Quote: holly bushard

The book is on my shelf but I haven't read it. I will start it right away.

Thank you!

I think you will be really pleased...lots of terrific ideas in it! Good luck

My dog was born in a shelter and was pulled into rescue at 3 weeks. The pups were sick and were seperated into 3 groups when they were pulled. I got her when she was 14 weeks. I looked at several pups from the litter and they were very fearful. I took the most confident pup in the litter, the only one that didn't submissive pee actually.

I have been her only owner. She has not been mistreated and nothing bad has ever happened to her.

I was at class tonight. It was the last night of a 10 week class, so we did a mock trial. She was even funky tonight in the ring. She is getting worse, not better. She just worries so much.

Is it all sports or just some? Was it a gradual progression or did her flatness occur over night? My young male started getting stressed in obedience (even fun matches) so I pulled him from those events and started doing agility and tracking. He loves both sports and it has helped to get his confidence up.

Also, what are your emotions (for lack of a better word) when you compete? Are you anticipating her to be flat? I have learned that my dogs really live up - or down - to my expectations. A book that I really liked was "That Winning Feeling" by Jane Savoie. My novice A dog was a strong willed dog and my first time in the ring I was terrified that he was going to break his stays - particularly since I choose the Rose City Classic, and incrediably crowded and hectic show to make my debut. I spent the entire stays repeating over and over again in head the sentence "my dog is a rock" after reading her book :-p

I noticed that you discussed getting your dog back with food/treats - are you using the treats to bribe her into a better mood or are you rewarding for being up?

This past week I was down in Denver for a conference and managed to squeeze in an obedience lesson for Frost and I with Renate Van Allen, who is a two time AKC National Obedience Invitational winner, and one of the things we discussed was the problem with individuals who have flat dogs in the trial settings use treats/toys in an effort to get their dog up when what they are essentially doing is rewarding the flatness in their dogs.

I would not bring out the food unless the dog was up. In other words, if it takes food to perk your dog up, you might run into problems down the road if it takes treats to motivate your dog to be up.

For toys, I have seen others (and have stopped myself in the process of doing it :-p) swing a toy under a dog's nose in an effort to animate it. You can use a toy to get your dog in drive but it is a fine line if your dog is flat and you are swinging that toy around in hopes of getting some life in their eyes ;-)

Anyways those are my meandering thoughts. It is past my bedtime so I am not even sure its coherant :-p

The flatness is in all events. It's most ugly off leash!

There is NO doubt that I am bribing my dog with food when she is flat at shows. In fact, I sometimes feed her all the way to the gate to try to keep her "up." I am certain that I am making things worse. I just don't know what to do instead.

Her fears have always been present in the ring. They just get more pronounced as we move up in performance. My dog had one really awesome agility trial, but she was running with my step-son, not me. She was also running at a level lower than she should have been. I have had some nice agility runs and some bombs.

I think I stay up-beat. I don't get very nervous. But maybe I am lying to myself about that. I run another dog and he has no issues at all.

I am, for certain, guilty of trying to buy her with food. The more she shuts down, the harder I work. While I know this is a bad dynamic, I am unclear how to replace it with another one.

Off to bed now, after I read a few more pages of Control Unleashed!

 Quote: holly bushard

My dog had one really awesome agility trial, but she was running with my step-son, not me. She was also running at a level lower than she should have been. I have had some nice agility runs and some bombs.

Has she run with your step-son recently? and if so what was the result?

How close to the ring does she shut down?
Does she have to be IN the ring to shut down, or do you see her getting antsy the closer you get to it?

Sometimes it's hard to tell what will set a dog off fear wise. What we may think is "nothing to be afraid of" is seen differently by the dog.
So although you dont' think anything bad has happened to her in the ring, something might've happened at some point that you couldn't pin-point as something that would cause fear in her.
In an already somewhat fearful dog (i think you said that in your first post) it probably wouldn't take much to bring out a new fear in an unfamiliar situation. New ring, new people, louder crowd, new noise.....etc. something could've startled her at some point, and she might've shaken it off at the time, but it's now in her mind that the "ring" was where it happened.
Have you tried to watch her body language as you are walking towards the ring?

 Quote: holly bushard

Her fears have always been present in the ring. They just get more pronounced as we move up in performance. My dog had one really awesome agility trial, but she was running with my step-son, not me. She was also running at a level lower than she should have been. I have had some nice agility runs and some bombs.

I think I stay up-beat. I don't get very nervous. But maybe I am lying to myself about that. I run another dog and he has no issues at all.

The above makes me think your dog is keying off a change in your body language. Whether or not you think you're nervous, it sounds like you do something different that makes your dog think all is not well.

Have you videotaped yourself?