"Staaay...staaaay.....stay!...I said Staaayyyy....oops... ok I'll chase you!"
A stay should be a stay... period. I get that a dog gets excited and they love agility... and want to take off from excitement, but if you are asking them to stay then they should stay.
I have been working on solid stays with Hemi (Which I call "wait") - I noticed a couple of weekends ago that when I let her get away with breaking a stay that at that point SHE had control of the whole run. She set the stage, she said I want to go now - and I found myself chasing her!
In comparison, when she broke her stay and I reset her on the start-line - we had a nice run. We were running together, working as a team.
This past weekend - I was amazed at handlers - seasoned handlers at that... letting their team-mate break their stay. It reminded me of the ball-hog in soccer, you know that one that would never pass and was always going for the goal! If they break their stay - that is what they are saying "HEY! I got this run - chase me!"
Most of the time, I found those runs, hectic, crazy and frantic. The handler scrambling to catch up with their dog, trying to be in the place they thought they would be when they walked the course.
I work stays with Hemi every single day. And the reason I started this at home wasn't so much for the stays as it was teaching her self control. She is my CrAzY GiRl... and she needs to be reminded consistently to have some self control.
So at dinner, I put her in a sit while I get all four dogs food ready. If she breaks I stop and wait. When she sits again, I continue. She knows if she stays sitting her dinner comes a lot quicker now! Then, I leave her in the living room, walking away from her with her food bowl in my hand and walk to the other side of the house - with one command "Wait". Note: at this point she can't see me, so there is no body language involved, sometimes I say my release word (OK) immediately, sometimes I hesitate, sometimes I stop and talk to Peanut for a minute. Then I say "OK". She come running to the bedroom door, next to my side, where she must sit again and I say "Wait" then I open the door to her room, open her crate, put her food bowl down then say "Ok" again.
Twice a day everyday... Proof is in pudding - this weekend at the USDAA trial, not only did she have a solid stay in every single run - but I was able to lead out two to three obstacles!
A Stay should be a Stay - so if you don't practice it, proof it and consistently reward it... then you will be chasing your ball hog.
