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I feel crushed....


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Well, Joy's been extremely reacitive, for some reason, the past two agility classes. She wasn't coming back, was jumping the gates...etc.

 

I think Joy's racist.

 

She hasn't been "enjoying" white dogs.

 

At our last class, Joy was not being reactive. She was being downright aggressive. When she would go to the other dogs, she would roll over and 'submit', but this white GSD she was acting really mean. She was lunging, growling, hackles up, snarls...etc. When she does that w/ other dogs, it's frustration at a barrier-in this case a leash. When she's off leash she's fine. Anyways, she was NOT being nice to the WGSD...on leash or off. She's never been like that before, except with our chiX. That's only because he's an instigator. She doesn't even get aggressive with ours. Just plain annoyed, and she puts her foot down and doesn't put up with nonsense.

 

We have a class tonight, and the trainer called dad to tell him that me and Joy can't participate until its under control, and we can only attend private lessons.

 

I'm crushed :rolleyes: I've done everything in my power to make things good for Joy, lay down the foundation she needs, and be as good a trainer as possible. I feel like I've failed everything! Has this happened to anyone? The whole being expelled thing?

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We haven't been expelled but I can understand how crestfallen you feel about her behavior. My little miss Ceana is a battle as well. The best advice I can give you is not to give up. There are limmitations that you will have to accept until Joy is ready to move forward. Try and think of the situation as a challenge, it always cheers me up. The harder i work for Ceana the closer we will be and i know she will appreciate anything I can do to help.

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I agree! Having a reactive or challenging dog isn't always fun... but it is workable, and it is a challenge you can rise to meet.

 

My dog can learn (be taught) to be calm in any situation. I just have to be able to set up the success. If I can have him near a reactivity-trigger without being threatened by it, and if I can reward calm behavior in that situation, I can teach him to be calm near the trigger.

 

There are things where I can't set up a training situation, and I just have to manage them. That's the way it's going to be with my dog.

 

I'd wouldn't be surprised if there's some signalling going on between the GSD and your dog that neither you, your instructor, nor the other owner can see. If you can keep your dog on the other side of a fence when that white dog is around, and do some practicing, you may be able to work this through. Of course, that means the other owner has to be really patient and helpful. Not too common, but I've found lots of people like that to help me with my dog in the last three years.

 

Good luck!

 

Mary

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Yup. Trim wasn't "reactive" - there was no sugar coating it, she was outright aggressive. She was under control but she did this little flinchy thing when people would hold her that scared people, and on top of that she had no problem with biting any hand that was offering her the ball (in those days they "taught" the box by sticking the ball on the box and letting the dog take it out of their hand, or luring the dog up on the box with the ball). That wasn't aggression, it was just over-enthusiasm. But a bite is a bite and it still looked bad when I had to warn people not to tease her with the ball.

 

They couldn't deal with that and came up with a great solution that they sprung on me one night. They were "promoting" Trim to a new "advanced" flyball class, starting that night. The class was just me and Trim. Before that, when you finished the basic class you graduated to the team. They were too cowardly, frankly, to tell me that they didn't want us on the team.

 

I was pretty angry but as it turned out it was for the best. It just isn't worth it to spend your dog training time fighting those in charge. Dog training should be enjoyable or it will come out in the way you handle your dog and your progress with her.

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I was asked to leave a class with a dog (guess which one) who would not accept being manhandled by the class instructor.

 

Since I do not see why a dog should be manhandled by strangers in agility class unless it is an emergency, I was happy to leave that class. Mind you, this is a dog who will run for pretty much anyone who can handle in agility, just doesn't feel comfortable being physically grabbed.

 

It does sound like Joy isn't really ready for group classes -- something like a Control Unleashed program would probably be great for her.

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One quick question - why was she allowed to go up to the other dogs if she's being reactive?! I just posted yesterday about a class where dogs were allowed to greet face to face during "working time" on the course. I have a reactive girl myself who is perfectly fine if the others ignore her but goes a bit nuts when approached and honestly I, and others, don't see the reasoning between dogs interacting when they should be working. Could this have something to do with why you were dismissed?

 

If I remember correctly, you posted a while back about similar issues and were given some good advice, you might want to look up that thread again and perhaps take a break from agility to work on the issue exclusively.

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I was never officially "expelled" from a class, but I ended up leaving one voluntarily because Speedy had a reactive "episode", but then was not allowed back in when I reconsidered.

 

In order to be allowed to take any more classes with him, I had to take him through a reactive dog class and then start over with basic. In the long run it was for the best, though. I learned excellent skills in the reactive dog class that got me on the right path to learning to help him deal with those kinds of situations. It would have been really cool if CU had been around back then, but we did OK over the long haul.

 

In the end I elected not to put him back in Agility - we went into other things where he was able to keep a better handle on himself.

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I feel like I've failed everything! Has this happened to anyone? The whole being expelled thing?

 

It isnt failure it is just about taking a step back and starting Joy off in a less reactive environment. It sounds like the agility environment is too much for her at the moment. I had a dog just like this who also reacted to GSDS. I spent time quietly working obedience with her at distance and eventually she came to accept the GSDS. I actually withdrew her from agility because it tended to over excite her to the point of being over her threshold even though she was very focussed.

 

As it happens she ws diagnosed with mild ED so I had to withdraw her anyway but I suspect that she would have had difficulty dealing with a trialing environment.

 

But there are reactive dogs out there trialling successfully so dont lose heart.

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I curious as to why your instructor did not offer to help you through this problem or recommend someone who could help you.

 

Because I am thouroughly convinced now that my instructor has no idea what she's doing.

 

BUT this has given me an opportunity to check out new trainers:

 

http://www.cultivatedcaninetraining.com/

 

and there is a CU seminar coming to IL in May, and leslie mcdevitt is doing private lessons, and i'm getting signed up...super exciting!

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and there is a CU seminar coming to IL in May, and leslie mcdevitt is doing private lessons, and i'm getting signed up...super exciting!

 

Phenomenal! If anyone can get you on the right track with Joy's situation, Leslie can!

 

I'm taking a private with her in April in Maryland! :rolleyes:

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Because I am thouroughly convinced now that my instructor has no idea what she's doing.

 

BUT this has given me an opportunity to check out new trainers:

 

http://www.cultivatedcaninetraining.com/

 

and there is a CU seminar coming to IL in May, and leslie mcdevitt is doing private lessons, and i'm getting signed up...super exciting!

 

That's what it sounds like to me too :rolleyes: I'm glad you're being given the opportunity to find a place and a trainer that can actually help you through your problems.

 

You're in IL? So am I! What area?

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