Wednesday 28 August 2013

Restrained recalls - help!!

Quick question before I launch into what we have been up to. Has anyone else who reads this (all 4 of you, lol!) had a problem with their puppy disliking restrained recalls? The shelties were never keen about being restrained by other people but would happily tolerate me or Matthew. Sparkle is happy for me to restrain and send her to a dead toy but as soon as someone else restrains her she gets stressed (could easily be mistaken for her being keen to get to me)  She tolerates it the first time but then won't go near the person again, even if its Matthew. I have been working hard to put it on a command which means go to the person I'm pointing at and let them hold your harness - so far she is getting it well but I'm not moving that far away. Anyone else got any tips about how to make it a more pleasant experience for her? I know its not the end of the world if she won't cope with it but its odd as she is such a bubbly, happy little puppy. I'm not sure if its part of the teenage stage? I have to say generally though that since my last post she has been great again so maybe she was having an off couple of days! Back to walking nicely, not screaming at dogs running and being much calmer. Thanks to everyone who has helped so far!

I took Dolly and Sparkle to Hawbridge on Sat and the spaniel did good! Dolly dog managed to get 2nd in the Gamblers (didn't get the gamble though!) but she worked her contacts lovely :)  She had a pole in the Beg Steeplechase but would have come 2nd and she came 2nd in a big Beg Agility class. She shot through the weaves like a rocket!

On Sunday we went to FAB Dorset (only 2 hours away so not too bad) for the final IFCS Qualifiers. The older two only had two runs (Agility and Snooker) as they had spread the four qualifying classes over the two days again. Brax was a little star and came 3rd in the agility, very close to the first two dogs. She had a weird moment at the start, I'm not sure she heard Matt release her?



Brodie along with all the mini's got E'd in Agility. I was pleased that he did his dog walk as it was the first time after being blown off. Both him and Brax got a qualifying score in snooker. Brodie was just wild!! He loves snooker - lots of running around!!



Little Brooke was a good girly as she had to concentrate with Lian there and she finds Grandma soooo exciting! She couldn't hold it togther in the Jumping and had an airy fairy moment but redeemed herdelf in the agility with a lovely run that won her the class!!

Hopefully we will find out about the IFCS Qualifiers results soon - little Brax was very consistent but then so were many of the toy dogs. They were probably one of the strongest categories with many dogs already having competed internationally. Also we didn't do all of the qualifiers whereas some did so that puts us at a disadvantage points wise. We have had great fun doing the courses and learning more about running games. Also it has given me some things to work on! Whatever happens we are on a fun agility journey :)





3 comments:

  1. LOL re all 4 (I'm the same) Khandi didn't mind who held, Ellie well she was the opposite not too kean! Hopefully Sparkle will come around, dogs just love to throw something new at us!Lovely runs, just love watching the wee pocket rocket!

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  2. I wouldn't worry too much about sparkle, she's improved so much in the last week! It was like a different dog on Tuesday. Good luck to brax and Brodie on the IFCS results, they're stars!

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  3. Sixx hates being restrained too! If Dan does too many with her she wont go near him!

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