Dog Rushing At Judges

[sheena]

I have a lady who comes along to our monthly mock trials & she has a lovely dog, border collie, who is currently competing at Novice level in Agility Trials. She is a great little dog & is doing really well, but she has started rushing at the judge. She is not just running up to the judge to say hello, it is almost aggressive, some barking, but never teeth bared. I think she is trying to chase the judge away. It is not something she has always done, it only started about 6 months ago & her owner is at her wits end. I have been the "mock" judge a few times & I have tried not making eye contact with her but it makes no difference. I have suggested LAT & am going to work her through that over the weekend & I will also have a look through Leslie McDevitt's other stuff to see if anything may be helpful. Has anyone got any ideas on this & how it might be fixed other than LAT, which I have had lots of success with in the past, so it was the first thing that came to mind.

Edited July 9, 2013 by sheena

[The Spotted Devil]

Agree with working with LAT sheena. Other than that lots of impulse control games under high arousal (so intense tugging into outs, sit stays under intense arousal etc) away from equipment to begin with. I think the trick would be to go back a long way and not even attempt running agility at the mock trials until the dog can play LAT with the mock judge. Then add one jump at a time.

[Chequeredblackdog]

Just think out loud here, maybe the dog is feeling 'threatened by having someone on the course? Do you know if the dog does it to a familiar person(judge) ?

I know a dog that got a fright when a judge 'suddenly appeared' as the dog came over an A frame. Ever since this dog has always kept an eye on any judge in the ring.

Maybe along with LAT she could try getting someone to 'judge' training so the dog learns that the 'judge' is just another part of agility?

(Not sure if any of that made sense )

[sheena]

Evidentially, she can be inclined to do it to any strangers that encroach on the course & she will react to strangers while out walking, but only when OFF lead which is unusual. Normally a dog feels most threatened when on lead IMO. We will work on the LAT, now that I know she is also funny with strangers that will give us more opportunity to work outside of trial-like situations before bringing strangers into her training sessions.

[Agility Dogs]

Agree with working with LAT sheena. Other than that lots of impulse control games under high arousal (so intense tugging into outs, sit stays under intense arousal etc) away from equipment to begin with. I think the trick would be to go back a long way and not even attempt running agility at the mock trials until the dog can play LAT with the mock judge. Then add one jump at a time.

Totally agree with this. I don't think the dog should be allowed to rehearse this behaviour - before we even start to talk about the possibility of an enforced holiday from agility. I know some judges would take a VERY dim view of that behaviour and would report the dog.

It's something that the owner really needs to get on top of before they venture back into the competition ring. I think more value on the game and impulse control are the keys.

ETA - a lot of young dogs are very wary of the judge - this just seems to be an escalation of that, but needs to be worked through because of the potential ramifications.

Edited June 19, 2013 by Agility Dogs

[Nekhbet]

not necessarily unusual, the dog obviously has some territoriality issues that need a behaviorist ASAP before it bites someone.

Get a hold of Pet Resorts Australia if you can and get the dogs behavior looked at before even attempting any more agility. Rushing behavior and barking is probably only the tip of the iceberg

[alpha bet]

Lots of things to consider here - even the age of the dog is relevant. This behaviour definately needs to be addressed before it escalates and she would have a dog that has some real problems and will be kicked out of competition.

Would not even attempt any further work in agility until the dog is calm and steady around people and other dogs in general. Sounds like this dog is working on competition without having the basic skills to deal with the human world at large.

[corvus]

I don't think it's obviously territoriality. Given an agility ring is presumably neutral territory. With herding breeds they can tend to default to driving behaviour when they are very aroused and uncomfortable with something. I would assume the dog's not comfortable with the environment, which may or may not be specifically the judge. What does the owner do if the dog makes a mistake in the ring? How have they been dealing with the problems with strangers so far? Is there something in particular that is likely to trigger this? Is it happening every time or occasionally?

[Zug Zug]

That must be frustrating for the owner!

Just a comment that the stranger problems off lead while on walks does seem to add weight to the idea that it is the high arousal that sets the scene for this behaviour. And agility courses are certainly highly charged environments aren't they? So I would agree with the idea of practising high arousal games with distractions away from agility for a while, then only gradually making their way back to agility.

My dog gets too charged up by the other dogs running their courses. We too have had to stay away from agility while he learns to be calm. I was very disappointed that this happened, but he's a young dog and it's more important to get him working sensibly first. In our case, it will be at least another year before we attempt agility again, and not until I've a lot more confidence in his stability and confidence than I currently do.

I suspect the same may apply here, although the issues sound more mild than with my dog who just can't think at all around an agility environment currently.

