Just got home from agility class with Kili and it got me thinking about this. Is your dog easy or hard to motivate?
I'm going to show you guys a video that epitomizes how things are with myself and Kili. She is not HARD to motivate... she is EXHAUSTING to motivate. It is not that she is usually difficult to get excited and hot. It's that the energy expenditure required from me to do so means that I am out of breath before we run. Which kind of sucks.
Motivating Kili goes something like this. I release her from her crate and I take off as fast as I can, screaming and hooting and hollering, waving a toy and generally acting like a dumbass. Inevitably she will catch me at some point and then commences the game of give and take. I play keep away with the toy, let her have it, try to steal it back, and so on. Then ask her to let me have it and we will run our sequence. She completes the sequence well and is rewarded with more tug from a very out of breath and very tired momma.
So in this video... the first clip is me trying to be more energy conscious for me and totally failing to really get her engaged which leads to a pretty **** poor performance where she decides it's okay to just trot along through the course. Next go around I bring out the tug toy and run myself into the ground. This causes the new problem that she at first decides we are still playing keep away and wants to run to my side where she last saw the toy... which is the wrong side for the course. Go back to the start and stuff the toy in my pocket to remind her we're playing a different game now. Notice that if I slip even a little, I see an immediate change. We broke the sequence in half the second time around for her. When I put her back into the tunnel for the second half I am standing mostly upright and stationary when she comes out of the tunnel and she instantly slows down and disengages. So back we go to try it again. This time when she comes out of that tunnel I am crouched down with my arms poised like I'm about to take off... and the difference is noticeable. If I'm not giving her 110% she just figures it's not worth her while I guess. lol
[YOUTUBE]ogWnyz0ZRw8[/YOUTUBE]
I seriously wish I could motivate her and expend less energy. What are your dogs like?
I'm going to show you guys a video that epitomizes how things are with myself and Kili. She is not HARD to motivate... she is EXHAUSTING to motivate. It is not that she is usually difficult to get excited and hot. It's that the energy expenditure required from me to do so means that I am out of breath before we run. Which kind of sucks.
Motivating Kili goes something like this. I release her from her crate and I take off as fast as I can, screaming and hooting and hollering, waving a toy and generally acting like a dumbass. Inevitably she will catch me at some point and then commences the game of give and take. I play keep away with the toy, let her have it, try to steal it back, and so on. Then ask her to let me have it and we will run our sequence. She completes the sequence well and is rewarded with more tug from a very out of breath and very tired momma.
So in this video... the first clip is me trying to be more energy conscious for me and totally failing to really get her engaged which leads to a pretty **** poor performance where she decides it's okay to just trot along through the course. Next go around I bring out the tug toy and run myself into the ground. This causes the new problem that she at first decides we are still playing keep away and wants to run to my side where she last saw the toy... which is the wrong side for the course. Go back to the start and stuff the toy in my pocket to remind her we're playing a different game now. Notice that if I slip even a little, I see an immediate change. We broke the sequence in half the second time around for her. When I put her back into the tunnel for the second half I am standing mostly upright and stationary when she comes out of the tunnel and she instantly slows down and disengages. So back we go to try it again. This time when she comes out of that tunnel I am crouched down with my arms poised like I'm about to take off... and the difference is noticeable. If I'm not giving her 110% she just figures it's not worth her while I guess. lol
[YOUTUBE]ogWnyz0ZRw8[/YOUTUBE]
I seriously wish I could motivate her and expend less energy. What are your dogs like?