Can't Focus!

[Giselle]

I usually don't ask for much behavioral help, but I've always struggled with getting a dog's undivided attention. While at an orientation/behavioral examination today, Giselle behaved so poorly it was almost embarassing :(

We were supposed to do a "serpentine", or maneuver around a couble obstacles. I thought this would be easy enough, but as soon as we got up to do the obstacle, she strained at the leash and would not look at me. Naturally, I got very frustrated and tense and she must have sensed it because she completely shut down. It was basically me dragging her through the course.

My question now is how to get her to focus? She has a mediocre "Watch Me" and her heel is fabulous out on the streets. But once the pressure starts sinking in, I get tense and she doesn't perform. Does anybody have any suggestions both for myself and Giselle? We really need to work on this before our next evaluation =/

[SunsetRose]

I'm having focusing problems with my dog as well, although a slightly different variety.

Would they allow treats in the class? With Rosie, that deffinitly helps to spark her interest. I would also suggest training in areas of more distraction like your front yard, out in the street, at a park etc. On other idea is to get to the class location a bit earlier so your dog has time to settle.

Rosie is really smart and picks up on things quickly. She is also very attentive to me and will work for food and praise and loves training. But once we get outside, it's a different story. She gets that "yeah whatever, there are other things I want to be doing" attitude. She still performs, but does it so slacked, unenthusiastically and aloof. Like on a heel, she hardly even looks up at me, she still heels, but is hardly paying any attention. She also knows her name which is like "watch me" to us, but once we're outside, she is completely deaf. Sometimes the only way I can get her attention is to physically touch her, like not a correction or to hurt her, just a touch. I'm trying to do rally with her and at our first class meeting, I couldn't keep her nose off the ground so I totally know where your coiming from about how frusterating it is.

[Excaliburk9]

The first thing I would do is use treats, (string cheese is best) or a favorite toy that he is only allowed to use during training. The less they have it the more they want it. But start out with your watch command and have the object at your face as soon as your pupper looks at you, as you say "Watch" then reward. I would do ten repetitions of this exercise until he has it down. Then go to standing up, and have distractions as you do this. Then start heeling if you have too, bring the object down to the dogs faces and bring it back up to you. Then as soon as he looks up at you, spit a small piece at him for a reward. You want him to think your face is the reward not your hand. Or if you use a ball have the toy under your chin and drop the toy to him.

Good luck.

[catnapper]

You already stated the problem: you get tense and she picks up on it. Rather than working on what to do different with her to get her attention, focus on deep breaths, relaxing, etc. You'll be amazed at how different things will be once YOU'RE confident. Like you said, she's great out on the streets - most likely because you're confident.

Dogs are fabulous readers of body language. When she sees you tense up, she doesn't know what to do. She's looking at you to be collected & in charge like you usually are. When you're showing signs of stress, she basically runs ahead because she knows you're no longer in charge.

An easy fix..... but these things are always easier said than done ;)

[Giselle]

Catnapper, you're right. I'm glad you caught that hint because I knew my frustration was stressing her out, thus causing such a reaction from her. But when the pressure's on and when you get one chance to do something, I really tense up. It is soooo much easier said than done, and when I get to that point of frustration, it's hard to calm down. Does anybody have any tried and true techniques of stress relieving? Would holding the leash with a loose grip help?

Will definitely bring treats next time. I wasn't aware then that treats are allowed, but now I'm definitely going to be bringing a pocketful of chicken strips next time. The problem is not that Giselle doesn't listen with distractions (we practice heeling at dog parks and out in the city). It's just that when I get tense, she does too. Guess this is more of a human behavioral problem :p

[catnapper]

Pay attention to how you're holding the leash when cam. How do you stand? How is your posture? Is your head straight? Are you clutching the leash? and so on. Then ask these same questions when you're stressed? Whats different? Once you realize whats different vs. whats the same you can focus on telling yourself "I'm stressed but I need my body to look like I'm not so we can do this! So lets stand like normal and go!" Then tell yourself "legs loose, chin low, leash loose" (or whatever the real body signals are) as a reminder for what your body language should be telling Giselle.

