How do you mentally prepare your dogs to manage their stress during a sport?

[Kayla]

Just curious for those of you who compete in various dog sports help your dog manage the phycological stress of competition and high strain work? I began introducing Duke to pulling last winter when he was 4 months old and got him accustomed to being hooked up to a simple sled, but because he was still far to young could not progress further.

With the first snow fall of the year arriving last night we hit the park today to start training.

At first we just focued on teaching him to associate pulling with the command mush by getting my assisstant to run ahead of us and then calling Duke at which point I commanded mush and then clicked. His first attempt was a bit spastic as he whined and pulled after my brother trying to catching him but he managed to sustain the pull for a distance of 200m before we stopped to congradulate him with tons of teats. We did four more runs of this nature and then called it quits to give him a break and to end on a positive note.

The one problem we had at the end of each run was that he was completely out of control and wound up, nipping, jumping and he even bit me on the arm ( didn't break the skin but left a very noticable outline of his mouth on my arm). I've seen at flyball runs owners bringing tug toys for their dogs to chew on after their run and I was curious if this was a stress managment tool to let the dogs get out their energy before getting them to settle.

I was considering bringing his basket muzzle we use to take the bus with me tommorow morning while we teach on bay ( as I would hate to encounter a dog while he was in this worked up state) but was curious what other ways I could get him back under control when he's in this worked up frenzy?

Kayla

[adojrts]

Tugging is used as a reward, also used for the dog to team up with their handler and to focus on the handler. If trained correctly the dog should get very excited when it see's the tug, but that doesn't mean the dog shouldn't be taught to tug without boundries and rules. It's not a free for all.
I know nothing about teaching a dog to pull, so can't help there, hopefully others can help you.
One thing that comes to mind is you maybe getting him too high and excited, therefore he can't focus on learning the job.

[AgilityPup]

Im not sure this would work, but maybe, since he is just starting, so a smaller distance, have your person running and yourself say good boy, a pet, click, what ever, then go again, because I'd say it's the CHASING he's doing after your brother (I think you said). Not sure what breed of dog he is, but if he has got any herd instinct, or just drive to anything running, it would most likly get him all worked up.

As adojrts said, tugs are used as reward, and a training object straight from the start, however, maybe, tuging with him when you're done, rather than treating him would work.
Sorry, I don't really know, just making suggestions.

[Kayla]

Im not sure this would work, but maybe, since he is just starting, so a smaller distance, have your person running and yourself say good boy, a pet, click, what ever, then go again, because I'd say it's the CHASING he's doing after your brother (I think you said). Not sure what breed of dog he is, but if he has got any herd instinct, or just drive to anything running, it would most likly get him all worked up.

This crossed my mind as well as he does have three strong herding mixes in him (Border Collie, Rottwieler and GSD) and I think it's whats causing him to over stimulate. I will try both of the things you suggested as well as begin eliminating the need for a follow target after he gets mush down.

Unfortunatly all of our nice snow turned to ice last night and our run looks a little bit iffy so I think we will start again after the next powder comes down.

I'll make sure to get some pics and vids eventually as well.

Cheers
Kayla

[AgilityPup]

Just another idea, because this is what we do for our "go" in agility, while you're waiting on the snow, try throwing a toy for him, if he's toy motivated, and saying "Mush!" Not sure if that will help any, but if you've got that down, you won't need someone for him to chase...

With the three breeds you said he is, I'd say it is the chasing that's getting him all worked up, so I, persoanly, would try to remove the object he was chasing from your training.

[IliamnasQuest]

I don't see what you're describing as stress as much as just excitement. They're two different things. Stress would most likely cause him to be distracted or to shut down. Excitement is that jumping, nipping behavior. I agree that it's part of the training that you're doing - you're pushing him to be excited to get the adrenalin up and to get him moving forward. You may need to dial down the excitement factor because it will probably work against you in the long run. A pulling dog that burns off energy in excitement will have less energy for the actual pulling.

You have a young dog, too, and that makes it a bit more difficult. Instead of putting him on a heavily weighted sled and asking him to pull by getting him all worked up, you may want to go back to basics and do things with a lighter sled and teach him to go forward on command - and then gradually work up to a heavier load that makes him strain more to pull. Setting up a target with a good reward on it, and starting just a few feet away so that he's well aware that the target has good stuff, would be a way you could start him moving forward. Use something very visible. And then gradually move the target farther away so he has to pull farther to reach it.

Be careful with a young dog, too. If he was 4 months old last winter then he must be less than two years old now. At this age his joints aren't fully formed and pulling heavy loads could create some major problems for him later on. Personally I wouldn't do weight pulling (heavy loads, competition style) with a dog that is under the age of two. I would certainly teach him the commands for moving forward with a light load, getting him used to the concepts and behaviors, but I wouldn't risk true weight pulling until those joints were more adult.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

[Kayla]

I don't see what you're describing as stress as much as just excitement. They're two different things. Stress would most likely cause him to be distracted or to shut down. Excitement is that jumping, nipping behavior. I agree that it's part of the training that you're doing - you're pushing him to be excited to get the adrenalin up and to get him moving forward. You may need to dial down the excitement factor because it will probably work against you in the long run. A pulling dog that burns off energy in excitement will have less energy for the actual pulling.

You have a young dog, too, and that makes it a bit more difficult. Instead of putting him on a heavily weighted sled and asking him to pull by getting him all worked up, you may want to go back to basics and do things with a lighter sled and teach him to go forward on command - and then gradually work up to a heavier load that makes him strain more to pull. Setting up a target with a good reward on it, and starting just a few feet away so that he's well aware that the target has good stuff, would be a way you could start him moving forward. Use something very visible. And then gradually move the target farther away so he has to pull farther to reach it.

Be careful with a young dog, too. If he was 4 months old last winter then he must be less than two years old now. At this age his joints aren't fully formed and pulling heavy loads could create some major problems for him later on. Personally I wouldn't do weight pulling (heavy loads, competition style) with a dog that is under the age of two. I would certainly teach him the commands for moving forward with a light load, getting him used to the concepts and behaviors, but I wouldn't risk true weight pulling until those joints were more adult.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

Thank you very much for your post, I found it very insightful. Duke is 15 months old so you are correct he is still very young. After a second day of training I too realised I was approaching his training in a way which was causing him more confusion and stress than it was actually communicating what I wanted him to do.

Rain came in a on Sunday night so before the rain washed away the last of our trail away we went back out to try a new approach.

As suggested by a few members I took out the moving target from our training switching over to shorter distances. We still hooked him up to a board and a rider to control the board from slamming into him after he stopped.

After finishing hook up I walked just in front of Duke while my brother with a clicker urged him to move forward by realising him from his sit/stay. Duke naturally started to move towards me and the second he did my brother clicked, and than gave praise.

After a few repitions of this the concept finally seemed to click and my brother started commanding mush before clicking. We than started increasing distances to 5' before stopping for the day.

It's supposde to snow on/off over the next few weeks but before even attempting another actual run I think will work on our foundation, then add distractions to test his understanding. Now that I've found a better way of communicating what I want Duke to do I think training should be much less stressful for Duke and much more importantly fun.

In the meantime here are a few pics...

Myself strapping up while Duke waits paitently

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/exotica_reptiles16/Duke/Dukesfirstrn001.jpg

Duke wearing his new sheep padded, double d ring sledding harness

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/exotica_reptiles16/Duke/Dukesfirstrn006.jpg

Duke chilling in th snow

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/exotica_reptiles16/Duke/Dukesfirstrn011.jpg