› Forums › Let`s play – Spring 2022 › Students › Ali and Mooli, 4 year old mixed breed, Spain
- This topic has 64 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 11 months ago by
Alison Elflett.
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March 9, 2022 at 12:41 pm #18170
Hello! We adopted Mooli when he was just under a year old. He’s my second agility dog and has two brothers (from another mother ?) at home. He is a complex soul; he can be a bit stubborn, is very intelligent and at times seems cocky, but can be insecure in environments he isn’t familiar with. He has both food and toy drive. He started enthusiastically in agility, and when he had learnt pretty much all the obstacles, began to refuse to start the course (sit or stand at jump 1 and not move). Today, this is slightly better in training, but he will sometimes start very slow and then go off course to sniff. When he DOES run, he’s amazing – fast, accurate and reads me very well – as well as seeming to REALLY enjoy it (making little grunts as he goes along.) I’m confused because sometimes it feels like he’s developed a habit, which goes like this: 1st attempt: don’t start / 2nd attempt: start and go slow / 3rd attempt: run the course fast and perfectly. In the last couple of trials we went to (I’ve stopped for now), he pretty much did the same – of four runs, two he didn’t even start, one he did and went slow and the last one he started AND ran fast.
I’ve joined the course because I’d like to build a stronger connection with Mooli, understand what really makes him tick and be a better playmate for him ? I feel I have a dog with masses of potential for agility (which is my passion, even if it’s a hobby – I only compete locally) and I hope to be able to increase his motivation for it. I also want to learn more about play for future dogs.March 9, 2022 at 8:34 pm #18177Welcome! Looking forward to meeting your boy and unlocking his potential! 🙂
March 10, 2022 at 11:19 am #18187Hi Polona! I have a query about the everlasting treat ball – which size to get. According to the link you sent, I should get the medium one for Mooli (he weighs about 13 kilos or 28 pounds) but I’ve read quite a few Amazon reviews that say the ball is on the large side. So now I’m wondering whether a small would be better. Can you advise? Thanks!
March 10, 2022 at 9:04 pm #18195Yes, small is probably better! 🙂
March 13, 2022 at 4:38 pm #18234This is our second Poke me – the first one we did indoors and the recording failed.
March 13, 2022 at 7:46 pm #18236Our first food throws. A bit of a mistake to wear those boots – they’re a bit too big for me and I couldn’t run properly 😉 Mooli loved this game!
March 13, 2022 at 7:52 pm #18237Catching treats. Mooli loves to play catching the hol-ee ball like this so I thought he’d be happy doing it with treats!
March 14, 2022 at 2:36 pm #18250Hihi, what a cool looking dude! And that is a nice start to all the games!
Poke me – I would try to bring slightly more structure into this game, so his energy and focus is not spreading so much between sniffing and not paying attention to paying attention. Given how much he loves thrown treats I would combine the two. You can sit like you did in the poke me session, show him the treat and create some anticipation, than throw a treat in the air for him to catch. Do that couple of times, each time creating anticipation first. At one point after creating anticipation, place the hand with a treat in front of you for him to poke. When he does, you can throw that same treat towards him to catch. It adds value to just getting food.
Food throws – nice. If you have a chance try them on a bigger field so you can really run away from him while he is busy chasing/finding the previous treat. That way you can encourage some full speed running and the desire to race with you. 🙂March 16, 2022 at 1:33 pm #18297Hi Polona, thanks for the feedback! Here are a couple more videos building on your suggestions. I also tried hide and seek but it was a shambles because I couldn’t get away from him quick enough. Will try again 🙂
March 17, 2022 at 2:06 pm #18309Hehe, here is a little trick for hide and seek – you can drop several treats on the ground, so he will take some time searching to find them all and you will have time to hide. I usually do that with a specific cue – “go sniff” or something like that, so the dog knows it is not just find one and look for the owner.
You can also try throwing a bit further if that can buy you more time… But this game is for sure easier to play where there are lots of trees/bushes/obstacles/walls around, so you don’t have to run very far to hide.And poke me + catching treats – that wen’t a lot better, no sniffing this time. :9 I would try to make it a bit less like a trick though. You can first hold the hand up to your chest and create some anticipation by saying “hmm, look what I have here, something special”, than present the hand to him without any cue, so you can reward natural interest and pushiness he displays. The way you rewarded him was really good! At times you can just get up and make a short round of throws before you sit again and ask for a few more pokes.
I would also add engagement game on the leash (as a start of food throwing/poke me session) and try to work on it in as many different environments possible.March 20, 2022 at 10:29 pm #18346Thanks, Polona! I finally found a good place to play hide and seek and I think it went ok. Am also sending our first engagement game. I get the feeling I’m doing something wrong here, but I’m not sure what. Also, Mooli tends to sit politely in front of me instead of jumping up (he came to us with this sitting behaviour already learnt).
PS I’ve just re-read your previous feedback and realise I should be kind of adding the games together a bit, so I’ll try that tomorrow.March 20, 2022 at 10:32 pm #18347Another question… While we’re doing the course, is it best to stop agility training completely??
March 21, 2022 at 12:30 pm #18361Yes, hide and seek looking good! When you hide in the last second and you know the dog saw you and he is approaching, you can also escape on the other side of the hiding place and make a chase out of it. Like for example at 0.25 where you were behind the tree. 🙂 Otherwise really nice attitude, he seem to enjoy this game a lot! And you can see he has no problems jumping on you here, so the fact that he doesn’t do it in engagement game is really just his pre-conditioned behaviour to be polite. But that is ok – you can reward attention (even if he is just sitting) with a lot of action – moving backwards and even letting go of the leash and running away to give fast rounds of food throws. He will get more energetic in his proposals. 🙂 Just keep an eye on one thing – when you are first starting, get in position and don’t move until he gives attention – only allow him as much space as the leash allows. If you stand still you limit his space so he will eventually get bored and look up. If you follow him around, it will take much longer.
” While we’re doing the course, is it best to stop agility training completely??”
It will be very useful to do it for the first couple of weeks. Breaks can do miracles on its own and if you use them to encourage drives without adding “difficulty” on it, it works even better. You can however go to agility field and use it to play LP games there. You can even do food throws with a tunnel or a jump in the middle, running by it and throwing on each end. And have him chase you around obstacles…March 21, 2022 at 2:00 pm #18366Thank you! So useful and motivating to get your feedback 🙂
March 21, 2022 at 10:57 pm #18379Poke me + food throws + catching treats. I love how excited he is in this one 🙂
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› Forums › Let`s play – Spring 2022 › Students › Ali and Mooli, 4 year old mixed breed, Spain