[carrie]

Have to come in on this....yes, your emotional state is very important to your dog. The dog understands that you are anxious but does not understand why and so looses focus on you as it tries to identify the threat that is making you nervous.

I really think that using food as an aid to focus in this case is a false remedy.

The real problem is that the dog, or you, or both become anxious under the pressure of distraction.

Go back to absolute basics, one at a time. Get a 100% sit in the living room, move into the garden until that is 100%, move onto a quiet street with the dog on the lead.....etc etc. Concentrate on how you are feeling, your breathing, heart rate, tone of voice.

More than the dog being 100% I think that YOU have to believe, without any doubt that the dog will obey before you move on to the next level of distraction. Not as easy as it sounds because you have to be honest and aware of your own responses as well as the dog.

The dog is like a lie detector machine. Any slight increase in your heart rate, sweating, muscle tension or alteration of heart beat and the dog will understand that something is wrong. These things are almost impossible for you to control.

The good news is that the dog is obviously reacting to your signals, it understands that you are the leader and is tuned into you. All you have to do is train yourself!!! The only way to do that is to practice practice practice, get confidence in your reaction and the dog will follow.

Hope this makes sense, hope it helps and good luck - you are more than 75% there and clearly understand the problem. Your dog is following the signals you give it perfectly. Practice from basic to high distraction.

Carrie xxx

[agilityk9trainer]

I take it you are doing agility? And, you are working a serpentine on leash? I think your problem is several fold.

First, agility jump training should be done off-leash. By the time you get to working serpentines, you should be off leash and running pretty well. If you or others in your class don't have off leash control, you have no business doing serpentines. See, you can't really do a serpentine correctly (by the handler running a straight line with outs and heres) and keep your dog on leash. You are teaching your dog the incorrect way of doing a serpentine. It makes me doubt your trainer's ability, to be honest.

So, don't be doing jump work on leash. If I were a dog, i wouldn't like that either. Get off leash control BEFORE you begin jump work.

As for the focus, there are several good books at cleanrun.com on getting good focus. Check them out.

At it's core, this is actually a stress problem...your's turning into hers. If you continue to show signs of stress to your dog, you will permantly ruin her agility career. I don't mean to say this to make you MORE stressy, but to hammer home the importance of dealing with this immediately. Remember, the dogs who do agility well love it because its a GAME!! It's not training. It's not work. It's ALL play ALL the time. If you have anything in your body posture or voice other than "let's play!" you will shut your dog down.

Dogs shutting down in agility is extremely common. If your trainer is good, he/she should already have been working with you to overcome this. It's not a focus problem on the dog's part as much as it is a human problem. You need to lighten up and make it all a game. What kind of rewards are you using? Is your dog toy motivated? If so, are you using toys? If not, has your trainer talked to you about how to develop toy drive? Do you play everyday with your dog using toys?

Dogs and handlers that are good at agility are also good at playing together. The handler knows what makes their dog happy...what gets their dog going. You use this in agility. Don't worry about your dog getting TOO excited. That's OK. Not getting excited enough is a much bigger worry. Whoop it up. Make it crazy. You can get control later. You should feel silly out there training your dog!! How do you think those dogs on TV get so fast and good? Their owners act like loons in training!! The dogs love it.

Quit worrying about being perfect...about making your run lookg good. Worry most about making your dog have fun. The rest will come into line. If your dog isn't having fun, you will never have an agility career period.

Signs of stress in the agility dog are as follows: sniffing, running off, zoomies, excessive panting, dialated eyes, running slowly, avoidance, etc. If your dog is stressing, your reponse should be to UP the happy and play, NOT to get harsh with the dog. Getting angry with the dog, showing frustration or lowering your tone will cause MORE stress and MORE problems. Instead, go the opposite direction. Be energetic. Be fun. Be happy.

If your trainer hasn't already suggested these things, please look elsewhere.

