Mimi is aggressive with other dogs during agility training.

Hello
Mimi started going to an agility training class. She learns how to navigate the obstacles, and we learn how to handle her properly through the variety of courses. She loves it and is very good at it and we also love taking her there.
The only problem is that when other dogs take their turns, Mimi freaks out. She starts barking and tries to take off toward the working dog. Other than that, she is perfectly fine with other dogs. She is only having these issues during class. We tried a couple of different things to try and make her stop but either those things do not work or we are not doing them correctly. She knows the command "leave it," so we use that but she just couldn't give less of a ****. We tried putting her outside the training facility when she misbehaved but it looks like she didn't get it. We tried doing that neck grab (where all the loose skin is) to correct her behavior, she yelps and calms down only until we let go of her neck. We tried distracting her with treats by holding them in our hands in front of her while the other dogs do their thing. We tried a pinch collar which calms her down only for a bit, same as the neck grab. Here is the thing, we don't want to have to continue giving her treats for the rest of her life to make her calm down and shut up. We also do not want to keep her in a pinch collar all the time, she should behave well without all these things. We think that what drives her to be all crazy is that these other dogs are running around, which somehow triggers her chasing (prey) instinct or something, we are no experts by any means though. What can we do to stop this behavior? Any tips, hints or tricks? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I've never done any of this type of training with any of my dogs. But it sounds to me that, apart from when it is 'her turn' she isn't enjoying it at all. Are you wanting her to do this to 'compete'? Or just for enjoyment (in which case can't you just do it somewhere on your own?)

The less I say about you using a pinch collar or scruffing her until she squeals - the better as I am sure it will not be what you want to hear.

Something about the way you speak about your dog using phrases like

and

Well shoot me but it sounds more like it's all being done for you not so the dog enjoys it?

The dog does enjoy it. She is super happy running around the course, and can't wait to get started. I see other dogs there, and you can clearly see that some of them do not want to be there. This is not the case here. If it was, I wouldn't do it with her. The problem is, like I said, she gets weird with other dogs running around. So, how do I fix it and have her either not pay attention to those dogs, or just relax.

EDIT: I am also open to any type of advice. I am not enjoying correcting my dog with a pinch collar. This is why I am here.

I'm quite sure your dog is not enjoying you correcting her with a pinch collar either.

I hope you do get some useful advice. I just get quite upset thinking about you applying a painful punishment to a dog that is just getting overexcited by the sound of it.

And, let's face it, it isn't working is it? By all accounts.

I used to do Agility with my dogs, but TBH I was there more for me than them and they would rather be at home infront of the fire.

Firstly, it is excitement that she is displaying, she only wants to do it herself and not let others take her turn. I would, if she were mine, when she gets over excited take her out of the building make her sit and "wait" and learn some calm! and reward reward reward as much as possible when she is calm.

She is smart she will soon learn calm = treat!!!

Why would you not want to reward her good behavior? if this is the only way forward then do it forever, we all get our good behavior rewarded, we go to work = we get paid = reward! we wouldn't do it otherwise.

Dogs are smart, they learn quick BUT you have to be patient and consistent, and it could take a while, but whatelse do you have to do whilst everyone else is running around?

Good Luck!

Thank you Daisy. For the past couple of weeks we have been just going with her to a secluded area of the training facility. It's a kitchen with a little door, so she cannot see what's going on. I just thought of it as a temporary solution while trying to figure out how to fix the behavior.
Will bring more treats for tonight's class and reward her for being calm.

I really believe she is just displaying over excitement, and if you have to continue to leave the room for a few months, then so be it, she will eventually learn that calm = staying and watching.

She might never be calm, for some dogs watching others it is just too over stimulating! We had a collie who had a serious meltdown whenever anyone else ran, it was completely too much for him, so he waited outside and then ran his course then waited again. It sucks for the owners who want to be social, but its the dogs night out not ours

Continue to bring her to the kitchen area when she is excited, as already stated, that is all that's wrong with her. She just need to learn to be calm while you wait your turn.
Get her used to her timeouts in the kitchen, then try it with the door open, eventually moving to just outside the kitchen door, closer to the excitement. Over time she'll get what you are asking of her.
Good luck.

You should be really pleased that she loves it so much that she can't bear to wait her turn! My youngster is very noisy too and I take him outside and just stand quietly with no interaction between us so he realises that life is boring if he can't control himself. It doesn't always work and sometimes I resort to putting him back in the van to calm down.

Please don't resort to cruelty of any kind and just enjoy her enthusiasm!

@fivedogpam Oh we are pleased that Mimi loves it so much. We were looking for different things for her to do, and we are so happy that we finally found something she loves to do!

Also, Thanks Hiker. That's a good point.