Agility schnauzers, I need some advice on curbing the barking if that's at all possible!
We're currently on week 6 of an 8week block. We've previously done obedience where she's pretty barky on arrival but she's occupied with practicing various tricks etc and only really starts getting noisy when the teacher stops us to tell us something.
Cookie goes absolutely mental at agility! Not when it's her turn on the course, but when we're waiting and watching the others. Her bark is so crazed and quite different from normal and it's really difficult to pull her attention away. She's driving me nuts!
Generally she's not too bad with barking (considering she's a schnauzer!). She barks at the front door and when people walk past the back fence, which is fine by us, but not much else indoors.
On lead, she often does a bit of a manic bark and pulls to get to see whoever it is she's excited about seeing but as soon as she gets to them she stops.
Off lead she doesn't really bark that much, it's generally just a little roo that she does when she sees something that takes her interest.
So my thinking is that she's barking at agility (and in general) because she can't get to what it is she's excited about ie another dog going round the course. But short of letting her join in I can't think what we could do about that!
Last week at agility I managed to distract her most of the time when we were waiting by playing tug of war with her but feel like I'd just replaced one form of excitement (watching the other dogs) with another.
The only other thing that works quite well is using treats; making her sit, wait, lay, rollover, find it, all that stuff. It's achievable for the most part to keep her attention with this, however she's still in quite a high state of alert and I'd quite like for her just to be chilled and relaxed! Plus with using the treats I end up feeding her a whole treat bag and then some during a one hour class. Kongs don't hold her attention for that long.
So, any success stories of reducing the excitability/ barkiness of your schnauzer? Is it something she might grow out of (she was only 1 in April)? Or do I just have to put up with it?!
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Very noisy at agility!
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Very noisy at agility!
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- Bon-bon
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Re: Very noisy at agility!
Bonnie is due to start agility at the beginning of September so I'm hoping she's going to behave - she always gets so excited when there are other dogs around. We're currently going to good citizens classes and she has a bit of a barking issue with one of the other dogs so trainer has advised me that if she starts barking to remove her from the room, let her quieten down then return. Perhaps you could try similar with Cookie.
- lj_thorne
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Re: Very noisy at agility!
We are starting sat with Albert at agility so I'll let you know how we 'manage' his woofiness!
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Re: Very noisy at agility!
We started last Sat. None this week there's an obedience competition going on, whatever that is So we will be at week 2 the same time and can compare noteslj_thorne wrote:We are starting sat with Albert at agility so I'll let you know how we 'manage' his woofiness!
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- Al T
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Re: Very noisy at agility!
Don't know if it will work for you but it certainly has for us, not in agility classes I must admit, but general walking & coming across other dogs...the water pistol! I'm amazed how effective it's been...6 pack in the 'party paraphernalia' section in Asda for £2.00...I'm only 2 weeks in on this technique but now I only have to show it to Norman / Ruby & Harry & they stop before they've even started in most cases...I only wish I'd heard about it 6 years ago!!
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Re: Very noisy at agility!
A kong with treats in it, something like that or Nina Ottosson dog puzzle toys, Wookie's got Nina Ottosson Dog Cassino & Tornado.
Practising sits, waits, downs, rollovers etc
Practising sits, waits, downs, rollovers etc
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- AlyW
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Re: Very noisy at agility!
Eek, that's close to home!! Bob is starting agility on Monday (he's 15 months) and he likes to bark at other dogs when they are excited so I'm expecting a noisy few sessions. He always calmed down after a few weeks in our training classes as long as he was being distracted by other instructions (sit, down, touch etc) so I'm hoping he'll be the same at agility... Fingers crossed. I know from experience he will never be "chilled" in these situations. I don't mind as long as the distraction technique works...it means I get a mental work out as well as him!!