So Happy!

So a lot of you have heard me talk about Didgie's motion fixation issues. They've been a huge thorn in my side since I realized (way too late) what was going on and I kick myself for not picking up on it sooner.

Well I've worked on it on and off with her for the last year or so but mainly done a lot of management. Separate park trips, lots of one on one time and focus building but and so on. And while I've been able to play with them both at the same time, Didgie needed to constantly be engaged to stay with me, one moment of loosing attention on me and she was at Traveler and stuck.

Well, I'm so happy to say we've really hit a break through. I started recently biking with both of them together and decided to experiment with fetching in the water with both dogs. The first and second time I just traded off who was leashed, I would throw for Didgie with Traveler leashed, when she brought it back she got leashed and Traveler got a throw. That way Didgie never had a chance to act on the fixation.

After a couple times of that we are now able to have almost completely normal fetch in the water! While Didgie will stare at him if they are both next to eachother with the toys as soon as I throw hers she's gone. She has no issue passing him and is doing great.

We even were able to do some dry land fetch up a hill! I haven't taken both off leash for that yet but still tickled.

[YOUTUBE]Xv64QjkcRzk[/YOUTUBE]

And this novel picture, I'm holding the toy and ready to throw and Didgie pushed herself in front of Traveler for it. A reverse of my older pictures of Traveler in the foreground and Didgie in the background waiting for him to move.



I know it kinda sounds little but it makes me really happy. Didgie is such an intense little dog and having that focused even with her highest distraction possible makes me so over the moon.

So happy for you! It really is not an easy issue to work through at all, glad your patience has paid off.

Sorry if these are stupid questions, (I'm trying to learn...) but...

What is motion fixation? What do you mean by management? What is focus building? What do you mean she was at Traveler and stuck?

I love the last double headed monster picture <3

So happy for you guys!

Hooray!

Thanks all! I see the light at the end of the tunnel with this.

Didgie fixates on motion, especially fast moving things. So things like bikes, runners, toys, dogs etc. make her want to chase and stare at them. It's common in herding breeds and is part of the reason they are so high drive, moving things catch and keep their interest. With Didgie, I allowed to to chase and stalk Traveler when she was a puppy and because he is so fast and moves so intensely it was incredibly self rewarding for her. By the time I wised up she had already self rewarded by doing it a ton of times and gotten used to chasing him while he chased the toy.

So, by management I mean I managed the situations they were in as to not allow her any chance to chase and self reward. So by not taking them to places where Traveler would make her want to chase and stalk together I managed the situation.

The focus building was me working on her being able to concentrate on me and our game while other things that were moving around happened.

And by stuck I mean she was completely and utterly focused on Traveler waiting for him to move so she could chase and stalk him.

Hooray for Didgie, Traveler, and you

Thank you so much for answering my questions in such detail.

How did you focus build with her so she would focus on you rather than motions? How do you get her "unstuck"?

Nice work!! I was aware of this from the start, thanks to your post about it, and even knowing about it, it's tricky. I was so proud of Feist the other day when we went to the dog park and she could concentrate on me without being triggered by the running dogs. It really is so easy for them to fixate, awesome job with it.

That's so awesome! Congrats

That's awesome! Not a small feat by any means, so congrats!

I wouldn't even know how to begin to work on something as deep-rooted as motion fixation. I am astounded by her progress and I am super impressed that you are tackling it so well!!! Although to be fair, if you put me in a room with Trav, I would probably fixate on your speedy boy dog too

This is not a little issue AT ALL. You've done a fantastic job and you should be proud!

Also, I had to stop and sort out which bits belong to which dog in your picture. Lol.

Yay Feist!! Love herders but they do come with their own set of quirks.

I'm glad though my post raised some awareness, that's why I posted it. I just never really thought about it. But you know what, more aware I am of it more I see it in people's videos of their herders. The one they got first staring at them and the others behind ready to control and chase the motion.

I worked on her tugging through Traveler retrieving (she naturally has a very high tug drive so that was rewarding). I did a lot of one on one work with her so she was used to playing with me. I designated toys so that she had hers to chase and he had his and they weren't allowed to switch. I then would start tossing her toy while Traveler was going the other way and rewarding heavily for bringing it back to me.

Here's a thread I made about it, I have some video's and info on what I did.

http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=247747&highlight=fixation

Thank so much! It's really been frustrating for me because I love doing one on one things with them but I also really love doing things with them together. I'm hoping we'll get there!

And Traveler has a big enough head as it is!

I am in love with that picture! It really was so nice to see her looking at me even though he was in full out stalk mode

Yay that is awesome!!! Go Linds!