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heirloomgal
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Attended my first agility class tonight (for dogs, not humans!) Wow, 2 hours long and it was a GREAT class! I learned so much. Watching how the different dogs react to each scary obstacle and the proper way to respond. The whole thing really is reinforcement + deterrence. Of course, communicating in those 2 gears with a dog is a science; its a marvel to see how well these people understand the minds of dogs.
Oh how I wish I had known some of this 8 years ago! But better late than never. One super frightened dog had to walk the long raised platform only a foot wide and 3 feet high, for maybe 20 feet. It was a good sized dog too. The owner managed to get her to the end of the ramp and off - and immediately began praising her for a job well done. And thereby convinced the dog that indeed this is a terrible thing to be on and getting off of it is the best thing you can do!
I wouldn't have caught that, but the trainer did. It reminded me of a time walking with my dog and the section of trail we were on was alongside a railway track. A very loud train was approaching and let its shrieking whistle go, a truly unpleasant experience for me, and so I started to jog a bit with the dog to build some distance between us and that train. 5 seconds into my sprint I realized in horror what I was doing, conditioning my dog to think trains are something to be afraid of! I stopped immediately, but my heart swelled with fear at what damage lay beneath that mistake. Sure enough the next time we were there a train came whistling up and he was, for the first time ever, nervous of the train. I fixed that over the course of the next few walks, but it was a sobering lesson for me in how easy it is to influence a dog the wrong way!
Oh how I wish I had known some of this 8 years ago! But better late than never. One super frightened dog had to walk the long raised platform only a foot wide and 3 feet high, for maybe 20 feet. It was a good sized dog too. The owner managed to get her to the end of the ramp and off - and immediately began praising her for a job well done. And thereby convinced the dog that indeed this is a terrible thing to be on and getting off of it is the best thing you can do!
I wouldn't have caught that, but the trainer did. It reminded me of a time walking with my dog and the section of trail we were on was alongside a railway track. A very loud train was approaching and let its shrieking whistle go, a truly unpleasant experience for me, and so I started to jog a bit with the dog to build some distance between us and that train. 5 seconds into my sprint I realized in horror what I was doing, conditioning my dog to think trains are something to be afraid of! I stopped immediately, but my heart swelled with fear at what damage lay beneath that mistake. Sure enough the next time we were there a train came whistling up and he was, for the first time ever, nervous of the train. I fixed that over the course of the next few walks, but it was a sobering lesson for me in how easy it is to influence a dog the wrong way!
