temper temper

I’m not sure what to suggest Laura…I think Bev has a “time-out” cue or something like that, maybe that would help

I tell ya though, I feel for the Dodge…If I spent more than 5 minutes in a Flyball arena I’d be swingin’ for the fences myself! Bunch of yappy overhyper dogs that get wound up and wound up until they have their 5 seconds of “fun” yappin’ all the way and then straight back into the car until they get wound up again for another 5 seconds of psychotic manic and completely compulsive behaviour!

:what:

:canadian: 😀

Anyway Dodgeboy, I know how you feel but you mustn’t rip those little beggars to shreds because that would upset your mum and that’s never a good thing  :-* :-*

Hey Laura

From someone who has witnessed this first hand with you and dodger I would say that you need some time with dodger before the flyball starts.  Even ten minutes of him running around the field beside the runs to burn off some energy and get his focus on you  🙂  You were really stressed at flyball I picked up on that so who knows what Dodger was thinking.  By the end of the flyball he was lying still beside you and relaxed that’s because you had relaxed by then.  :-*  If you can get his focus on to you instead of what is going on around him then that is a good start  ;D ;D  but to be honest I think if you were less stressed caring about what everyone else thought about him then he would settle much quicker  😉 
some of the dogs are rather vocal but it is what you want to gain from this that is important – I dont need to hype Nacho up but I make sure that he has a good runabout before hand – Nacho is more focussed on me than anything else that is happening – get Dodger to focus on you more then everything else well be easier to manage  :-* 

what i have found with Cleo over the years is to just keep her out of the way and keep her focused on me

she tollerates NO crap from anyone
SO what i do is stand to the side, i can see my turn in the running but im doing daft things, leg weaving, twists, spins etc that way her concentration is totally on me – and yes ive done this in a flyball arena in a comp when shes been 5th dog and not racing, and ive done it in agility ques as well

also with Meg who cant cope with overlly stressfull situations i do something similar – shes never in the line up to race because the whole “RRRREEEEAAAADDDDYYYYYYYYYYYY” thing kind of stresses her out so shes to the side and kept as calm as possible

laura – there is no dog that has been more ball focussed than nacho – you need to walk him without the ball.  training without the ball – take him out early somewhere quiet where you can get peace to do some training with him.  take some chicken – or if he is fed kibble then take that.  Take him when he is hungry you can use what he is fed as his training treats (unless he is fed wet then we have a problem  ;D)

You are depending on the ball for him to do what you want  :nono:  I know it is difficult – been there – but  that isnt a good thing and you need to move away from the ball dependency.  😉  If you have a good training session then reward him with some ball play at the end  ;D 

Try relax a bit which I know is difficult if you are waiting on him kicking off  😉  but you stressing and holding his lead tight just escalates things  😉  Will help you all I can on Thursday – if your parents are willing to come back a little later for you then I will help you after flyball  :-*

Laura
my doggy absolutly loves toys, completly obsessed by them. when i first stsrted training her i made the mistake of using toys to motivate her (seeing as if i had a toy she would be totally oblivious to anything/one else) i thought.. great! i will get her to work for toys. however as u know it doesnt always work the way we want it to! jess was just fixated on the toy and it was difficult to train her. :nono: so i decided to take toys completly out of the equation and replace them with sausages  ;D (or any other stinky food we find revolting but dogs love!) i also introduced clicker training which is fab for keeping their attention. do u clicker train dodge? definatly worth a go.
now jess still loves her toys (especially tennis balls!) but will work brilliently for food rewards. (hungry tummys are a huge bonus!) u need to get him watching and focusing on you rather than that toy. so like i said above try removing toy from equation and teach some command with food and clicker 🙂
hope this helps :yes:

jazz is my nans dog who lived with me for a while- names got a bit confusing at times!

for a while we had jazz but not anymore! now i hav jess but shes here to stay!! shes my baby 🙂