Clean Run - April 2020 - 18

My mixed-breed Jigs loves agility and is very fast and keen, but he
does not love to compete, so we
don't. Jigs and I still reap all the many
rewards of the sport without competing. I have chosen different paths
for these two dogs than my previous dogs. These are the paths that
work for all of us. I had to be honest
with myself in regard to competition choices as my dogs shared their
truths with me.
Please do not confuse or excuse behavioral issues with a lack of training.
If your highly distractible or reactive
dog runs off during a run, you do not
have the level of control trained that
the dog requires. Lack of control is
a training issue. Yes, some dogs are
harder to train than others. If you
don't have control over your dog offleash around other dogs, you most
likely do not have enough control to
do agility, at least without the risk of
losing control.

Your run might not go well because
of something the judge did that day.
Perhaps the course design did not
suit your dog's strengths. Many judges have a type of course they like to
design. I know students who keep
track and show under the judges
they prefer. That might be an option for you. Maybe you really should
have been granted a re-run that was
not given to you. Bad calls are part of
the game-you will get some gifts
and give some back.
This is the way I see it: when I signed
my entry form, I agreed to abide by
the judge's decisions. There was no
loophole about agreeing with them. I
also figure I screw up in life from time
to time, so I gotta figure so does everyone else. It is not always easy, but
I prefer to be a competitor who does
not complain. I did not say that I am
the competitor who does not complain, but I am certainly aspiring to it.

Handler Nerves
This is one thing that you can do
something about today! Do not live
at the mercy of your nerves. There is
an entire industry of people, books,
tapes, and online resources that will
be perfect for what ails you.
Life is short, get the help you need
if your runs are going south and you
suspect nerves are the issue.

I recommend not trialing any dog until you have an outstanding recall.
If your recall command is as strong as it needs to be, distractions
cannot be an issue.

18

Distractions
© clean run

My Border Collie, Tux, is an insecure
dog. Most people would never know
it unless you saw him at the AKC
Nationals in Reno. He is 100% secure
at local outdoor trials, but he was
100% insecure at the AKC Nationals
when it was held indoors, even
though I own an indoor training facility! He can never be flown because
of his fears. Who he is has dictated
his performance career to me.

The Judge
© clean run

to you to accept the fact that it may
affect the outcome of your runs from
time to time. As a problem gets better, it is wise to remember that it is
still there. It is an unfortunate truth
that insecure dogs (this encompasses a wide range of behaviors and
problems) rarely overcome their insecurity one hundred percent. We
can make incredible, life-improving
changes in many of these dogs, but
not all. Your dog reserves the right to
revert back when he can't help it.

I think of a dog that stops working with
their handler as distracted. It can look
many ways. Some dogs slow down,
sniff, or wander away. Some dogs bolt
away from the task at hand toward
something in a nice or not so nice
way, and others seem to disconnect
for no obvious reason. I have had
students be advised by their peers to
just relax about this problem; they say
that the dog will learn to love agility
and then the distractions won't matter.
While I have seen higher drive dogs
"come around" eventually, and want
the agility more than whatever is distracting them, there is risk in waiting for
improvement. While you wait for your
dog to change his mind, two things
are happening. You are not teaching
your dog what you want, and your
dog is rehearsing unwanted behavior
that could very hard to fix later. I don't
recommend that course of inaction.
The solutions to a distraction problem are as varied as the problem
itself, and are outside the scope of
this article. But if your runs are going
bad because your dog is distracted,
rather than a "wait and see approach,"
I suggest that you get super serious
about your recall command while
you get some help for the distraction
problem. If your recall command is as
strong as it needs to be, distractions
are likely to be less of a problem.
Dogs are not the only ones that can get
distracted. If you do not have enough
time to mentally re-connect to the
course between your walk-through and
your run, you may not be able to execute that lovely plan as you intended.
Clean Run | April 20
Clean Run - April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - April 2020
