QuestionAt a recent agility comp my green 3 y.o. bc was half way thru the course when she noticed the male judge wearing a hat in the ring and started cicling and barking at him. In her 2nd run the femaile judge said she noticed my dog's uneasiness and gave my dog space and we Q'd. I regret I didn't socialize my bc more when she was young (because I just became a new mom too). This happened one other time with another male hat-wearing judge. Any quick fix tips?
AnswerHello Pat,
I don't know that wearing a hat had anything to do with it really. I do believe you need to work on practicing in a setting where a friend acts as the judge and everything is set up to look more formal as in a real dog show. Practicing in different places and with different distractions will help you resolve this uneasiness. Perhaps your reaction to the judge wearing a hat was felt by your dog and he felt the need to protect you from him. In any case, you'll want to nip this in the bud so he doesn't think he can do this all the time.
Some dogs are just very cautious. There's been times when I've had to go up to certain objects my dogs were afraid of and call them up to it to get them over their fear. Take control by being the first to approach and call him over without showing any kind of emotion and I think your dog will overcome.
I was just thinking... perhaps you could build a scarecrow and place it in your yard one morning and see your dog's reaction when you let him out. Then you might have opportunity to fix what happened in the ring.
Just a thought!
Ann Jordan
Border Collie Coach
