Unfit for competition?

[MPbandmom]

Sky has completed her second class for Agility and I am noticing that a certain habit of hers may mean that she can never compete. I don't know however if this is a stress habit, or just something that some dogs do. The behavior is that she marks everywhere.

Anytime Sirius goes, Sky follows behind and goes in the same spot. While Sirius will squat for a period of time and seemingly empty her bladder, Sky seems to be about 2 seconds max squatting. She rarely seems to run out of marking juice.

When I learned that dog walks are supposed to be about walking, not sniffing and peeing. I endeavored to keep the dogs moving except for times that I gave them a break. Sky has become very proficient at marking on the fly.

In agility class, if she isn't being distracted by some visual stimulation, her nose is on the ground. Since she has learned so well to mark on the fly, my trying to get her moving when she starts to squat to stop her from marking, is totally ineffective.

I would love some insite into this behavior and any suggestions as to remedies, if such a thing exsists.

[jacksdad]

When I learned that dog walks are supposed to be about walking, not sniffing and peeing. I endeavored to keep the dogs moving except for times that I gave them a break. Sky has become very proficient at marking on the fly.

I got told the same thing in a petsmart class. After dropping that "rule", my walks with Jack became much more fun for both of us. Sniffing is part of the whole outdoor experience for dogs. it's how they get info about the world around them.

My 2 cents, let them sniff away. though nothing says they have to sniff ever blade of grass. Some of our best walks and ones that left him the most tired were not the most physically demanding, but ones that Jack got to do a lot of sniffing on.

With Jack he seems to sniff/pee/mark the most early in the walk, by the end of the walk often we are just walking. hardly any sniffing and almost no marking.

[Sarah83]

I'm with Jacksdad on this. I don't allow Rupert to drag me all over the place to sniff but if we pass a patch of grass or a lamp post I often tell him he's free to sniff. Once on the field and on the long line he can sniff and mark to his hearts content as far as I'm concerned. He doesn't actually mark that much on the field and, as Jacksdad has noted, it tends to be early on in the walk that it happens most.

[Horace's Mum]

What breed is Sky? Some breeds are notorious for sniffing their way round courses and you may have to work hardeer at keeping her attention, but it is do-able. I agree with the others, walks are about stimulation for your dog, and that means sniffing around to see what has been there before. If you let her have a good sniff and mark in her own time without trying to keep her moving, you might well find that she is more willing to play by your rules for agility. Like many others on here, you could have a release command on walks to say she is free to sniff, or have a command that indicates it is time to walk - if you are going along a stretch of busy road for example where you don't want her to stop.

The other thing is to make sure the agility equipment is cleaned properly if any dogs do pee on it. Otherwise it will smell and dogs who tend to mark will keep going back to do so. Some clubs aren't very good at this.

When you do practise agility make sure you keep each little session very short and exciting so that she is motivated to do agility and doesn't feel the need to try and mark because she is concentrating. In between goes, take her away from the equipment and give her chance to sniff and pee. If you are waiting your turn and she starts to sniff, walk her well away from the equipment. Otherwise try doing some trick work and general obedience or play with her to keep her switched on to you and less to outside smells and distractions.

[MPbandmom]

Sky is a husky lab mix according to what the breeders told the animal shelter when they turned her in. She has some freckles on her nose though that we don't think are either a lab or a husky trait, and that many people have looked at and tried to add some third breed into the mix.

At her last agility class, I had the thought that I wondered if I should be taking her to tracking and trailing class instead of agility. She is very visually oriented which I take to be the lab side.

I play a game with the dogs where I scatter some charlie bear treats or kibble around the yard for them to use their noses and search and find. Both dogs will play the game. Sky could care less about treats on the ground if a ball is around. She would much rather be chasing something that flies through the air. Sirius tends to play for much longer. Sirius is also highly food motivated and seems to be constantly on the lookout for a treat or tidbit. Sirius is also much less likely to mark anywhere. This may be because the two dogs have been together since Sirius was about 6 months old and Sky has always marked over Sirius' scent.

Maybe I will try to get her to class earlier and give her more time to mark outside of the ring as well as trying to work more on her focus while we are waiting our turn during class.

[emmabeth]

Do you clicker train?

Could you get her marking on cue and then you can cue her to mark in lots and lots of places, and then NOT in the ring.

Also its possible using the clicker to get a 'proper wee' on cue so she fully empties - would take time as you would have to capture that and obviously she wont do that as often as she will mark but once you had it on cue then you can use both cues to ensure shes properly empty and much less likely to want to mark (and of course will have learned by then that marking without being given the cue to do so is not that great).

Big responsibility though if you do it right as you will need to remember to cue her to mark a fair bit especially at agility classes away from the ring.

[MPbandmom]

I am doing some clicker training with her for focus, but don't know that I am that good at it yet. She will "go potty" on command even though she doesn't go for that long.

Next class I'm going to try to arrive earlier for more marking time. Give her the go potty command, and take a tug toy along to play with her while we wait for things to see if this combination will improve the situation.

I will also relax some on the "a walk is a walk" rule and give her more sniffing time especially at the beginning of walks. I do have "break" and "lets go" commands that i use while walking to attempt to identify when they can sniff and when they need to walk. I'm not sure it has registered with them yet though.