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Originally Posted by Dougal&Little  We didn't start doing agility til Dougal was about three. I think it takes longer for long-lived dogs to mature anyway. Dougal used to run off all the time - the trick is bribery! Carry really good treats to agility training. Practice your recall at the park. When your dog runs off - run away from him and make exciting noises he'll come and check you out - then reward reward reward for coming to you. |
Thanks for the tips! Paddy will be two this spring (in March) so maybe we will just kind of introduce him to the obstacles so he's familiar with them, and not really any hardcore training until next spring.
That is a good idea to run away from him and make noises when he runs away. He plays the "catch me" game when he gets out, and it really scares me because he does it at my parents' house where they have coyotes and other predators like hawks. Last time he went into the woods and we couldn't find him for an hour! He was just zooming around us. When he finally came home he was covered in burrs and mats. My nephew thinks it's hilarious to let him out like that and does it when no one is looking (my nephew is two and has learned to unlock and lock all the doors) Maybe by running away from him like that he will think I'm playing a better game and come running back. I will try it next time! Bribing with a treat works well when he has wandered away and is being stubborn about looking/smelling something, but when he is zooming around the yard like that, I can say "Sausage" all I want (that is what I call his treats) and he will not return
A lot of the obstacles can be trained on-leash though, right? So I can introduce the concepts. He is really good at training, he is just so immature!
My MIL has a super smart german shepherd that is beautiful, and I would love to see doing agility as well. I was thinking it might be fun to try training them both. Is it difficult to train two dogs at once, or should I do them one at a time?