As for how to keep yourself from getting stressy, that's a bit more difficult. With my sheltie, I can get nervous, but I need to make sure, inspite of my nerves, that my dog is having fun. We happy talk. We work for treats. We play. We do things the dog loves to do. I'm still nervous, but my dog is happy and playing. You need to learn to find the inner child in you who wants to come out to play with her dog.

BTW, some people suck on peppermint when going to agiity trials to help with nerves. Remember not to run with a peppermint in your mouth though. You don't want to choke!

[Giselle]

LOL, noooo, we tried our hands (paws?) at agility. It was a failure. This is for therapy dog. I'm working with a private group so it's not TDI or Delta affiliated, and one of the most important aspects to it is having a good heel and working in tight spots. We very barely passed these tests, and her performance was truly embarassing as the tasks themselves were very mundane.

Carrie, you brought up a really greyt point. Before we even got up to do the tests, I kind of knew we were going to fail. =/ I know I gripped the leash real tight and there was a lot of anxiety/roughness in my tone. I just need to learn to be confident even under stress, and I'll definitely pay attention to how I act during routine training to compare it to how I acted at the eval.

It's difficult because I can't necessarily anticipate when/where I start to get stressed, so it's not a very tangible thing to prevent. Does anybody have any suggestions for high-stress locations where I can practice with Giselle? A place where people will be watching is preferable. I tend to crack under those situations. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions everybody! I'll be heading to our next eval with a pocketful of treats and a couple mints now :)

[agilityk9trainer]

All the stuff about making it fun and play still are important even for Therapy Dog. You want a happy tail wagging dog. Treats, toys, play, fun....keep it light for your dog. Keep it light for yourself. It's not life or death, after all!! It's something you do to enjoy your dog, so go and do that!!!

Also, remember nerves are your friend, not your enemy. They're there to keep you on your toes. Be glad when they show up and use them. I love to get nervous. It means my mind will be more alert and I'll be more able to handle myself. Think...good! I'm nervous!!

[carrie]

Rather than looking for high stress situations for you, try imagining the situations that give you a high stress reaction.

It is the hormone adrenaline that you are fighting against.

You have no way to stop it being dumped into your bloodstream when you don't want it but you CAN control an adrenaline dump when you can cope with it.

So go to a low stress training area and then take a few minutes to imagine yourself in a very high stress situation.

By putting some effort into really seeing and feeling a situation that causes your nerves whilst in a calmer environment you can learn to deal with it.

Understand that the adrenaline is natural, your feelings are too.

It is so true that your nerves can help you - you need to learn what to do when you get that adrenaline dump and the only way to do that is to practice managing it.

Once you begin to experience the hormone dump in a calm situation try to imagine what you would like the heightened awareness could do for you. How can you turn it from a negative to a positive?

Imagine being certain that your dog will respond to everything you want it to do.

Imagine that all you were waiting for was this anxious feeling to make sure you don't forget anything.

Imagine feeling that you are not ready for anything until that adrenaline rush arrives.

Good luck, it does need practice!!!!!

[SunsetRose]

I remember when Angie and I were taking the CGC test. That was a first for both of us, having to work under pressure, with an audience. This was also at an ASPCA dog day type thing, so there were many other dogs and people, she has never been in a situation like that before and before we got in that ring, she was trying to pull and not focusing well.

What I found to do that is pretty helpful is to take 5 to 10 seconds to calm yourself down. Just close your eyes, breath and tell yourself that everything is going to be fine, your dog is going to focus and you'll both suceed. It also helps to keep in mind that even if you don't make it this time, you'll be able to take the test again, no big deal.

I also want to mention that make sure your dog enjoys doing what you want her to do. There are some dogs that have a nack for therapy work. Angie loves it, once she's "at work", her full attention goes to the people she is visiting. She can easily change her activity and attitude to the situation. One minute she can be active and ready to obey somebody trying to tell her to sit or roll over and have fun showing off and entertaining and the next she can be ready to sit quietly in a lap. She can be ready to go for a walk and trot happily next to somebody in a walker or with crutches, or she can be ready to take a nap with somebody under the blankets.