A problem Walter and I have been having lately is he seems to have forgotten that in this game of agility that we play, I'm the one who's allowed to do the rear crosses, not him. Well, I've started noticing that when we're out for an offleash walk, he crosses behind me *constantly* and now that I think about it, he's always done this. I've heard of some trainers who never, even when not doing agility, allow their dog to cross behind them; I guess I can see why!
So this week we've started working a simple exercise twice a day as a reminder. For his breakfast and supper, I place the bowl ahead and out to one side, with a lid on it so he can't reward himself for flanking me. I lead out such that he has to go around me on the opposite side of the bowl and we post turn to his reward.
The first few meals he needed a couple of tries before he understood, but this morning he was bang on and confident.
Gotta love simple exercises that can be done in the comfort of home!
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2 comments:
I used to not allow Mika to cross behind me on walks, but I've been lazy about that lately! When I first got Wall-e I didn't allow him to cross behind me though whenever he was on a leash (I can't really control if he crosses behind me or not around the house). Thinking about it, I still don't let him cross behind me on walks (it's become a habit and I don't even think about it anymore), but Mika is allowed. She does cross behind me sometimes though, so I guess I should start not allowing her to on walks again!
Great exercise!! That's one I'll have to try, thanks for posting! Both my dogs are food fanatics so it'll be a nice challenge :)
~Nat
I know that some people are fanatical about that, but I haven't had trouble with rear crosses in agility. I'm torn, though, because if the dog is going to dart from side to side to sniff the nearest shrub, I'd much rather she dart behind me than dart in front of my while I'm striding briskly along a concrete sidewalk. However, with 2 dogs, I don't get a lot of crossing either way; they tend to stay on their own side, wherever they started, for the most part.
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