# Who's training who?



## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Well, at least you were smart enough to pick up on what Lizzy was doing. Next time you get a fantastic run like you had, jackpot rewards and leave the building. Nothing that happens next is going to be as good. You can come back in 10 minutes or so, but exiting the building would be my suggestion. 

And yes, poodles remember where they got a treat. Noelle heels with her head up in the shampoo aisle at the store because she got treats for heeling there once.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I think I have said to be wary of over drilling a smartie pants poodle too many times or risk having them try to do something different because they think they were wrong. It is too bad that Lizzy doesn't care about toys because a toy could be a good substitute for some of the treats.


Javelin doesn't care about toys, except for his tug toy. He is highly motivated for it and I only bring it out during training. At home we take an occasional round with a flirt pole instead. He likes food rewards, but to keep that from becoming an expectation I alternate treats, tugs and hugs (a jump up for petting with my invitation).


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

LizzysMom, a lot of the training in agility is actually training YOU and how you are supposed to move and position your body to direct your dog. Have you considered leaving Lizzy in her crate while you run, or at least walk around the course pretending you have a dog? I mean moving around it seriously as if you had a dog, making certain your positions are correct? After doing it a few times, then take Lizzy out and run her. Sometimes it's best to practice without the dog. 

Lately I've switched to huge jackpots after a run - it works better for us and is practice for what you will do in competition.

Also be careful about those jumps - there are more jumps on the agility course and while they were probably the easiest to train, they do take physical effort on the dog's part to jump them. You want them to be as high value as the apparatuses that you are more heavily treating. Otherwise she may see a high treat value apparatus near a jump in competition and she will ignore you and run to that.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

Lizzy's Mom, if it's all right with you I'd like to give a copy of your post to my agility teacher. I think she would really enjoy it - even if she does have Aussies!


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## alyspring (Jan 8, 2017)

LizzysMom said:


> 1) Training is supposed to fun for Lizzy. She is not really toy-motivated, so, in her case, treats = fun.


Have you considered using a toy that holds food and tossing it on her line for her to chase? The motion of the toy and the chase can create drive, and at the end she'll still get the food that she loves.

I've used the lotus ball and the treat hugger from Clean Run (www.cleanrun.com) with Willow. She's my first agility dog and we're still a very green team, but these have helped a lot with building drive in her.


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Lucky is enrolled In agility and I have the exact same problem as you. He is very sensitive and smart so you can’t overdo training. I am thankful that our trainer allows us to bring the equipment home. I can have a 5-10 min mini session with Lucky every day. Sometimes we go to the neighborhood playground to train off hours. It is a 5 min car ride from my home. If you go while they are children, you get the stink eye from the parents lol. 

Lizzysmom I think you are doing a great job and a lot of it is patience and perseverance.


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