was so interested in her, that her handler said "is he intact?" No, just really really interested in the ladies still! ) The same handler also had a presa, which I'd never seen before, and she brought him out at the end. Handsome dog, with Kai-style brindle!
I am a bit sad, though, that Leo is not performing better. But you know, if he doesn't enjoy it, he just doesn't, and if he doesn't want to be compete ever, we won't. I mostly do it to keep him thinking and working, but when it's not fun in a group, we'll stop and do something else.
And maybe it's just a matter of more group work til he gets used to it. But if not, and he only does the private lessons for fun, that's ok too.
Kaï can definitly do agility in competition (there are one here in France who turn well but yes, it's not a speed dog ^^) but it's a little hard huh? ^^ Well, too easy is not fun :P Leo is great, I like to read news about him !!
Loved reading about Leo from the March posts on, and great photos and video! I was interested in the harness freeze as Shoji freezes when I put a muzzle on her. I've worked a lot with high-value treats and praise, but she still freezes as soon as it's on. I'm sure she had bad experiences with one before I got her, but I'd hoped she'd get used to it. I also sympathized with Leo's walking off the field; Shoji would do half the circus class we were going to and then she'd just walk away and wouldn't do any more. Maybe too tiring in her case. Hope you'll post some agility photos or video.
Comments
Bel's hanging in there, but not really doing too well, but she looks ok in the video. Oskar's great, but needs to lose some weight (the perenial problem in our house--my husband overfeeds everyone).
Leo is in his new agility class, and this is a class vs. private lessons. So far, it's been a great class with so-so performance. The entire rest of the class is herding dogs: two GSDs (both reactive), two border collies, and an Australian Shepherd. I'm astounded by the eye contact the herding dogs make...it fact, it would drive me out of my mind if I had those dogs. Too intense and annoying....(and they're not even looking at me!)
Leo does not make eye contact with anyone, and was a bit anxious the first day, and kept his head turned away from everyone. He did fine though, as we were going over stuff we all knew. Second day was less successful, and I think we need to work on his motivation. I think he's still anxious from the other dogs/new location, but also he's bored (and obviously not the breed to be willing to do a million repetitions). He did everything off leash just fine, but he WALKED through everything. Not even a trot. He was just like, yeah, whatever, I know this. Then he flat out refused to do a jump/tunnel/jump combo. We tried treats, toys, and he ignored me entirely, so the trainer said "I'll hold him, and you call him" so we tried that....he started to trot to me, then turned around and leaped into her arms and gave her a big kiss on the face. :-)) Oh Leo!
So we got out the A-frame, because he likes that, and then he did deign to trot over it, but when he realized he couldn't do the teeter too, he lost interest again. The good thing is, it's clear he knows what to do, so it's not confusion about that. But I do have to figure out a way to keep him interested.
We're in an odd space because he does know all this, but on the other hand, we're not good enough to go on to another level yet. I suspect things will improve when we're through the first few classes--right now the trainer is just trying to figure out where people are with their handling and with their dogs.
But Leo? He's too cool for all this! Or so he thinks! *lol*
Today's class was ok, though I forgot to take Leo's harness off so he wouldn't work at all at first. Like no going over jumps, not even sitting, no down, nothing. Once I remembered to take off the harness, and it was a little cooler, he worked ok. The thing is, he does fine when no one is watching, but if the whole group is watching half the time he refuses to do anything. Even the trainer seemed embarassed, and did say, "no really, this dog flies through the course sometimes." I noticed she's no longer suggesting we might compete, and I suppose that's an honest evaluation--he can't deal with too many new people/dogs/places, so he'd not likely do well at a trial. (not that she's discouraging either--it's just when we worked one on one, he did so well I think she was really impressed, but now he often refuses to do anything).
And at one point, he just walked off the field, and someone said "well, there's a Japanese dog for you." True. But sad. He will usually do the contact stuff (a-frame, teeter, dog walk) but not the rest. I had super good treats (liver and dried green tripe) but he didn't care. We tried with a toy, but he's not super toy motivated, so while it did get him over some jumps, he walked over them.
(Then when everyone left except for me and trainer, he did all the jumps, the a-frame, and the teeter perfectly, and flew through the course. Little jerk! )
And...he fell in love. A new person came in with a little pit bull. The new person is another instructor, and her dog is probably a bit more advanced than this class warrants, but she just wanted to bring her in for practice. She was a gorgeous little grey girl, and Leo spotted from across the field and started hopping and whining, and then whatever focus he had was gone. He wanted to be by her so badly! (She did not seem to return his affections--she ignored him, because she was working!).
And I thought, pitties are a bit much for me--a bit too velcro--but I love how they look, and I don't find their biddableness annoying in the way some dogs annoy me with it. (I can't deal with the intense focus of the border collies or, even worse, the malinois, for example). She wasn't constantly watching her handler in that obsessive way the herding dogs in class do, though she was clearly very focused. She was just a lovely girl, and really worked well. (And Leo loved her, and was so interested in her, that her handler said "is he intact?" No, just really really interested in the ladies still! ) The same handler also had a presa, which I'd never seen before, and she brought him out at the end. Handsome dog, with Kai-style brindle!
I am a bit sad, though, that Leo is not performing better. But you know, if he doesn't enjoy it, he just doesn't, and if he doesn't want to be compete ever, we won't. I mostly do it to keep him thinking and working, but when it's not fun in a group, we'll stop and do something else.
And maybe it's just a matter of more group work til he gets used to it. But if not, and he only does the private lessons for fun, that's ok too.