The short of it is Stuart said Payton lacks "attention to detail." It goes beyond just impulse control although impulse control is part of it. I'm still not 100% sure what that means in terms of dog training. I have a few exercises to do and an approach for the ring, but I'm still trying to decide how to fully work on it. I guess because if you say to me "Payton lacks impulse control" I know how to work on that away from agility equipment even - but "Payton lacks attention to detail" I'm not sure how to apply to just, you know, life in general? Still thinking about it. If anybody here has more insight on what exactly that means, feel free to chime in, haha.
What sort of exercises were suggested? I'm wondering if things like lifting/targeting with a specific foot would help? When I think "attention to detail" with dogs, I think about being more deliberate about behaviors. I'm not really sure how it would apply to agility though.
I've just... blown it somewhere along the line and need to do a better job.
Want to join my club? I'm president, but am still looking for a vice president and a secretary.
I really, really do appreciate the thoughts/comments on the situation with Gusto. There is a big part of me that is thinking "he is 3, there is all the time in the world, nothing can't be fixed because by God I made Meg into an agility dog"...and then there is a part of me that thinks I need to mentally accept that I may not be able to fix things. Because yes, he is the second agility dog, and there is pressure I am putting on both of us, and maybe that is hurting things.
I had good talks with a few people over the course of the weekend, and I certainly am not giving up. What I'm mentally stuck on right now are multiple conversations I had about dogs who do agility because they love agility vs dogs who do agility because we ask them to. Neither of my dogs do agility because they love it. Meg absolutely does it because I ask her to, and because it makes me happy. Gusto, as much as I adore him and have a very cool relationship with him, really doesn't give a crap if I'm happy. I think that is part of where we are stuck. He will work because he wants the cookie or he wants the toy, but I didn't do a good job of getting rewards off me when there is pressure on him - because I never really had to with Meg. So I think that is part of what we need to be doing more of.
I've got the lessons mid-July. I'm going to completely take a break the rest of June, and put him on equipment a couple of times before the lessons. In the meantime, work on getting him playing with me without rewards on me.
I'll see what the trainers say. I'm thinking about some fall CPE trials and putting him in level 1 or 2, so we can go in, run short, fast, easy courses, and get out.
Videos from the weekend:
Meg - Standard in the rain!
[YOUTUBE]4H8jYMk6iAg[/YOUTUBE]
And Standard in the sun, after having to chat with the leash runner (excuse the handling before the weaves - I walked the course thinking we took the jump between the teeter and weaves, and only realized it wasn't part of the course when watching the dog ahead of us)
[YOUTUBE]UA74dRHGibo[/YOUTUBE]
And jumpers, with the latest front cross in the history of front crosses
[YOUTUBE]NUVW0Ixrsow[/YOUTUBE]
And Gusto's two clean (over time) standard runs. And oh look at who has completely abandoned her contact criteria!
[YOUTUBE]POjSu94XzrY[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]jGCH4j3rJWo[/YOUTUBE]