Here is another video from the trial over the weekend.
Some successes: He did not come out of the weaves to rush to the tunnel! (That is a classic move for him...) And look at my blind cross after the A-frame! (I don't think Porter even realized it!)
And the non-successes: Wrong tunnel entrance. Except for yelling "NO!" at the top of my lungs, there was no calling him away from that entrance :) There was no doubt in his little corgi mind that he was going in there.
So why didn't I yell "NO!" ? Because the rest of the run was beautiful. He was fast & driven. Even heading to the wrong entrance, he was confident & having a blast. One Q is not worth eroding that.
If I had chosen a different handling path that off-course wouldn't have been an option. But yelling at him on course could cause him to second-guess himself the next time. And that causes a dog to slow down. And not enjoy the game.
Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture :)
Jimmy gets that same "tunnel vision" at the bottom of the dogwalk. It can easily lead to blown contacts and the wrong end of the tunnel!
ReplyDeleteMy instructor teaches her dogs tunnels by saying nothing if the obvious end is the one to take, calling the dog's name if it is supposed to take the further tunnel entrance, and clapping her hands if the dog is not to enter the tunnel at all. Using this with consistency, her dogs are very accurate. Of course, with only very limited access to equipment, this is NOT how Jimmy is trained. We are much more hope and pray oriented ;-)
I have tried to develop my own tunnel/ discrimination system for Porter. But like you said, it's tough without a lot of access! And the tunnel itself is reinforcing, so even if they guess wrong, they are rewarded! :)
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