Correcting Shara's Issues

[Shara]

Well last night at the club we addressed Shara's issues on stays.

We put her up on a stay box, and this is the funny part...

My trainer has a lot of those moving toys that sing and dance...put like 5 of them infront of Shara and turned them all on. Threw balls at her, treats, everything...People in the club walked by here, danced by her, screamed shouted...everything you can THINK of...Clapping...cheering...random woops and hollars...

She stayed.

Same for her recall... Dogs barking. People litterally screaming and hollaring...treats thrown under her nose....

She stayed.

This is why I do not understand why she did so bad at the shows...She never breaks her stays at the club, but every stay she had to do at the show she failed.

I wish I had a pic of the toys going off and her just sitting there, people dancing and yelling, and such...it was hilarious...but she just stayed there, looking at me like:

"OMG WHAT ARE YALL TRYING TO DOOOOOOOOO TO MEEEEEEEEEEE"

Everyone went over her on her stand for exam...

She stayed....

=sigh=

Doxies sure are confusing!

[elsasmom]

Is it possible that she picks up your anxiety at the shows? :confused:
Are you more relaxed at the club because it's just practice? Dogs are so alert to any nervousness in us. She may have felt your fear that she would move and just had to try to get to you since she can't know what is making you anxious.
Try deep slow breathing to calm yourself during the next show and she may pick up on your calmness.:)

[CerbiesMom]

If I could get Brigit to do that one time in her life, I would be speechless for the rest of mine.

[Shara]

Is it possible that she picks up your anxiety at the shows? :confused:
Are you more relaxed at the club because it's just practice? Dogs are so alert to any nervousness in us. She may have felt your fear that she would move and just had to try to get to you since she can't know what is making you anxious.
Try deep slow breathing to calm yourself during the next show and she may pick up on your calmness.:)


Actually once I got in the ring, I was actually really calm and we did well on heeling. She has some sort of anxiety when l leave her...we are trying to recreate her level of stress in the ring with all the crazy toys and people acting rediclous. Maybe underneith it all I dont have confidence going in, and shes IS, like you said, picking up on my stress and fear that I have subconsiously...I felt like I was more confident than I thought I would have been.

So many mixed emotions! I just hope we do better next time! =^.^=

[Shara]

If I could get Brigit to do that one time in her life, I would be speechless for the rest of mine.


Oh common! Just start practicing with Brig! Doxies are bloody smart dogs! =^.^= I belive in her!

[CerbiesMom]

Oh common! Just start practicing with Brig! Doxies are bloody smart dogs! =^.^= I belive in her!

I never said she wasn't smart. She knows what she wants, and most times what she wants doesn't correspond with what I want. She also doesn't really care about consequences, either. She knows if she, for example, jumps on the chair in the living room to grab something off the coffee table, she'll be put away. But the sheer joy of the piece of paper/cup/cracker crumb/whatever she grabbed is rewarding enough for her to continue. She's a very smart dog, and she just well may be more stubborn than me.