Contact surface issue

A

Auntkhaki

Forums Novice
Has anybody ever had a dog refuse a contact at a trial that had a drastically different surface texture than the one they are used to practicing on? My dog refused every contact at a trial just a few days ago. He'd get on then jump right off and then refuse to get on again. JWW was excellent so I don't think it's a foot or leg problem. It was just so strange! Contacts are a non-issue in practice so it caught me totally off guard.
 
Contacts

I have never had that problem at all with my dog or even my puppy in training.My dog has been overseas competing and has done USDAA and NADAC and overseas their contact equipment is different.
 
I've never experienced this either. I've got several started agility dogs who have been on different agility equipment in many different places (they've been on wood, fiberglass, and metal equipment).
Is this perhaps a novice dog who has not competed before? If so, perhaps the dog was just scared in general at its' first trial.
 
I've not had this happen, either, but a woman at one of our trials said something that may (or may not) be relevant. She has an older dog that has had knee problems. She only enters him in a few events if she feels he is up to it. However, at the trial he refused the A-frame and the teeter. She said that he does this when his knees are bothering him. He doesn't refuse jumps--so maybe it's a knee problem?

Or have you taken the pup back to the contact obstacles he's used to? Does he still refuse?
 
This was his second competition and I considered nerves. He seemed very at ease, although his standard run was later in the day, about 5 hours between that and his jww. I failed to mention he did it on 2 consecutive days. He is a fairly green dog even though we've been training for about 2 years. He has class tonight - we'll see if he does his contacts. If not I'll have to investigate that it may be a physical issue - I hope not. He's only 4 and just getting started!
 
Contacts

Maybe he needs to be ajusted by the chiropractor. Every few months I get Shadow done. When he used to pop out of the poles I knew he needed to be done . Where are you located and what venue are you doing?
 
Well, back from class and he did the a-frame like it was his long lost friend! I guess maybe it was just jitters. Who knows - he does have mind of his own. I'll keep working the contacts hard. Hopefully that, and a little more experience, will keep the train wreck from repeating itself.
 
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