I have seen problems with some people who do 'real' obedience for a few years and then start up in agility. These would be the people that have the traditional obedience instructors who refuse to ever use food/treats (won't bribe MY dog), or toys, and exclusively rely on the training collars and verbals for praise/corrections.
I've seen it be a mix of the handler being a bit of a control freak by this time. Because of the way obedience seems so rigid and specific with the behaviors of the dog/handler. I've also seen that SOME (definitely not all) of these people really get embarrassed and feel extremely uncomfortable (mad
) when their dog (in their opinion) doesn't listen, or is 'wrong'.
In some ways it's almost funny, cause when in doubt in training and on a course, these dogs all dart into the 'heel' position whether that's anything to do with the ongoing course or not. Both handler/dog are very uncomfortable not being right beside each other. And many of these dogs are
s l o w............ because they have learned that the #1 thing in life with mom/dad is to make sure you do exactly 100% for sure the exact 100% for sure thing mom/dad wants. The best way to do this is to be right near them all the time and check in every millisec to be ABSOLUTELY sure they are doing it right.
Interesting thing is many of these dogs do very well in the Novice thru open courses. Cause they are easier and have more TIME. Not until the higher levels are reached to we suddenly realize it's about being fast AND accurate, but to get a dog to suddenly realize the game has changed is very very difficult.
BUT THIS IS NOT all of the obedience people. So don't yell at me! It's more the WAY the obedience was taught, and I still see alot of people that will train the same way they have the past 20 years and refusing to all the methods I've seen developing that allow precise behaviors/focus from the dog AND the fact the dog is getting treats, tugging, parties so having just as much of a blast doing obedience as agility, herding, flyball......................