# Cure for the social butterfly?



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Oh dear! Is that a common problem with goldens and agility? I wish you luck in fixing it!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Oh yes, I've certainly been there in obedience. What I have found works is to set up someone to tempt the dog to come to them. As soon as the dog leaves my area I tell him "no," go get him by the collar, bring him back to where we were, and release the collar and praise.


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## Tailer'sFolks (Feb 27, 2007)

I'll be watching for answers too. Tailer just has to go visit everyone...then he will listen again...after his social calls! Silly Dogs!


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

I'm thinking what I might do too is have someone else put her away in her crate for the next while when we're training, and set it up so if she does a social call she'll be collected and crated while I pretend to look for her. It did work for Bender though we had to set it up and tell the judge, and ignore the people on the sidelines who thought she'd been kidnapped by my friend who was waiting for her to pull that stunt. She did have a funny look on her face when she was being led away while I stood there calling - 'MOM! HELP!' but she sure cut down on socailizing after that.

Maybe I'll get away for some training soon...

Lana


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Some of our recent strategies:

1) Premack. Griff LOVES to go out in the potty yard at the training facility. If I let him loose at the front door (...shh....I teach there...no other dogs there at that time!) he runs STRAIGHT to the back and wants out. I was initially paranoid about him needing to go out and NOT eliminate in the building. But now we are on a firm NO LETTING HIM OUT rule. For correct responses, I cue Outside! and we race to the door and go out for about 30 seconds. This wouldn't work in a group setting, but huge improvement after one session.
2) Do more distraction work with other behaviors at home and/or in controlled class settings. 
3) Off property leash walks daily. In different locations. (...I am SOOOO guilty of not doing this one! I keep saying "I'm starting THIS week" and then we get massive amounts of snow or something comes up. Someone motivate me!).


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Teddi is a MAJOR social butterfly. In her agility class she and her buddy Rita were the party girls! However they did get some of the less social dogs more interested in being social. During class I have to keep her away from other dogs. So she continues to pay attention, I constantly keep her focused with a toy or a treat. She has an invisible boundary, if a dog or human crosses that line she is completely wanting to get in "their space". My ONLY saving grace is she is submissive. Most dogs don't mind her as a result. However I do want a dog to snark at her for getting too close. She needs to learn not all dogs want you around. I think only another dog can teach her. Now I do not want her hurt, just put in her place. 

She is so freaking cute she gets away with it. Most dogs just let her be. Our biggest problem we have had is she will run out of the ring to see people/dogs. I work on that and I set her up for distraction at fun matches and in class. She needs to learn. Oh and let's not talk about the ring crew (bar setters etc) IN the ring at shows... :doh: Oh well she has a blast and that is the MOST important part. 

LOL 
Ann


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

It depends on the dog. I think that your friend leading her off and putting her in her kennel is a good start - but I don't think you should call her while she's being removed from the ring. I wouldn't want to create anxiety in leaving the ring, or create a situation where she refuses to be caught by a stranger if she's loose in the ring and needs to be caught... 

What sort of worked a bit for Murphy was being leashed up and walked back to his crate while I walked the other way. The handler can't say anything to the dog - no attention - positive or negative - just put in the crate without cookies, without water, no pats, no speaking of any kind. 

Before you do that in trial have people doing weird stuff in practice. Start with one jump and someone sitting on the floor where she's going to land. To get the cookie for one jump she's got to jump and then turn when you ask her to. She's got to ignore the person, it's not your job to ask her to ignore the person. Knowing how hard this is for her be sure to make working with you HIGHER value than playing with the scribe.
In training graduate to people laying on the floor and doing other silly stuff in and around your ring.

Maybe you said this before - but when is she leaving to go get the scribe? Is it right at the startline? Or is it mid-course. If it's mid-course perhaps she's not comfortable with the level she's running and a whole course is too much work without reinforcement. If she's bailing half way through, you might need to think about getting some successful starts and finishes as a team. Entering and leaving together after a successful run - this might mean not aiming for the course in front of you, but maybe doing the first two jumps and circling around for the last two jumps and partying out as a team. Too much leading her out or having a friend pull her off-course is not going to build your collective rate of reinforcement....

That being said - sometimes it's a matter of experience and mileage. In other cases its just who that dog is...Baby-dog Teller has never visited a ring crew or judge - not because I did anything special in his training - but because agility is more fun for him than people (even though people are high on his list of values). Murphy will almost always choose people over agility/obedience/cookie - that's just who he is (and one of the reasons why he's retired now).

Erica


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

Some good information here, thanks! I have had the same issue with Danny during agility classes. He would run the course and then break at the end to go see the other dogs. I am hoping with some maturity under his belt (he's 3 1/2 now) and lots of work on his training that we will overcome this in our next class. With some of the great advice on this thread, I feel better about how to address this.


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Mira is a social butterfly as well, luckily so far she has not acted on it at an agility trial!

Basically in class and at trials, she is never allowed to socialize. I always work on maintaining a connection with me, lots of tugging, heeling, treats and focus on me when it is not her turn. When she was learning things I tried to always set her up for success. If I did not think I could keep her attention, we made it shorter. I was always managing her environment in order to not allow her the opportunity to run off and visit.

We do a lot of work on impulse control, sit stays, recalls, leave-it, tug/no-tug, rewarding eye contact in the face of distraction...

I also started taking her to trials at 10 weeks old and training there, which was a BIG help!

This along with time, maturity and experience she has grown into quite a focused working dog.

Good luck! I am sure you will be able to work through this!


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## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

MurphyTeller said:


> In other cases its just who that dog is...Baby-dog Teller has never visited a ring crew or judge - not because I did anything special in his training - but because agility is more fun for him than people (even though people are high on his list of values). Murphy will almost always choose people over agility/obedience/cookie - that's just who he is (and one of the reasons why he's retired now).


There's a lot of truth in this - it has to do with whether the dog finds agility more reinforcing or visiting people more reinforcing. But I don't think it's true that this is an innate "who the dog is." Different dogs find different things more or less reinforcing, yes, but the trainer can do a lot to make agility more reinforcing for the dog. There's a reason a lot of our younger dogs don't have the same problem, we knew how to train better by the time they came along and usually put more effort into making them like agility


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