Clean Run - January 2016 - 11

Nancy Gyes'
© MARCY MANTELL

How to "Unstick"
Your Dog
Photos by Channan Fosty except where noted

S KILLS

you wave a piece of steak over his
nose is not necessarily being sticky
if he does not recognize that trick
cue at dog training class.

There are times when our dogs act
sticky and are not willing to move
forward or away from us. You might
be running with your dog on course
and you slow down for a turn and
your dog stops at your side, refusing the jump while staring at you.
This kind of stickiness seems to
happen more often in herding
dogs, but any breed can display
these behaviors. A dog that won't
move forward on course unless you
move could be herding you, or possibly he has not had enough reinforcement for moving ahead of you
to obstacles when your motion and
verbal cues ask for him to do so.

This lack of response could be a
distracted dog being asked to perform a behavior that is not 100%
trained rather than a dog acting
sticky on well-taught cues. You
need to recognize the difference
between stickiness and a dog that
only understands cues in a certain
circumstance. A dog that does a
trick for you in your kitchen while
January 16

Clean Run

A typical sticky behavior is a dog
that is unwilling to take a sit or
down position on the table while he
seems frozen in place. He is deaf as
well as blind to your cues. For some
herding dogs, being sticky could
mean walking through the yellow
contact zone one step at a time as
if he is walking up on a sheep. I have
seen many dogs walk through the

last few weave poles in anticipation
of the toy being thrown or because
they seem to be staring at each of
the weave poles. Herding instinct is
a powerful thing, we just don't really need that behavior to show up
in agility or any sport other than
herding, and once it get started in
agility, the herding and stickiness
can be tough to break through.
© DIANE LEWIS PHOTOGRAPHY

What does it mean to be sticky? At
its basis, it is a slow response or a
lack of response to a cue. It is a dog
that when asked to sit seems to do
so in slow motion, moving inches
at a time. Other examples: you ask
your dog to come to heel position
at the start line and he just seems
to glaze over or move at a snail's
pace while staring into space, or
you ask for a sit and instead he lies
down and stares forward or takes a
vulture stance at your side. He may
be obsessively staring at the jump
or focused on the toy you are holding in your hand.

But whether you have a sticky terrier or a Border Collie acting out
herding behaviors by circling you
and being unwilling to come to
your side on a front cross or taking a herding stance instead of a
position, the fixes are similar. The
most important one being motion
and cueing of other behaviors the
dog finds rewarding. The motion
could be me gently putting my
hand in my dog's collar and moving him a few feet from where he
acted sticky, or immediately asking
for a trick that has the dog up and
moving quickly.
Avoiding Stickiness with a New Dog
It is great if you can recognize
these sticky tendencies in your dog
and short circuit them from the beginning of training. These are some
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - January 2016