[sheena]

Just thought you might be interested in an update on this dogs problem :) Three weeks ago, I introduced the owner to the LAT game & lent her my "Controlled Unleashed" book. She came to our mock trial last night & it is a different dog. With all the runs she did, the dog didn't even look at me, let alone rush & bark...I was the mock judge. In the jumping, she ran a few steps towards the mock judge, then turned around & ran back to her owner. Her owner was so happy, she came up & gave me a big hug in the middle of the course :laugh: That has never happened to me before, but it was such a lovely feeling to think that I may have been able to help someone :)

[The Spotted Devil]

Just thought you might be interested in an update on this dogs problem :) Three weeks ago, I introduced the owner to the LAT game & lent her my "Controlled Unleashed" book. She came to our mock trial last night & it is a different dog. With all the runs she did, the dog didn't even look at me, let alone rush & bark...I was the mock judge. In the jumping, she ran a few steps towards the mock judge, then turned around & ran back to her owner. Her owner was so happy, she came up & gave me a big hug in the middle of the course :laugh: That has never happened to me before, but it was such a lovely feeling to think that I may have been able to help someone :)

Fantastic Sheena! Please pass on my congratulations to the owner for LISTENING to you AND working on the issues at hand

[sheena]

Just thought you might be interested in an update on this dogs problem :) Three weeks ago, I introduced the owner to the LAT game & lent her my "Controlled Unleashed" book. She came to our mock trial last night & it is a different dog. With all the runs she did, the dog didn't even look at me, let alone rush & bark...I was the mock judge. In the jumping, she ran a few steps towards the mock judge, then turned around & ran back to her owner. Her owner was so happy, she came up & gave me a big hug in the middle of the course :laugh: That has never happened to me before, but it was such a lovely feeling to think that I may have been able to help someone :)

Fantastic Sheena! Please pass on my congratulations to the owner for LISTENING to you AND working on the issues at hand

SPD...she did cop some flack from others who saw her using the method, & tried to tell her that clicking & rewarding the dog for looking AWAY from you was all wrong, wrong, wrong. But when I used LAT on my dog I also copped heaps of almost abuse from others who "knew better", so I had warned her that it might happen. She is over the moon with the results & so am I.

[The Spotted Devil]

Just thought you might be interested in an update on this dogs problem :) Three weeks ago, I introduced the owner to the LAT game & lent her my "Controlled Unleashed" book. She came to our mock trial last night & it is a different dog. With all the runs she did, the dog didn't even look at me, let alone rush & bark...I was the mock judge. In the jumping, she ran a few steps towards the mock judge, then turned around & ran back to her owner. Her owner was so happy, she came up & gave me a big hug in the middle of the course :laugh: That has never happened to me before, but it was such a lovely feeling to think that I may have been able to help someone :)

Fantastic Sheena! Please pass on my congratulations to the owner for LISTENING to you AND working on the issues at hand

SPD...she did cop some flack from others who saw her using the method, & tried to tell her that clicking & rewarding the dog for looking AWAY from you was all wrong, wrong, wrong. But when I used LAT on my dog I also copped heaps of almost abuse from others who "knew better", so I had warned her that it might happen. She is over the moon with the results & so am I.

Oh yes, been there, got the t-shirt :D But the results speak for themselves....I always try to explain it to people in lay terms as best I can. I am getting a lot more "nodding" rather than frowning so maybe the point is getting across!

Good on you for supporting her through a difficult period

[Pretty Miss Emma]

My Kenzie will occasionally do things such as mentioned here. I just won't run her in ANKC agility, the environment is not yet right for her. I'm not prepared to run the risk of something going wrong. It is so rare for her to do such things, but it's a scary concept for me especially seeing as though I've worked so hard with her; I just don't ant her practising the behaviour. The couple of times it has happened I've immediately grabbed her and walked her out of the ring, I don't want her having any reward (and any bit of agility is self rewarding to her) whatsoever for that behaviour. I saw my first ANKC trial a few months ago, and I'm just not sure that we will ever be able to do one. I found that so many people were inconsiderate of dogs in the ring - playing with their dog right beside a piece of equipment or at the exit/entrance, etc, etc. i know you are supposed to have control over your dog (obviously!) but I also thought it would be nice for people to show some consideration to those who were in the ring, which I didn't really see. It's great to hear a success story though, I wish I had opportunity to practise the environment so that maybe one day we will get there! For now we will just focus on a bundle of different activities!! Oh and training to try to get the behaviour under control - consistently!!

[sheena]

I agree PME. That many times I have had a good run ruined by some inconsiderate thing that someone is doing with their dog outside the ring, including but not limited to, tying their yapping toy poodle up to one of the rings star pickets & people throwing balls to their dogs behind the rings & generally letting their dogs run loose behind the rings chasing balls. But, it's only a problem for those who's dogs are distracted by those things (not all dogs are), such as mine, so if I want to enjoy the game of agility, then I have to proof my dog against those distractions. By working with things such as LAT I have come a long way. We are not 100% proofed & never will be, but half the fun is in the training after all If I had waited till my dog was perfect & I was a perfect handler then we would never have got into agility & at my age, every day counts.

It's a pity more clubs don't hold mock trials, that way your dog can get a feel for trialing, & you can reward & train in the ring. Our club holds them every month :)