Too Excited to Work

corbinam

corbinam

Moderator
I've never experienced this before, so I thought I'd ask here. It could apply for other sports, and even just training in general, but for Enzo it happens most often with agility.

The more often we work through something, the more amped up he gets. If another dog is working close by, he gets amped up even faster. He will still attempt to work in this state, but he's SO over the top that he's not really listening. He forgets how to sit, refuses to stay, and it's like his little brain is exploding with excitement. When he gets like this now, we try to ask for a very simple behavior and then call it quits.

I'm happy to keep training sessions shorter, but he is almost 1 and obviously when we start trialing (hopefully towards the end of the year!) he needs to be able to work for longer periods of time in high excitement environments.

My question is this--is this normal? Is it just because he is young? He's almost 1...hope if that's the case it wears off soon! Any tips on helping his focus?
 
This is how Bailey is when we train obedience skills. She is just too excited to work for food that she can't focus properly. She constantly bounces around trying to figure out what I want.

I don't have this problem as much in agility since we train as we're running.

Sorry that I'm not much help, but I just wanted to chime in and let you know that it is a problem for Bailey too.
 
When Sca was over 1 (flyball not agility) I at times wore a Sca hat because someone was running and he had squirmed up and up onto my head. Yes it was very hard to focus him when he was like that. He did calm down some but still gets wound up when someone else runs, though he can focus now (at 6 :lol:)
 
Oreo is a spastic nightmare recently. Forgets everything he has learned and just wants to run around and play like a maniac. He is in dogs faces, peoples faces, even the poor bunny. He just thinks that everyone is there to play with him and he walks on two legs into the agility barn.

I am losing my mind trying to figure out ways to get him to focus.

My best guess...it's the age. Oreo's birthday is 4/26.

We are working on focusing as well as getting him some extra exercise right now. Spring is in the air!
 
corbinam said:
I've never experienced this before, so I thought I'd ask here. It could apply for other sports, and even just training in general, but for Enzo it happens most often with agility.

The more often we work through something, the more amped up he gets. If another dog is working close by, he gets amped up even faster. He will still attempt to work in this state, but he's SO over the top that he's not really listening. He forgets how to sit, refuses to stay, and it's like his little brain is exploding with excitement. When he gets like this now, we try to ask for a very simple behavior and then call it quits.

I'm happy to keep training sessions shorter, but he is almost 1 and obviously when we start trialing (hopefully towards the end of the year!) he needs to be able to work for longer periods of time in high excitement environments.

My question is this--is this normal? Is it just because he is young? He's almost 1...hope if that's the case it wears off soon! Any tips on helping his focus?
Click to expand...

I just read something about this- reading a lot about beginning agility stuff so I can figure out how not to screw up the bi boys like I did Cran....
I think it said do something very easy so you can reward that and then take a break so that the puppy can refocus.
will look for that section to see exactly what it says....
 
We are working on this with Cruz as well. Up until this week, Cruz was the only pup in our class and now there are 2 more. He is constantly wanting to visit and play while everyone else is working.. or he gets distracted then doesn't listen and does whatever he wants. Our instructor has told us to give him an easy command and remove him from the situation for 1 minute.. usually we take him outside for a quick break. I'm constantly trying to remember that he is only 6 months old and his attention span is still very short.
 
Obedience class, his uncle was the same way. Lots and lots of rewards for controlled and relaxed behavior.
 
danisgoat said:
At obedience class, Oreo is an angel.

How do we get that behavior to follow through into the agility class?
Click to expand...

You expect the same at agility in terms of attention and focus.You can get excited but you need to listen. How do you train in obedience class and get focus, do the same at agility. I tug and play in agility but not to the point the dog loses its mind. At that point you are in arousal not drive. I don't let them go there. If we are approaching it we do something controlled. For Diva it was down. That dog downed more then she ran when she was young.
 
I think we artificially create this kind of temperament by doing *everything* with them while they are puppies. Right? Everything is control, control, control while they are puppies. Crate games, puppy classes, etc. I think create dogs who don't know any different.

I had this epiphany this week when I took Jase to his first agility class, and the instructor (who I will never take another class from) described all the behaviors she expected of dogs his age. Releasing from a crate, releasing to food, tugging, tugging, more tugging, restrained recalls, stays, more tugging (WHY?), target to a hand, target to a thing on the ground… etc.

Jase can sit and sometimes stay.

Then she tells me to go ahead and bring him into class, because he needs to get used to the "stimulation". Ok. We walked in, and he was like "oh this could be fun," and that was the end of his stimulation. I told her if there weren't sheep, it wasn't really going to blow his mind.

Anyway, I think we don't let puppies be puppies and learn independent thinking, so we get these kinds of dogs until they settle down.
 
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