Barking while in line

Welcome to the "I'm going to bark off my head because I WANNA RUN NOW NOW NOW!!!" club.

Ugh. I would definitely stop the "at home I'll say enough and give her a snack and she'll stop". Or at least, make her stop before you treat her. You want to treat the things you want, quiet. Versus giving her a treat to quiet her. Trust me, I do it and it has it's value, but honestly, it's not doing much long-term.

I'd agree with everyone else. It's exhausting to keep your dog busy 24/7, but you don't want the excitement to stop.....unless Crouton is like Koji and can't think when he's overly excited - I have to calm him down prior to runs, because if he's crazy, he doesn't focus.

Another thing you can do (and I want to figure out how to do this myself), is to teach crouton to hold a toy in his mouth. There's this handler that has a dog that gets so excited.....but she's, the dog, has learned that she must keep the toy in her mouth and lie down. She is so antsy lying down and you watch her squirming, but she's not barking, not running around, etc. You basically teach the dog that it's better to lie down and chew on the toy when excited, versus barking.

Again, I have no idea how (probably using the Premack principle), but I gotta find out. lol
 
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I came across this article, "When Excited Become Rude". It utilizes clicker training, not sure if you do that or not. But I thought either way, it'd be good for anyone who has this issue too. As, my dogs behavior is VERY rude, lol.

http://www.clickertraining.com/files/Emma_Clean_Run.pdf

or

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/39

You have to register first, but it's free. I haven't read the article in its entirety, but honestly, it's for me, that much I know.

For those that have Clean Runs this old, it's from April 06.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions you guys are right about her being so enthusiastic about running the course that she's barking and I love that she's so excited, and I agree I shouldn't squash her spirit for the sport. She doesn't bark when she's running and she's totally focused, but I can kind of tell the teacher and classmates are getting annoyed.

The Teacher makes comments like "shush Crouton" and essentially she's telling me to shush my dog. I think I will try bringing her pull toy and playing tug but I have a feeling she'd rather watch the other dogs and bark. I think the best thing to do is to redirect with training obedience. If all that fails then I'll do the crate (which I did in nosework class and got a ton of whining)

Oh and ClantyreSheltie and K9kreationz I'm sorry I mistyped, I meant I would say enough and if she stops then I'll give her a snack. But also I wonder if she could take it as "I will bark and then she'll tell me enough and I can get snacks that way". Is this rewarding her behavior? And another thing is she'll do her alarm rowrowrow chain bark and after I say enough and stops, she gets her snack but then she waits for about 2 seconds and then does another few single barks. Then I'm at a loss for what to do... what do you guys do?

k9kreationz- YES thanks for linking that article because it seems Crouton's personality is half sweet/sensitive and half RUDE.
 
If she likes barking to get revved up have you ever thought of switching to flyball? At flyball barking while waiting for a run is not detered because it gets their adrenalin pumping and helps then run faster and more focused. You should see little Tully barking her socks off at flyball. Funny though, she doesnt bark at agility - either she gets the difference or it just doesnt get her that revved up.
 
Have you tried covering the crate with a sheet or something? If you take away being able to see it, often they won't continue the barking/whining
 
Che is only motion sensitive so it is enough to remove visual stimuli, i.e. sit with my face out and his face to the wall to avoid most of the problems. I play
games, give small amounts of treats etc to keep him busy. If I want to watch, off he goes to the crate, covered with blanket or to the car. This is just management as I have no hopes to eliminate motion reactivity out of herding dog...:rolleyes2:
Leo has visual and auditory sensitivity and a brat to begin with so he is one tough cookie at his 7 month old. We resorting to all kinds of things, getting him used to sounds, sitting at far distance during agility runs, even scruff holds and and nose holding with encircled fingers "no bark". Leo is tough and can take it, so I am not afraid of offending his feelings.
I have read article above and yeah, I am following just about same guidelines... one VERY big exception is auto check in which I consider biggest achievement. Auto- check in is coined by Susanne Clothier and is being widely taught at foryourK9 group that I take classes at. It is similar to " look at me" command expect "LaM" is a trained behavior and really does not change dog or his reaction while auto check in is voluntarily given and offered as inner reaction and thus is stronger, more meaningful and is created out of relationship between human and animal.
You start somewhere in quiet location and away from distraction, give your pup about 2-3 feet of leash space and wait. Eventually your pup gets tired and looks at you "what are we doing?" jack pot with 5-15 small treats given one a time and keep going. Slowly increase distraction level or decrease distance. Keep going. It is relationship where dog, when new situation arises asks human "should I be worried?" and human tells "I've got it covered, relax" dialog...or at the height of situation "may I chase that squirrel?" before jerking leash out of your hand and dragging you with them...:lol:
Gotta tell that we can now walk the streets without Mr Leo lunging and barking at every car...:yes:
 
Wow your suggestions really worked especially with the distracting her with obedience and rewarding her for checking in because she was really focused on me this class, she just got bored in line and wanted to do stuff. She tried to bark while the teacher was setting up and the other dogs were running but it was just a few and then we'd do some tricks or I would physically block her view. THANKS!! :biggrin2:
 
Crouton said:
Wow your suggestions really worked especially with the distracting her with obedience and rewarding her for checking in because she was really focused on me this class, she just got bored in line and wanted to do stuff. She tried to bark while the teacher was setting up and the other dogs were running but it was just a few and then we'd do some tricks or I would physically block her view. THANKS!! :biggrin2:
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Great news!

Thanks for the update.
 
Crouton said:
Wow your suggestions really worked especially with the distracting her with obedience and rewarding her for checking in because she was really focused on me this class, she just got bored in line and wanted to do stuff. She tried to bark while the teacher was setting up and the other dogs were running but it was just a few and then we'd do some tricks or I would physically block her view. THANKS!! :biggrin2:
Click to expand...

That was just too easy. lol.
Glad to hear things are a LOT better with Crouton.

Just wondering....are you trialling yet? Since you're in the "area", I just wonder if I'll see you at trials.
 
k9kreationz said:
That was just too easy. lol.
Glad to hear things are a LOT better with Crouton.

Just wondering....are you trialling yet? Since you're in the "area", I just wonder if I'll see you at trials.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. I know it was easy wasn't it? The only thing is that i turn my back to the teacher to block her view when we sit and wait for each dog to run, so I have to keep turning around to listen to the teacher but small price to pay to not have everyone mad at me.

I'm not trialling yet we're just in the advanced class she doesn't have her weave poles down yet. She will do half the weave poles and then run straight to target and do a touch and look at me like "look mom I found a shortcut, gimme snacks"
 
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