But, when I switched teams, I realized we had a problem. Not running anchor anymore, I had to be very careful not to stop running in the lane because he’d revert to this first-learned behavior. More than once, he reran while another team dog was in the lane.

Now, I’m trying to retrain my dog to pick up his bobbles (his most often reason for rerunning) and he’s getting better. But, we have a new problem – when he bobbles, since he’s still very smart, instead of rerunning when he hits the start line, he stops in the lane and tries to figure out what it is he is supposed to do. We’ve had a few “almost” collisions with the next dog running. And, I’ve gotten some very interesting comments when he returns to the box, the last place he saw the ball, and places himself in the “two-on-two-off” contact position waiting for instructions on how to get his ball.

After all this time, with my new team, I very rarely encourage handlers to rerun their dogs. The benefits rarely outweigh the problems rerunning can cause.

with a younger dog I would agree to rerun your dog to get them to do it right, for all the reasons listed above… but never for points (and I’ve gotten dirty looks for that on a previous team). just another reason to find the right team that runs for the same reasons as you do.

A rerun in our mind is to fix a problem and the “do it right” mentality. Dropped balls, going around jumps, extreme bobble, etc. This is very important to us, and two mess ups in a row usually means it’s time to take the dog out of the ring and straight to their kennel for a “time out”.

Most trained dogs are smart enough to realize “I didn’t do it right, so I don’t get to play anymore” Especially those “Real smart” dogs who mess up because they KNOW they get to rerun. We know a dog who almost always goes around jumps and once it is back to it’s handler it’s turned around waiting for it’s rerun. The immediately leave the ring for this dog will be imperative for it to learn it did something wrong and would go against the idea of the rerun for dog error idea.

I see this too. I know one person that does this all the time.

The only time I am outside playing with one of my dogs is when they are a backup dog and have not run all day or run very little.

WE, as the owner, handlers and devotees to our dogs, have to remember that our dogs don’t care about points. They are just happy that they get to go down, back and play with us, or get their treat.

It especailly pains me seeing teams that are in the higher Divisions rerunnig their dogs. And by the end of the weekend, are dead tired. I also get extremely frustrated when I see these same dogs being run outside of the ring – playing frisbee or ball or whatever. Dogs need the mental break that crating provides when they are not racing. Being constantly stimulated can wear them down just as much as the racing.