Obedience Woes

For the most part Lance's sit-stay bootcamp is still going well.  He seems to be OK with food behind him now which I suppose is a good thing although I'm a little sad that it no longer replicates some stress of the show ring for him.  I've gotten him to fail a few more times, 1 by pushing on his chest so that he has to work really hard to stay sitting or he'll slide backwards into a down.  Another by leaving him for awhile in a sit and then asking the other dogs if they want to go outside.

But then yesterday I was shocked as Lance actually lied down on his sit in the group lineup at the obedience club.  On one hand I was a little happy that I could "correct" the corgi in an environment that's a bit closer to a trial, but on the other hand I'm questioning whether all our stay work is helping at all or if it's even making it worse.  But if he was stressed in that lineup he sure was doing a great job of hiding it.

Vito is also giving me grief in obedience.  Along with the corgi, Vito just finished participating in a small study looking at the effects of a fatty or sugar supplement on obedience performance.   He was asked to do a novice run through on 2 different nights, with no treats given several hours before or during it.  It was awful; both times.  It was even done in a room where I teach classes once a week and thus Vito is crated in that room and often does a bit of training.  It was quiet outside of the room and the only person in the room was our judge whom Vito actually knows pretty well.  Yet the Toller had zero interest in doing anything.  He plodded along during the heeling, several feet behind me, gave me no sits on the halts, and just generally stared at me blankly. Operation happy obedience toller was a no go.