We also need to teach a restrain... I was thinking the easiest way to do this would be with his harness, but how many times am I going to actually have Payton in his harness? He only wears it when we go hiking, never for agility, and he will certainly never be wearing it in the ring. So maybe I should just try shoving on his chest instead. I'm worried he's going to be like "WTF are you pushing me for?" and just let himself be pushed back rather than responding with his oppositional reflex. This might be interesting.
I've been teaching a restrain specifically and separately to in the Flyball class. What I did with dogs who aren't real naturals at it is have them on lead, set down some food, move them back from it saying "reeeeady?? Reeaddy?..." as they pull at all into the leash towards it. Then release them with "Get it" or whatever as they are pulling against the pressure. At first they are right out of reach of the food (or toy if that's what they like) then we move them further and further back. As they get better we move onto holding collars, harnesses and chest retrains. We've gotten some dogs really into it this way, dogs who were weird about being touched and had no natural desire to pull towards something.
Mia's actually really fast out of a stay however the demotivation happens when I have to correct her too many times a training session and put her back in the stay. She recovers fine once we get going but I can see her stressing so I don't push it too much. I do want to keep good criteria so I've been cracking down on the creeper dog deal she likes to do.
You don't really need a start line stay. It's not a requirement to run in agility. Sometimes I think people get so hung up on having it that it creates a bunch of other issues for them, like what you're seeing with the stress. Certainly hasn't hurt this dog to have never been able to hold a start line stay
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Luckily almost everyone I've met has been very happy with their pyrsheps.
Quite a few are planning on another. Different strokes, I suppose.
Yep! Someone who told me when Savvy was a puppy that I was going to have a "hell of a time trialing him" and implied I should have done more research and talked to more people (who didn't own the breed or had one they weren't pleased with I suppose) is struggling to get her young dog to do more than one or two obstacles at trials while Savvy is having a great time playing at trials like a good young boy should. I heard it all when I got him but I'm always thinking how happy I am I decided not to listen to the naysayers. PyrSheps aren't for
everyone or even most people but that doesn't mean they aren't for
anyone. I often think how poorly suited more people at my training club would be to having one. Not that they are bad or haven't done well with their dogs, they just wouldn't compliment the breed. But I do know some people who would do well with them and really enjoy them.
TBH it wasn't really that complicated for me. I found I just enjoyed them and didn't find another breed I felt such a draw to. If I was going to not have a breed because of the potential for weirdness, I'd probably not have a house full of Belgians. I meet a lot of PyrSheps over the years. Some of my favorites happened to be some of Savvy's relatives. I picked a puppy who had everything I was looking for, who's breeder felt he was perfect for me and well...he was the only puppy I looked at LOL. Trained him, socialized him, had fun with him and didn't sweat the small stuff. People can say what they will but it's just sorta...whatever to me at this point. Why in the world should I have taken advice about a breed from someone who was unsuccessful with their dog anyway?