Watched the video and TBH I was expecting a way more frantic, weird dog from what you have described LOL
We've worked a lot to get there and I am super proud of where he is compared to how he was.
I have seen BCs who could not do any of what Backup is doing here because they were grabbing their handlers pant legs in a frenzy whenever the handler got too close, moved to fast...or too slow.
LOL He wouldn't dare... that is Sloans style, run up and bite me or bounce/do a wall turn off me if I'm too slow or confusing. That, I can work with.
I know BCs who are so worked up in agility they scream (and often knock bars) the entire run, take whatever obstacle is in their vision and are in general fairly out of control. Ziggy was sort of difficult to run to to start off because of his frantic nature and to some degree he always will be.
He started barking in the last run, and spinning, which at least told me he was thinking enough to be frustrated, maybe I am taking that wrong though. I did however put him in a down stay outside of the ring to bring him back down. If I run him with a toy of any sort he'll behave that way. I had to remove the use of targets (lids) because he can make those into toys as well, if we need a target in the future we'll try an actual dinner plate to deter picking it up. Again though, I
am really happy with this run. To be honest I started walking the course like I would with Sloan and had to think, no... stop, this is for
him but he really impressed me. He's starting to click... that or tomorrow I'll swear again he's a moron and I want to die. LOL
I have a few ideas that might work with Backup, maybe some food for thought. A lot of people pick their dogs weakest issue and work the most on that in attempts to fix it. But to the dog, working on the stuff they are the least good at the most can't be very much fun and is probably stressful. We don't know why Backup is weird about your right side but he is. Since you do obedience and IPO with him, it may have something to do with that. I have seen many obedience dogs of all breeds and temperaments get extremely weird about being worked on the right.
Yeah, I'm sure why but I venture it's the obed that either hurts the right OR laid foundation for being used to being on my left, basically meaning I'm not sure he even likes to be on my left but he tolerates it because he's been doing it with me since 8 months old.
At any rate, he is weird about it. So in agility practice, since he's still a beginner instead of focusing on that why not just make any right sided stuff super easy for him? Over time, you can gradually start making it harder and harder until you're asking the same from him right sided as left sided. Away from agility, maybe try teaching him to heel on your right side and seeing if that helps at all.
I'll do that. It's funny, I feel so clumsy, after years of obed, trying to train a dog to heel on my right. I finally got Sloan in but for her it was me totally, she had minimal trouble and I had motor skills izzues.
The distance stuff...that's not a glitch, it's a feature
Really, a lot of people spend a great deal of time trying to get their dog to work away from them. Your's is naturally good at it, so use it whenever you can! Like Panzerotti said, it's a common issue with BCs. Many herding breeds can be that way to some degree because what they were designed to do required they be sensitive to pressure and space, both concerning sheep and the shepherd.
Mostly what I see in this video is a dog who's trying hard and willing to play the game but doesn't fully understand. I think he'd benefit from trying to run less complicated set ups where it's
very easy for him to follow your cues and make the right choices without having to be micromanaged.
Thank you very much for the advice and compliments. We'll definitely take him back to more simplistic stuff. I am usually just asking for 1, 2, 3 obstacles with minimal turns (mostly just pulling him back into me since he naturally goes wide circles the whole ring).
I'm spending most of my time trying to figure out his weaves these days. If we can champion those then we'll address the fact his Aframe isn't very nice. He hits the aframe up like he's going to do a wall turn (which he'll sometimes offer) and then flies off the down. He will offer a 2o2o if he's going slowly but with any speed we lose it, plus because he's long in the loin I'm not sure I want his 2o2o on the aframe. So we have been trying using a stride regulator or loose hoop to pop him over the top and a board (obed broad jump segment) at the floor 3 feet out which he avoids with a mission but it doesn't seem to be curing things just yet.
His dogwalk and teeter are relatively controlled and he offers a 2o2o. I know I can speed him up later but I have had to pull some of the dreaded slowing him down for safety or at least my own mind of safety. Sometimes he'll get moving so quickly he'll stumble and I caught him in my arms literally 5 feet out from the full height dog walk yesterday when Denis tried to run him over it. I'm not sure how he managed it but he did, talented clutz.
This isn't the best, or even okay, handling but I wanted a video.
He normally finds his 2o2o much faster and with more confidence (for some reason that is usually something that clicks nicely for him) but I think I was weirding him out holding my phone and not moving with him.
http://youtu.be/ZU6ycUORVRk