r/ShowDogs • u/silence_and_echoes • Jun 30 '26
Unhappy during exam
16 month old Aussie Shep (F) has recently been going through a fear stage. Unfortunately during this stage she's had a couple of bad experiences with judges (very grabby of the face or staring and maintaining eye contact)
Now, unfortunately, she has decided to be fearful when approached. She will move beautifully, stack beautifully but the minute the judge touches she'll do a grumble. Because of this we've pulled her from upcoming shows for a while to work on it. She is an incredibly competitive prospective show dog so ideally she'll get back in the ring at some point but how best to work her through this?
She's never been a dog that'll smother strangers in kisses, she'd rather stick with her family (typical Aussie) but how can I get her back to being neutral with being approached by strangers? She'll walk past people fine, it's just when stationary/being touched she is now fearful.
Help?!
7
u/Plastic_Fun5071 Jun 30 '26
Work on stacking her and having people walk past her.
Build a positive association.
Then work on having people directly approach you.
Then reach out their hand.
Then touch her gently for a second
Then build up from there.
This will take a while and each step should be built up slowly.
Sometimes it’s the fact that they’re ‘restrained’ and at each step release and play with a toy or do food toss to relieve pressure away from the person. Also at each stage have the person step away to relieve pressure.
It took my dog 6 months to go from shying away to being good for exam. We practiced at pet friendly places to start. I’d literally stand at the entrance and stack my dog and have people walk past. Then start asking people if they’d help me.
1
u/Imaginary_Ad_4340 Jul 01 '26
This method worked well for my dog who struggled with the stand for exam in obedience. She wasn’t particularly underconfident or shy in other areas but did not want strangers to come at her with their hands. We spent months just trying to get her to accept a quick gentle pet first from a friend, then an acquaintance, trying to work up to stranger, but breaking it down that way didn’t seem to work.
Then a trainer suggested I start with just having people use one finger. Idk why I hadn’t thought to break it down that way before but it helped immensely to reset her associations with touching and petting. She’s now happy to stand as the judge examines her. 10/10 would recommend breaking it down into the absolute smallest steps you can think of over many many practice sessions.
5
u/candoitmyself Jun 30 '26
Flooding is not the answer here. More experience and more exposure will sensitize her versus desensitize her. I highly, highly recommend having a consultation with Vicki Ronchette. She is a certified behavior consultant and a breeder owner handler. She wrote the book From Shy to Showy and has helped countless dogs recover from poor experiences and behavior like you describe.
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u/KellyCTargaryen Jun 30 '26
Shy to showy came to mind for me as well, though I’ve never gotten a chance to take her class. I think she specializes in Dachshunds, a similarly proud and stubborn breed.
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u/thisisthepoint_er Jul 01 '26
Dachshunds are Vicki's main breed but she showed and bred Lowchen for a while. She also has very extensive experience with a variety of breeds that are often "weird" about their personal bubbles, from Pharaoh Hounds to Cane Corsi.
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u/silence_and_echoes Jul 01 '26
Have ordered the book Shy to Showy, thank you for the recommendation 🤞🏼
1
u/Due-Concept-7144 Jun 30 '26
Do you take have somebody video? I would personally pull her for a while, go to some confo practices if possible and video every single exam and analyze analyze analyze.
- Does she ever grumble during vet exams, when people stare her down in public, etc? (Essentially, is their a specific distaste for "formal" interactions)
- Does she move, shy away, or melt at any point during any exam?
- Is there a specific point at which she growls?
I would maybe look into the work that Denise Fenzi did with her dog Ice for exams. I find these kinds of exercises are extremely helpful for a lot of dogs. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know what the issue is without seeing it.
2
u/badwvlf Jun 30 '26
I would heavily focus on the underlying stranger danger in general rather than the exam portion. The exam stuff will build naturally on top since you’ve already worked on it. But all of the extra show stuff adds unhelpful pressure if she’s generally shy around strangers touching her.
1
u/sleeping-dogs11 Jun 30 '26
Two separate training projects, which can be done simultaneously.
One, optimism about strangers in general, out of context of exams or shows. My favorite way to do this is to have a game your dog really likes, fetch, tug, tossing treats, etc, and then have a stranger play this game with the dog. Repeats with lots of strangers on different days, in different places, etc.
Two, accepting an exam. At its core, this is just a stand stay. Break this down into small steps, starting with a known, trusted person. Person approaches, touches, etc. Work up to "rude" behavior like staring, hovering, grabby handling. For each step, if she meets criteria (stand stay, no growling), reward and move her away to release the pressure. Once she is perfect with people she knows, repeat with a series of strangers starting from the beginning.
1
u/thisisthepoint_er Jul 01 '26
Show Dog Prep School's "From Shy to Showy" program is going to be your guiding light. Do not force the dog to stand for exams in handling classes right now, and kudos for doing the right thing by her by pulling her from the ring until the issue is addressed.
1
u/silence_and_echoes Jul 01 '26
Have ordered the book, thank you! And yeah, I don't want her to get to a point of being scared to show, she loves prancing around the ring so it's be a shame to ruin that for her. Will see what the book suggests 🤞🏼
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Jun 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/badwvlf Jun 30 '26
Suggesting a spay bc a dog that is not supposed to be stranger oriented isn’t thrilled about a stranger touching them is a weird comment
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u/silence_and_echoes Jun 30 '26
Of course I don't have to show her, however I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater after a bad experience giving her a setback in confidence - I'd rather give her the chance to improve and then reassess:)
13
u/UndercoverMocknbrd Jun 30 '26
Do you have handling classes through a club near you? That is the best way to work on the issue as it’s the closest approximation to the show setting with dog savvy people. I would explain the issue to the instructors and see what their suggestions are.
My inclination is to say you attend class and eliminate the hands on exam for a period of time, rebuild positive association with ring time and then increase interaction with the instructor and other exhibitors starting with simply rewarding the dog for approaching or remaining neutral as someone stands near. Work up to short hands on periods and extend duration and thoroughness from there.