Advice needed please

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threeponies

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Tonight I took my 17 month old Patterdale bitch to agility class, as usual for a Thursday night. I always tell people not to let their dog run up to her as she can be a bit growly when approached by dogs when she is on lead. Anyway, new fox terrier there tonight, lady more interested in chatting than watching her dog and mine growled at it several times when it approached her then she had a ranty bark type go at it, lady standing with her back to her dog, letting its lead out as we moved away. Our turn to do the course and my dog has to be let go to go through the tunnel, she flew out and went straight for the other terrier but a Sheltie got in her way, cue lots of snarling, barking etc and Sheltie yelped. I was mortified,she has genuinely never done this before, I picked her up and left. She is booked in to be spayed next week, is there anything else I can do or is my wee dog a psycho?
 
poor you, i dont have experience of this but if she was mine i would just keep on socialising her and if she was likelly to bite i would put a muzzle on . im sure there are people on here who have had this sort of problem and would be able to give you some pointers. good luck and dont give up..
 
I've never been to an agility class but I am assuming it is run by someone knowledgeable? Ie someone in charge who is an expert in dogs? What did the person in charge say? Perhaps you could ring her and see what she/he suggests.
 
I was going to say the same as RW, the trainer should have been able to assist? But you left?
My fella came out of the tunnel once and went straight for his nemesis, a dobie, but just danced around him making 'I'm a big time Charlie, I am' noises :o
Trainer came over and made me put him in a down position (it's like the time-out/calming position for dogs) and then back over to meet nicely with the dobe and it was fine.
Apologised profusely to dobie owner who was very nice about it.
Don't pick her up and leave - you'll never sort out whatever issue there is if you keep her away from other dogs and don't allow the trainer to help you!
Also think about the message you sent your dog.

It was just a bit of noise and teeth, no one was hurt, these things always sound terrible but it is just posturing.

Have a read at this, it might not apply to you but it is a good read :)

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/content/view/42/97/
 
Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I left with my dog as the owner of the Sheltie had a go at me, neither trainer made any comment. I don't know if we will be allowed back, I will contact them though. The sheltie is apparently nervous and this is why it comes to agility, so I feel that we won't be welcome in case it gets upset. A shame because my dog loves it.
 
That's annoying that the trainers did not step in! But I cannot see why you would not be allowed back, but it is something you will have to work at.

Look, I know I am a big dog person but if we at our club all fell out every time our dogs had a grizzle at each other, well, none of us would speak to each other :o
 
Come on now TP - don't be defeatist! How long have you been going with your dog to this class? If the Sheltie is there for socialising, well it got a good experience then didn't it! :p

Chin up, think positive, you have to crack on. It won't do you or your dog any good to keep in hiding! Ring the agility trainer and have a chat so that next week she is on alert and prepared, ready with advice if another episode happens :)
 
I would have expected the trainer to step in tbh. Mind you, I would have expected the trainer to step in when the fox terrier was being allowed to bother yours!

I think you need to work on focussing your dog on you even while other dogs are being less than helpful, in an ideal world of course you would not have to, but we don't live in an ideal world of course.
 
These people sound very "childish" it is a bloody room/event whatever it is with DOGS, there are bound to be scuffles for gods sake, what do they want you to do "beg forgiveness"? I assume you apologised to these "grown women":rolleyes:
Dont let it put you off, the more focus you can get from your girl in these situation the better, do you use positive distraction for her (squeeky sounding toy/treats) and on the other hand how is she when you give her a check/command "ah ah"/"leave it" at the time you see her focus/growl, then a positive focus for the actual "leave"
The trainer sounds as much use as a wet paper bag, esp if you let you walk on out of there without a "don't worry, we can work with this".
 
