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Hey guys! I need some help with training my dog. She a mutt and she used to be really good in obedience until this past year. She's lost all interest in training/showing, she lags while training or showing, she sometimes is hesitant to listen, and has lost all interest/excitement to train/show. She used to get really excited about it. So my question to you is, what can I use to train/ add to our training to get her interested and excited again?

Traditional obedience is very repetitive and boring to a lot of highly intelligent dogs ... not enough variety, interaction or feedback. That's why Rally was originally started and is so popular now. You are encouraged to talk to your dog, pat your dog, give feedback and praise during the entire course and the courses are really varied so the dog never knows what exercise is coming up on the next sign. There are at least 14 signs to a course in a trial. We have many "ex" obedience dogs doing Rally who weren't enjoying their work or had shut down and they now wag their tails and look forward to each new assignment. It's more challenging than traditional obedience but infinitely more fun for both of you.

We have been doing rally for a while, she is actually at rally excellent. But she does the same thing with rally too.

When you say "she lags" while showing, are you referring to her heeling or simply the overall lackluster of doing obedience and rally work in general?

Also, when she was doing really well, was this in Novice Obedience and when she started "lagging" was this in Open obedience? It's a big leap from Novice to Open, at least for me it was...(it took nearly 2 years of NQs before my pointer got his CDX.)

Another resources where you might want to post your question would be the "Competition Dog Obedience" group on Facebook. There are a lot of people in that group who could give you all sorts of ideas of things to try with your dog to keep training interesting, different, and fun. It's a closed group, so you'd have to request to join, but it's a good group of helpful people.

ETA: Here's the link to the fb page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5762103470/

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Last edited by Super Uber Kennels on 7/16/2015 12:49:18 AM

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Last edited by country k9 dog kennel on 7/16/2015 3:11:14 PM

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Last edited by country k9 dog kennel on 7/16/2015 3:10:32 PM

Im not on Facebook so that won't work for me, but thanks anyways. As for lagging its both. She is at the grad novice level in 4-h,we mostly just show 4-h, next year will be my last in 4-h, but I would like to continue to show her , I think she would do great in akc!, but first we have to fix this. This started last year, when we got into novice

This is not a specific how-to-fix-an-issue, but a great place to start. It is so, so true.

talentedanimals.com/blog/the-secret-of-dog-training/

Have you considered a vet check as well as looking at revising your training methods? I know of more than one dog that starts behaving unusually in the ring when something medical is bother them, even if there are no outward signs of it.

I was thinking a vet checkup might be a good idea too. How is she behaving otherwise?

She does have allergies, I don't know if maybe that might have something to do with it

Otherwise she's very happy and energetic. It's just during training. We have tried to make her training as positive as we can, but still she seems to have no interest, I try to use toys or treats, especially tennis balls they're her favorite,but she has no interest in those either

Ok, is it possible to change the venue? If you train at home, go to a park, so she doesn't realize she's being trained and change up anything else you can too.

The toys you use for training...does she have access to them 24/7 or do you keep a "special toy" that you ONLY use during training when you're actively interacting with your dog? Toys that are available to the dog 24/7 aren't probably considered high value toys for the dog.

Increasing the value of the treats or toys might help with keeping you're dog's interest.

I've recently read a really great book called Building Blocks for Performance by Bobbie Anderson that explained a lot of great concepts regarding dog training (i.e. building motivation, drive, etc.) It's an easy read and is a great reference. This book discusses the importance of you being the dog's primary motivator and toys and treats being secondary motivators (i.e. you should ultimately strive to get the dog to want to work for you, not for toys or treats.)

www.amazon.com/Building-Blocks-Performance-2nd-Edition/dp/1577791053/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0T8NAQEQ22ZD1EW481EP

Training in different locations as previously mentioned and playing in different locations (with the "special" toy) can help teach your dog to work in a variety of situations. (Dogs are situational learners... i.e. while a "sit" inside your home and at the park are the same trick in your mind, it may not be the same in the dog's mind, if that makes sense.)



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Last edited by Super Uber Kennels on 7/21/2015 1:01:51 AM