WKC Masters Agility - Mia the Beagle

[Labradorks]

That's a really interesting and, for me, an unexpected perspective. I re-read your observations several times, then went back to re-watch the video with your description in mind. I think if Mia were a border collie or another intensely-focused breed, I might agree with your assessment but for Mia, I think I have to respectfully disagree. Having one beagle doesn't make me an expert in beagle behaviour (any more than having Boomer makes me one for labs) but to me, Mia looks like she's happy and typically beagle throughout. From my perspective, I see a beagle with exceptional focus who got distracted by scent, then by the sound of a child crying out (according the article I read). If I take my dog Banjo's stress behaviours and compare, I don't see those here.

Banjo knew many commands but even when relaxed at home, while trotting towards me for a snack, would occasionally stop to sniff the carpet or sit & sniff. He'd shake himself afterwards, then reach me and take his snack. He could be an inch away from getting his favourite liver treat and whip his head away to sniff the air at a new scent.

I get where you're coming from and I respect that. I don't have any experience in agility other than an intro class with Banjo so maybe I'm missing something but Mia's a beagle. I just don't see what you see.

It takes many, many, many good runs in different venues to get to this level of competition. This isn't any old competition where anyone with a lot of extra money can sign up, it's a national championship. If this was the dog's normal behavior, the handler would not have made it this far. If you then look at the list of qualifying beagles for this trial, there are only 22 total, just four of those beagles do not have MACH titles and of the MACH titles, only a few are not MACH2+ (I'm not sure which beagle is in the video). Suffice it to say, these are not your typical pet beagles that randomly sniff or decide to scratch or lick in the middle of the run. These are people who train all the time, spend countless dollars on lessons and seminars, trial every weekend and have high-level dogs that consistently do well in trials. If this were typical of her dog, regardless of the breed, the dog would not be there.

People who seriously compete or want to seriously compete train their dogs to work during distractions if they want to get in the ring. Groups of people get together, we taunt the dogs with hot dogs on the other side of the ring gate, we have people bring their grand-kids in strollers to events on purpose, we put people's bags full of toys and treats on the other side of the ring gate, and just do all kinds of stuff that the dog may encounter in a trial. We even take classes to do and pay for an instructor to create these distractions and help us get our dogs through it. While any dog, even one that has been proofed, can get distracted, going through this training they are less likely to do so.

If you google something like typical stress behaviors in the competition ring or something like that, you'll find all kinds of information from trainers such as Loretta Mueller (Assistant Coach for the IFCS World Team), Susan Garrett, Sarah Stremming, and more. Also, if you are interested, there is a really good podcast called Bad Dog Agility. I know this has been discussed in those podcasts, but cannot remember which ones (there are many!).

[Java]

Thanks for pointing me to sources for more research. Appreciate all the extra info about proofing too. Didn't realize that's how focus is achieved. I'll take a closer look at the agility world.