# A-frame fear...



## vleffingwell (Jan 12, 2011)

Abby is afraid of the A-frame. She tries to dodge it or will go up so slow that she struggles to get to the top. We lowered the A-frame and will be working on that in class. She is glued to my side which is bad in class because we are teaching the dog to work by sound and not sight so we don't have to run with them! She won't take another step up the obstacle without me right by her side. 
I am sure others have had this issue. My question is what did you do to build up their confidence?


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Bumping up and wondering if you've read the Control Unleashed or CU puppy books before. I'm not home to check my copy but seems like she had some great thoughts on working through an issue like this. (I am new to agility so will be interested in answers you receive here)


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

We've only done a little bit of agility but experienced the same thing a couple years ago when Zoe was introduced to agility and again recently when we started doing a little again. If you're taking a class your trainer should have ideas about how to deal with this. They include lowering the height of the frame, staying close alongside and luring with treats,and making sure that your dog gets moving forward before getting onto the A frame. I think seeing the other dogs do it also helps. In our class the teacher had Zoe repeat a few times in succession and each time she did it faster. If you make it fun their confidence will build.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I've been known to 
- climb the A-Frame with them 
- climb the other side and dangle a meatball on their side of the apex
- dangle a tasty treat and let them nibble as they move up and over the AFrame

Teach Abby how to climb, and how to halt. Using a pause table at the end can help them learn their end behaviour by letting them get on the table and then practice their ending position, which helps teach rear end awareness and how to rock back once they hit the end - the end position should be trained seperately since not knowing how to stop can result in their not wanting to climb the frame.

Lower the height and stay with her, distance will come naturally once she becomes confident and loves the obstacle. Take your time; the contact obstacles have many, many factors for the dogs to learn.

Oh - and really high value treats - I was not kidding when I said I use meatballs - I buy garlicky meatballs at the store that are really smelly, liverwurst and I use really nasty 'food' like BeefARoni, that whipped cream in a can stuff. Make it truly worth her while to try that scary thing (you have checked there are no physical problems? )


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I hope Sunrise and some of the other agility people chip in here... (doh - they did - I just took too long to type!  )

I was going to say yesterday that when I did agility with my two adult boys (this would be Sammy and Danny, and I meant they were 5 and 7 when they started) - it's easier if they do not get a chance to develop any fear when it comes to obstacles. So have the equipment set low while the dogs learn them and develop confidence and balance before you start increasing the difficulty. 

The way we taught our guys to run in agility was an evolution of what they learned in obedience. So yes, we started out next to the dogs and with the dogs either on leash or with treats in front of their noses - taught commands for each obstacle so that as we started building distance, they pretty much went to the obstacles we told them to as opposed to running off and creating their own course. 

This way - they pretty much were solid in the agility ring. I think with goldens it can be pretty tough training them to do some of those "scary" obstacles - because they are not (in my opinion) instinctive dare-devils as some of those other breeds out there. So I wouldn't rush them...


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

I like the idea of lowering the A-Frame. If you could, I would lower it all the way so she would be running on it while it is flat. One of the keys is to get some speed before she gets on the A-Frame so she doesn't have to scramble at the top, which may be scaring her (the fear she won't be able to make it over). Once you get it at a low setting that she is comfortable with, I would start working distance at the lower height and then once you are happy with the distance, start raising the A-Frame very slowly.

Is she having problems with the Dog Walk too?


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## vleffingwell (Jan 12, 2011)

She has no problems with the teeter or dog walk. I actually had a reading done on her before we even introduced her to the A-frame and the psychic said "she is afraid of the A-frame" I thought "hmm, she hasn't even seen it yet, that can't be right....." but I guess she was seeing into the future!
I am going to buy the material and make one for me to work on at home. I think once a week won't progress as much as every day and the trainer won't let me work along side her as we are working on getting them to work ahead. 
My dear rainbow bridge Annie was so good in Agility - she was always head of the class and seemed to study on her own. Abby is quite a challenge!


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