I have previously thought about finding another club, the one I go to can be a bit haphazard, for example someone ties their collie to the door ( indoor school, half door thingy if you know what I mean) and he roars and barks with his head under the door the whole time, there is no order, no rules ( I like a few rules, then we all know where we stand) god I sound like an old git! I read partway through the article you linked to CC, and the goldie sounds like my dog: if dogs get in her face she reacts, but if she's off-lead she's a different dog- she's friendly and loves a good tear around as she knows no-one can catch her. How else do I socialise her? She went to puppy parties, has a basic training certificate from 12 weeks of training classes, goes 2 walks a day and meets other dogs, both on- and off-lead. If I see dogs straining at their leads to greet her, I tend to distract her so am I makig her worse?
 
I've been going there since August, Ravenwood and my dog loves it and is very good. I did of course apologise to the Sheltie's owner. I do use 'leave it' to distract her and can get her to ignore dogs/people/ducks on walks (loves to chase ducks, thinks they can walk on water though) The trainer told me not to teach her to 'watch me' as I won't then be able to send her away
 
Don't teach watch as you won't be able to send away??? What a load of rubbish! We teach both watch and send away in class! They are two separate commands, that's like saying 'don't teach sit as you won't be able to teach recall'!

I think you need to find a new club OP.
 
TP that is RUBBISH!!!! I would bin that class if that is what the trainer is telling you.
Watch me is a great exercise.

I do a different sport but we have a very long heelwork pattern in which the dog MUST be looking up at the handler, under distractions like gunshots and another dog lying in the same field, followed by dumbbell retrieval on the flat, over a jump then an A-frame, finished off by the sendaway, sometimes the length of a football pitch in big competitions - of course dogs can learn the difference, they are distinct commands, 'watch' or 'heel' and 'bring' and 'over' and 'away' etc x
 
I go to agility classes with Darcy who knows the look at me/watch me command, comes in very useful when the trainer is planting a treat at the bottom of the Aframe. If I didnt tell her to watch me she would be watching where that treat was going and when I say go instead of jumping the jumps she would be straight over to the Aframe for the treat.:D

OP were you given a set of rules when you started?, we were ,one of them is if your dog is aggressive with other dogs the trainer will take appropriate action to curtail it, seems your trainer didnt even step in. There are 2 classes in our outdoor arena and sometimes one of our dogs will join the other group, dogs will be dogs and agility is meant to be fun.
 
Just picking up a point here - the OP has a Patterdale, was he working bred?

Not for one minute am I suggesting that a terrier cannot be trained in agility and obedience but its a lot harder than a GSD/Collie/Lab etc etc that has a natural tendancy for obedience and handler dedication. Its a tougher job for TP :p

Which is why, if you want to continue with these classes, that you have to get the trainer/person in charge on your side and make sure he/she knows you want her help in these situations ;)
 
Quite! Surely to send a dog away on command you would have to have its attention in the first place!

My dogs are taught left and right from hand signals and "back" from voice. So if I know a bird has fallen in the woods out of sight, I can direct a dog onto it by shouting Back and the dog will keeping going - hopefully ;) But obviously it has be focussed and listening to you even though it is going away!
 
Both of her parents were working Patterdales. The 'lead' trainer phoned me last night when she got home from the club, and told me I was absolutely to go back, the fox terrier had ended up winding up several other dogs and another one had snapped at it. I've booked her in to be spayed on Thursday, not as a result of last night's episode, but because she isn't for breeding and it's about time it was done. She'll be off for a few weeks then we'll go back, the trainer told me that she would be looking to improve the set-up and that everyone had been reminded that 'dogs were dogs, not people' and that if an owner asks you not to approach their dog with yours that you respect their wishes.
I am definitely going to work on her watching me while she's off, and I'm considering asking various friends and family to meet up with us for walks with their dogs to get her more accustomed to being around dogs. Thanks again for all advice given, you lot are invaluable!
 
What a great result TP :D I am so pleased for you and you have something to work towards now without feeling worried about it :)

Keep us updated on how it goes please.

I am no fan whatsoever of terriers (even though I have had a couple :rolleyes: ) but actually at the dog show I judged I gave the Championship to a Patterdale because you simply couldn't get away from the fact that it was a super little dog ;)

Good luck with him :D
 
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