On my break from agility I am trying to teach my dog the command "left" While in some cases this is a simple spin trick, in the case of agility it is often a valuable tool to have under your belt. When running a course, your dog may need to take an obstacle that you cannot get to fast enough to usher in with signals. This is where having a dog under voice control using directions (left, right, go on) can help you finish with a "winning time"
Abby and I are not interested in winning anything...I am still just so happy that she actually finishes a course. She doesn't need to have directional commands because she doesn't run fast enough (yet). But training Abby is really about training me - and one day I may have a dog that is fast enough to use directional commands, and it makes sense to start using them now so I feel comfortable with them when I actually need them.
Unfortunately in teaching Abby "left" I somehow broke her obedience in the process. Abby really should do obedience - she is a fast learner and she has a great memory. She loves hearing that "click" and almost vibrates with anticipation of it. Even when I don't train obedience for a while, she can still do everything I ask without hesitation. . .until a few days ago, that is...
Now when I ask Abby to "finish" she walks half way around, does a left (full spin) turn before finally completing the behavior. GGGRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!! What happened??? Was turning left so rewarding that she did it even when she wasn't asked???
I'm trying not to be too hard on myself because I know that this is easily fixable and it happens a lot when training a new behavior...I can only hope that when we actually use the left, that something else doesn't break, like running half way into a tunnel, turning a circle, then coming out... The last thing we need is more "abbyisms" taking up time in a trial...
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