Curbing sheepdog enthusiasm (agility peeps!)

Mince Pie

Mince Pie

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I have a 5 year old welsh sheepdog who I would like to do agility with. He did a year with a club when he was younger but unfortunately it kind of blew his brains a bit, eventually I gave up with the classes because he was too over-excited.

I am incredibly fortunate that the club with whom I trained are actually based at the farm where I live, and I have been given permission to run him over the kit when they aren't there.

I do try and run him at least twice if not 3 times a week for about 15/20 minutes at a time, however he still does get a bit over-excited and it's hard to keep his focus. I have tried running him over 1 or 2 jumps to start with until he settles but he gets more and more hyper so I have tried running him straight over a course which also didn't work.

He does love doing agility but until he calms down I can't take him into a class as he distracts the other dogs, so any tips?!
 
this may not help but what are you feeding him? maybe try a different food to see if he calms down a bit generally. my friend had a doberman cross who was very hyper, she was feeding bakers(i know not the best) and she changed to burns complete(sorry dont know which one) and within 2 weeks he was a changed dog and she could get him to pay attention and he was much calmer all of the time. may be worth a try....
 
Try little sequences over 1 fence, lots of figure of 8s and no moving onto the next fence until the only reason he's doing it is for a reward, not because it's so exciting any more. Eventually he'll realise that it's fun, and he can be fast, but it must be on your terms before he can move on. I have a BC who would go around a course 50 times if she was allowed, interestingly she works much better and enjoys competition obedience more - she likes to be told exactly what to do and doesn't like to have a second to think or she panics and runs, she could be mistaken for a very excited dog. Even at 4 years old, and she's been training at ground level from 6 months, she just goes into the agility ring and explodes sometimes.
 
splashgirl45 said:
this may not help but what are you feeding him? maybe try a different food to see if he calms down a bit generally. my friend had a doberman cross who was very hyper, she was feeding bakers(i know not the best) and she changed to burns complete(sorry dont know which one) and within 2 weeks he was a changed dog and she could get him to pay attention and he was much calmer all of the time. may be worth a try....
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He's on Wagg workers. I know it's not great but over the years I have tried a lot of different food but this seems to be the only one that keeps his weight on. He also did well on Vitalin workers but I can't get hold of it easily :(

Turtletoo, thanks I will try that :)
 
Also one of mine, a younger BC, is manic about toys, he flings himself around the agility kit just to get his ball thrown so for now, toys are just for games (find it, little tricks, etc) and treats are for agility. Of course the toys will return to agility when I want him to be manic again (much more fun :p ) but he knows enough that he won't hurt himself.
 
He's not amazingly food orientated as soon as he's doing something interesting. He is a very affectionate dog so I'm wondering if, instead of using food/toys, I put him in a down and give him some fuss it may 'take the edge off' and then re-introduce toys?
 
TurtleToo said:
................and no moving onto the next fence until the only reason he's doing it is for a reward, ...........
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Exactly this. Allow your dog to work for you. It sounds as though he's currently pleasing himself. Time that he started to please you, and that will only be achieved, when you deny him his drug, and he only gets it, when you feel inclined to dispense it. ;)

I keep working sheepdogs, and have had many over the years. Since time immemorial these work dogs have existed on the lowest of low protein feeds, and along we come, with our 21st. century know how, and with our high protein feeds, and then wonder why we can't manage these dogs. The answer is simple, we are all so often, by diet, driving the poor creatures to distraction, and the answer, though not always, is right in front of us!!

Probably not much help, but I do understand, the near un-stopable can be a nightmare!!

Alec.
 
Thanks for that Alec. The wagg workers is 22% protein, is that too high? I have looked at the others and the lowest I have found that I have access to is 18%.
 
As TT and Alec, his anticipation levels are through the roof and he is off pleasing himself and self-entertaining, the trick is to teach him, you don't get to do X until you give me some Y.
My young one is like this and he only ever gets food, tug, ball, out the door in the morning, when he is calm/looking at me/delivering the behaviour I am looking for. It's time consuming and you need to apply it in pretty much every aspect of the dog's life for very hyper dogs but it pays off in the end.

My dog works beautifully when he is at home or in the local area. When we go to club he goes mental because he is expecting to do His Favourite Thing. So we do exactly the opposite, walk on the field, walk off again. Walk on the field, do some obedience, walk off again, if he messes about or starts getting noisy, straight off the field.
Never going in the same way twice, not giving him too many cues.
So only the good calm focussed behaviour is rewarded. Again, time consuming but it means he is not being a wazzock the minute he gets out of the car.
 
Oops sorry didn't explain that very well. The Premack principle is basically teaching the dog in order to get what you want you first have to do what I want. so if your dog does not say approach the start line calmly under control and listening you take further away until you have control he is focused gradually move forward, dont progress to start line until they are behaving the way you want. Doing grid excerises helps them focus. One of my border collies sounds similar, its patience and consistency he sounds fab.:D
 
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