# Dog Focus



## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Ok it's time I work on "focus" with Gabby. Oh trust me she has PLENTY of focus but really too much of the wrong stuff at the wrong time. 

We had another private on Saturday, and our class last night. Gabby has handler focus like there is no tomorrow... unless there are tunnels involved. Can we say vacuum?? Anyway, I need to shift her focus from me to the obstacles. This is proving to be a challenge, unless we put her toy on the floor. Then she will switch to object focus, but that still is not obstacle focus. I know she is young, I just worry that she gets so object motivated that this is not the best idea either. 

We were doing an exercise, where we went into a curved tunnel, I picked her up out and was to rear cross her (working on teaching this behavior) over a triple, then push out to a jump then a long run over several jumps finishing with a rear cross at the last obstacle. If we had continued the course, we would have needed that rear to get to the next obstacle. At first Gabby came FLYING out of tunnel one, and FLEW into tunnel 2. It was right next to the triple, and well she LOVES tunnels. Another new thing I must deal with. Belle was not a tunnel sucker. So we closed off the entrance of tunnel #2 so Gabby would not do that anymore, but then she had SO much handler focus she was sideways jumping the triple or not jumping it at all. FINALLY we put out a target, and low and behold, she locks on and flies over the triple. I know targets are good training tools and I do plan to use them, but she needs to learn without the "lure". Once we got her over the triple, she was great.... until the next rear cross, in which she once again looks at me and does not see the jump. Another target and that 'helped' but she missed jumps several times to get to that target. 

Gabby is OCD. No two ways about it. She is more lab like than Golden. I can't have treats in my hand, she obsesses about the food. I do keep a few in my pocket, so when she does a REALLY good job I can give her instant rewards. She has a tug toy. I had to stop carrying that. Usually I leave in a spot where we were waiting her turn, but then she can B line for it in the middle of her exercise. I have handed to my trainer or left it in a chair with success. I am glad she likes this toy, I want it to be a reward in itself, but she needs to work to get it. 

I need to clearly train her handler focus, obstacle focus and reduce object focus. Sometimes I am her object too. She is a challenge. A fun one for sure. Just a complete 360 degree change from what I am used to. BUT she does watch. Yesterday we did tight handling pieces and she nailed them every time. She watched. The only things that happened yesterday first was handler issue. We were doing fast weave entries. Gabby does not weave yet, so we have the channels wide open she is just running down the middle. She loves doing this. She came out of the tunnel the second time like a BULLET!!! Flew straight into the weaves, and I was way too far behind, so Gabby made a left turn out of the weaves to see where I was, and almost took me out. I was on her left. Note to self... GET OUT OF THERE WHEN SHE IS IN A TUNNEL!!!! With Belle I had to wait until she would see me on her way out. Need to teach this old dog a new trick. Then in one of the handling sequences, Gabby decided to take a short cut, and cut behind my knees. Fortunately I was moving slow, looking for her on my left, (she came to my right) so I was not in any danger, and Gabby QUICKLY realized that did not make mom very happy. We fixed it next time and she did great. 

But I think even those mistakes go back to focus. Her obstacle focus is the lowest. I need it to be the highest or at least AS high has handler.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

You do realize a zillion obedience people who suffer through putting hotdogs and other disgusting things in their mouths to get that focus are gawking at you in disbelief...


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I know. In obedience and on the dock she is just STARING at me. It's great really it is. It's that OCD part of her. It's just "I" am not the target in agility. LOL Oh she jumps all over on me too. 

When I do the dock event in Novi in November, I need someone to get pictures of Gabby as I walk down the dock before I release her. We play a stare down game to get her ready to SPRING down the dock. She doesn't blink. That is for sure.


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

lol.. not feeling sorry for you! Obedience should be a blast!


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

By the way Titan used to try to push me to go faster.. he will still do it in the obedience ring if I am not setting up fast enough in training..Sounds like he is going to attack me from behind with all the growling and jumping around..LOL!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I don't use food for/on targets very often, but I will use something else when initially teaching a dog to get its focus off of me. For instance, when I started teaching Flip directed jumping, all his focus was on me and if I wasn't inline with the jump, he wasn't going to go out of his way to get to me. So I put out some bumpers in line with the jump to teach him in this instance it's okay to put your focus elsewhere for a bit.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Ann - it is a balancing act for sure! There are probably hundreds of sequences that are designed to train the switching from obstacle to handler focus and vice versa. Once you find the triggers that work for you and Gabby, it will be easier but probably never easy; 

Casey is an obstacle focused dog.
Rowdy was a handler focused dog.

Towhee (obstacle) and Faelan(handler) both tend to favor one or the other, but are learning to switch and balance between the two.

Good luck and just think of how much ahead you are for tight sequences and obedience


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Sounds like she is doing wonderful to me! Don’t forget she is still a baby! I think a lot of things simply come from repetition and experience.

I will offer my thoughts, but I have learned that we have very different handling styles! So take it with that warning, I don’t want to mess up anything you are working on. I did not work on rear crosses until she was pretty confident working next to me, on both sides, through a sequence with no side change. When I read your post I thought of an old video and went back to watch it, Mira is 11 months old in this video, so just a tad younger than Gabby. Mira is not a tunnel sucker, never has been, so you will see she gets too focused on me (and the toy) in the middle of the sequence. My response is simply no reward, simplify, redo and reward when she gets it right.





 
Thought two about object vs handler focus. Have you done any practice where you have a tug or a treat and she needs to maintain eye contact with you to get it? This is something I have always worked on with Mira focusing on ME not the object. Let me know if you want a better description. It may be something you are already doing.

Good luck and have fun! I love hearing about Gabbygoo!


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Loisiana said:


> I don't use food for/on targets very often, but I will use something else when initially teaching a dog to get its focus off of me. For instance, when I started teaching Flip directed jumping, all his focus was on me and if I wasn't inline with the jump, he wasn't going to go out of his way to get to me. So I put out some bumpers in line with the jump to teach him in this instance it's okay to put your focus elsewhere for a bit.


I have not used treats on targets for Gabby for a long time. When I taught her targets I did what Bridget Carlsen does. Put the treat on it, send them then call them back REALLY fast (no shopping) give another treat. Once Gabby understood that exercise, no treats on targets. In fact... she actually retrieves the targets now. :doh: Might jump a few obstacles with it too. 

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's a process. Gabby is my clean slate. Belle was older when she started (over 2) so it is very different with a pup. 

Jessica, we have done that sort of stuff with Gabby at home. And no, no treat or toy unless she does a great job. Which is why I try leave it somewhere. Watching Mira in that video... she looks so big. LOL I know she isn't so that is why I noticed. Maybe the little jump, but there were big jumps in the picture too. I don't know. 

This weekend hubby is going to take Quinn to Cleveland OH for a trial (Annette Narel, Rhonda Crane are judges had to go) Gabby is going along too. Maybe I can play with her a little at a practice jump, and have Art video her. I should video some training sessions at home too. When we have them. If it rains, our back yard holds too much water. Of course we could set up at the park too....


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Take as much video as you can, it's nice to look back on as a reference.

Mira is not really small, she measured just a smidge under 22" for agility and a flat 22" for her CCA, which is pretty average! Of course when you see her next to Barley all the time! hehehe! You know how that goes!


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