Mani's Front Crosses and 'Zoomies'

In class Mani is doing great with his front crosses, well my front crosses. There was just one that he didn’t like, because he was avoiding the jump. The one thing that I really want to work on now is his ‘zoomies’. After each sequence he runs off, away from me, sometimes without getting his treat first. You can see it in this video here:



I am trying to figure out a way that I can stop that behavior without making anything less fun for him. I found a toy online; I think they said it was made with real Bison hair or something. Anyway that would be perfect for Mani, he loves toys that smell like animals.

Anyway, I have two ideas that might work to get Mani to stop doing his ‘zoomies’. One is to add a release cue to end all of the work we were doing. So at the end of a jump sequence I would call him to me, then try to get him to stay with me then release him to go and run and play. Eventually I would build the time between ending the jumps and the release cue. Another thought along that path would be to ask him to 'down' when we are done, then release him. He loves to ‘down’ in grass. I can get him to do it fast without him shutting down or loosing any interest. The last thought along that line would be to have him do a trick for me. Like when we are done jumping I would somehow get him to me then I would have him ‘about’. Which is his cue for backward circles left around me. Then I can release him or possible have him heel (or something resembling) with me to wherever we need to go.

The second thought that I had which I will most likely try to use first is just to have him jump into my arms. He knows how to do it, he loves to do it, but I have never asked him to do it while we are doing agility. Just tricks, when I need to either place him somewhere and I don’t want him to loose enthusiasm, or when I want him to run, I would put him down in a ‘torpedo’ motion.

The only problem with both of these ideas is that I somehow need to get Mani to come to me to be able to get him to follow my directions. That is a hard job on its own. If I can just get some treats that are super irresistible to him, I don’t think I would ever have a problem with this.

I think I am going to try it. I got this treat idea from a friend and I think I am going to try it with Mani. I am going to make them and just see if Mani likes it. He'd better!