How to make Yoshi stop nipping at my hands in agility

[Nuno1123]

Hi, long time since I don't post any doubts. It's actually a good sign cause Yoshi as come a long way since her fearfull days. At 10 months she is very much confident and strong.

She has become very fast and quick learner in agility practice too. She is one of those super excited border collies while watching the other dogs going to work. She barks like crazy! But that doesn't worry me too much, what is actually getting into my nerves (well, not that much but I would very much appreciate she stop doing it) is her nipping my hands (sprecially when I have to point down - like when she has to touch a spot in an obstacle). It's not like she's eating my hand but...

What's your expert advices in this one?

Thanks

[Blackdawgs]

I would work on improving the dog's obstacle focus and independence and teaching the dog to work away from you. The dog can only bite you if your hands are in range of its mouth.

[CMP]

Or, if she loves it so much, stop doing it when she nips. That will solve it quickly, one imagines.

[d112358]

I would work on improving the dog's obstacle focus and independence and teaching the dog to work away from you. The dog can only bite you if your hands are in range of its mouth.

 

This. If her eyes (and by extension, teeth) are that focused on your hands, you need to be handling her with no hands for a while so that she learns her job, as well as following your gaze and your other body cues. When you add hands back in, keep them low and understated. It's a natural tendency for us as handlers to gesture emphatically, particularly when the dog doesn't quite get it, and that usually just makes the dog focus more on our hands and less on the job at hand.

 

Also, at 10 months there's only so much you can expect from her - I wouldn't be doing much more than ground work at that age, with a toy in my hand almost constantly. The only contact I'd do with a dog that young is a table or contact trainer, and both of those can be taught without pointing.

[Nuno1123]

I know she is very young but so energetic and athletic that she looks older... BUT, we as everybody advices, only do small jumps (athought she can do high jumps easy) and some obstacles, where she's learning contacts. It's also my first time at agility training so I'm still learning how to position myself and tell her comands... If I don't gesture, she doesn't do the obstacle and don't understand what I ask. So definitly something to work on. Thanks!

[Mmvmpb]

You should work on independence on both contacts and jumps, but her being so young you should only do ground work! So try to work on a plank for the contacts (not the all obstacle because it's to much for her age) and put the bars on the ground (don't let her jump!). She's too young to do much efforts because she's still growing.. it can cause problems in the future! Good luck!

[Nuno1123]

Being new to all these dog stuff and just because I'm very interesting in it, can anyone explain me why is it so bad for pupiles to jump? I mean, 20 years ago we had the same worries for humans and now it is known that you can work physical condition with younglings without putting extra weights, you can do jumping drills, as long as it's not a high repetition workout, while growing up.

 

By her self sometimes she jumps 1.00m obstacles in the park without me telling her anything, and even jumped from a wall that wass like 1.60m (almost killed me with an heart attack!!!).

 

I know that in a practice its a repetition problem but we only do like 3 or 4 times in a row... and then stop for a good amount of time (while others practice) and then do it again, and it's over, so it's not like we are pushing her over... I have to tell her no more myself lol

 

She has been practicing (once a week) with jumps of 20 cm height (more or less).

[Root Beer]

I had a similar issue with my Speedy in Freestyle. He got so hyped up by his own motion that he would grab my clothing.

 

The solution was off switch games from Control Unleashed. This particular element of the program isn't as well known as LAT or Give Me a Break, but it works beautifully to help a dog who gets too excited learn to keep his or her brain operating in those circumstances.

 

If you aren't familiar with this protocol, I suggest you check out one of the Control Unleashed books. It's not difficult to teach and once you have the basic game taught, you can incorporate Agility equipment VERY easily.

[Dragoon 45]

I have not seen this mentioned, but my solution was a herding stick when Zipp would lunge and nip. The stick I got was a 1/2" diameter fiberglass stick with a golf club handle on one end and rubber tip on the other, got from the local Atwoods. The way I used it was to hold it vertical like you would use a walking stick and tap it on the ground when he go super excited. I never threatened him with it, the stick never got within 5 feet of him. I would just tap it on the floor and tell him down. Now when he is not on the course he lays quietly and watches. On the course his behavior is great. It has been so long since he tried to lunge and nip I can't remember the last time he did it. I only had to carry that stick about a month when he decided to behave himself.

 

I had tried taking him off the course when he went crazy and that only seemed to make him worse the next time. Once he got started you could not literally do anything with him. You could not redirect him to something else. The herding stick was a last resort, but I was very much surprised how just the act of tapping it on the ground broke his concentration and settled him down.