Agility - how to keep calm!!

Flowerofthefen

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My parsons went to pup agility last year. Poles on floor etc. She loved it. We started again last night after over 6 months off. My god, she was a whirlwind!! Spends most of her time bogging off through the tunnel, getting under my feet and generally being over excited. She also jumps at my hands, worse if I put my hands behind my back. She comes straight to me when I call her name. A few times I just stopped, asked her to sit , just to try and calm her down!! She is 18 months old so full of energy!! Any ideas on how to take the energy down a few notches??!!
 

MissTyc

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My terrier X was the same with agility -- she turns into an excited loopy loo and used grabs hands (the only context she ever did it!). My trainer helped me get her forwards- focussed ,by using toys up ahead to prevent her obsessing over my super-exciting hands, as well as rewarded visual checkins and sits/downs when requested and between obstacles. We also worked out she had much less brain space than I thought - the "usable time" of the session was actually quite short, with stupidity filling the rest of the time! The grabbing got worse if she found the exercises too difficult or got tired.

Over the last 8 months of regular training, she has improved so much, seeking out the next obstacle (mind you if you're not quick enough with the call out, she picks a convenient one of her choice) and checking in with her eyes rather than her mouth. If she starts to get grabby, that's her signal that she's too tired to think now. We always warm up on a long straight line of jumps, as she needs to do several WAIT, then charrrrrrrrrge cycles to get rid of excess pre-emptive excitement and get her brain in the game.
 
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