Radical Canines

For a long time agility has been the “just for fun” sport that I did with my dogs. Obviously, disc is a fun sport too but I have expectations that are very clear for my dogs. If they bite me, they leave the game to do something else, or go potty while we’re playing, the game ends. As long as they are engaged with me and the disc, the game continues. Their job, essentially, is to play the game with me. The mindset I’ve created during disc, is they are working, it’s fun work but it’s work.

When it comes to agility, I didn’t have those rules because I never really needed them. My mindset for a long time has been one of phoning it in. If they left to go to the bathroom or stiff, I didn’t love it but there were no real consequences. If Rugby was a jerk we just refocused and continued. A couple weeks ago, Rugby and I were at an all day agility seminar and he was in rare form. Growling, barking, and charging people left and right. I was embarrassed, frustrated, and a bit defeated. The seminar instructor was great, and pulled me aside at the end and basically told me I needed to manage better. If he wasn’t working on agility equipment, he needed to be working with me on attention or obedience. I needed him on leash and tugging or getting treats. He needed there to be no down time to practice these behaviors, and I needed to be able to redirect quickly and efficiently if/when they came up.

The following week, I came to class with a new mindset. Agility was work. We do our job, we keep our focus, and if we loose our focus or are inappropriate in our behavior the game ends. Working with me during agility was no longer optional. Our just for fun mindset and game needed to shift to one more aligned with our disc mindset. Fun but working. I’ve already seen a difference in his focus and the quality of our runs. I would love to be able to run him at trials but as it was, I had some major reservations, now I have hope. We will continue with this new mindset, clear expectations, and rules for our game. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a breakthrough for us in agility.