# Doodling (not poodle doodle) in the ring.



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I had to think about this a moment - and going back to the last trial...

At "exercise finished" from the judge, I leaned over to put an arm around Jovi's neck to kiss his head and pat him on the chest while telling him "good boy" in a happy way. 

Before moving on to the next exercise, I gave him a skritch on the head or shoulders and "let's go" command while moving to the next set up position. Next set up spot, my hand/shoulder/body language, and even the way I set my feet is all geared towards getting him set up in heel position and ready to go.

He maintained focus in this way from exercise to exercise... and with Jovi not much is really needed since he's a very good boy who tries very hard to stay focused on his own.

Glee is also a good boy, but I believe my routine will be different with him. It would be more about keeping him calm and low key since he's much more wired than his brother. I was planning to gauge on all that today at a fun match, but had to miss that. >.<


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

I don't play as we enter the ring. (Maybe I should try it? Always willing to try new things.) Usually, I follow the Connie Cleveland technique of staying back away from the ring entrance and heeling into the ring when our number is called. When he was younger and really full of energy in the ring, I'd often have him do a circle or spin after an "exercise finished" and before we moved to the next exercise. He likes to leap and twist in the air on the circle. As he aged, he got a little more businesslike and I was a little concerned about the leaping and twisting. Mostly, I would do a semi-heel moving between exercises, praising him and letting him touch my hand. As he was getting close to finishing his OTCH, he was getting a bit of a "been there, done that" attitude. However, shortly after he finished, I brought him in for a dental. He had an infection in two teeth with overlapping roots. Both were pulled. In training lately, his enthusiasm has been very high, so maybe the sore mouth had been bothering him. I don't plan to show him again until mid-summer, when I think I may try treating the ring time as a continuous exercise, without a release and with a heel between exercises. I feel like I have more freedom to experiment now. If I were you, I'd try different things to see what works best for your dog. 

None of my dogs have ever responded very well to the pushing technique. Mostly, they just seem baffled and/or intimidated, but maybe because it's novel to them. Some dogs seem to like it. Mine have always responded better to moving away from them then anything like pushing or getting in their space.


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

PalouseDogs said:


> I don't play as we enter the ring. (Maybe I should try it? Always willing to try new things.) Usually, I follow the Connie Cleveland technique of staying back away from the ring entrance and heeling into the ring when our number is called. When he was younger and really full of energy in the ring, I'd often have him do a circle or spin after an "exercise finished" and before we moved to the next exercise. He likes to leap and twist in the air on the circle. As he aged, he got a little more businesslike and I was a little concerned about the leaping and twisting. Mostly, I would do a semi-heel moving between exercises, praising him and letting him touch my hand. As he was getting close to finishing his OTCH, he was getting a bit of a "been there, done that" attitude. However, shortly after he finished, I brought him in for a dental. He had an infection in two teeth with overlapping roots. Both were pulled. In training lately, his enthusiasm has been very high, so maybe the sore mouth had been bothering him. I don't plan to show him again until mid-summer, when I think I may try treating the ring time as a continuous exercise, without a release and with a heel between exercises. I feel like I have more freedom to experiment now. If I were you, I'd try different things to see what works best for your dog.
> 
> None of my dogs have ever responded very well to the pushing technique. Mostly, they just seem baffled and/or intimidated, but maybe because it's novel to them. Some dogs seem to like it. Mine have always responded better to moving away from them then anything like pushing or getting in their space.


He‘s still new to it so I’m trying to work on different things to find what works. He spins pretty good thanks to rally training but it’s not really something he’s excited about. He seems to really be into this bounce thing enough that it could become something he sees as a kind of reward. I guess I need to watch what others are doing at the next trial.

Pilot seems fairly offended by the push. He gives me a “why’d you do that?” look if I do it. Its great for some dogs….mine thinks he’s done something wrong! I had decided that if anything seemed like it would be too much for him at the seminar, I wouldn’t do it. A lot of what we worked on had to do with pressure and focus. He does need work with pressure. The problem is everyone takes turns in the ring but nobody does any work with pressure. We are planning to do a team entry at the national. Maybe I can convince my friends to start working on that.


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## Eclipse (Apr 21, 2014)

Never heard of the shoulder push, but I'm an agility person.

I let Penny roll on her back when we were close to going into the agility ring.

She also loved butt rubs and kicked her back legs up and down in a "butt dance". She had her whole body through my legs, and her butt was all I had in front of me, so I scratched her butt and she loved it when we did that anytime, and even more so if we did it right before we went in the ring.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

DevWind said:


> He discussed playing with your dog as you enter the ring. He had everyone doing a little push on the dog’s shoulder.


I realized I didn't specifically answer your question.

Before entering the ring, I'm doing scoot sits and attention - and enter the ring with attention. I don't touch my dog.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

I have a very specific ring entry routine I practice and reinforce. Typically, if I were to go to a run-thru the night before in the ring you'd see my practicing nothing but ring entries and go-outs. 
"Playing" is leaving things up to chance. What if your dog is not feeling playful? Then what? When is the first time your dog typically tunes out in the ring? At the entrance and taking off the leash. Train a response instead.


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

K9-Design said:


> I have a very specific ring entry routine I practice and reinforce. Typically, if I were to go to a run-thru the night before in the ring you'd see my practicing nothing but ring entries and go-outs.
> "Playing" is leaving things up to chance. What if your dog is not feeling playful? Then what? When is the first time your dog typically tunes out in the ring? At the entrance and taking off the leash. Train a response instead.


The shoulder push means absolutely nothing to him. So playing is definitely out. I’m trying to figure out a way to lessen how much of the ring pressure he’s feeling while we are working through it. I do have him in a rally class. (We both need to be successful at something!) It will be a great way to work on something for ring entrances.

I really wouldn’t call it tuning out necessarily. It’s not effort error. He tries hard but I think ring pressure is getting to him and I’m trying to break him out of it. He knows all the exercises and has done them all in the ring…. just not all at the same trial.

Sometimes he’s amazing under pressure. He was entered in Open B just a few weeks ago. The judge had the dogs doing command discrimination 1st and right at the gate. Like their tails were outside of the ring! The busy stewards table was right next to it. In a large class of seasoned dogs, he was one of 2or 3 that got it! So it’s not the high pressure or the low pressure. It’s the middle of the road normal pressure that gets him.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

I think you are thinking of pressure in human terms. Performance pressure, anxiety, etc. Dogs are incapable of understanding this. I think it would be more fruitful to see the ring experience from Pilot's point of view rather than how you perceive performing at a trial vs. training. What "pressure" specifically do you think he is feeling?


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

K9-Design said:


> I think you are thinking of pressure in human terms. Performance pressure, anxiety, etc. Dogs are incapable of understanding this. I think it would be more fruitful to see the ring experience from Pilot's point of view rather than how you perceive performing at a trial vs. training. What "pressure" specifically do you think he is feeling?


Pressure of the judge in the ring. I think. He’s improved a lot on that. What’s going on outside the ring doesn’t seem to affect him. I’ve never been one to blame outside influences. I was nervous when I first started showing in Utility but I’ve had time to get over that after all the times we’ve showed. I am just truly working on different things to figure out why he’s messing up. He knows it, he tries his best. Its almost like stage fright. We’ve worked so hard on it. If I knew exactly what his problem was, it would be so much easier!

At the last trial, something was weird for a lot of the dogs. He did make a lot of the same mistakes the others made. What He messes up is constantly changing. Last time, he “forgot” to sit on his go out, he might miss his signals at another trial. I started entering B instead of A because I thought it might help. It didn’t so back to A next time.

Or maybe I’m completely off and it is a little bit of a focus issue.


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

So I tried having him "bounce" outside the ring and when I set him up for rally class yesterday. The class is more like run thrus. It did seem to help. He was staying with me better. I have him entered in 4 runs on Memorial Day. We will see how it goes!


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## Birdi (Nov 15, 2021)

FDSA has a ring confidence class taught by Laura Waudby running in June if online classes work for you. My sister took it a while back and said it really helped her with her border collie who was having issues with ring pressure.


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