Clean Run - July 2018 - 22

watch a dog or horse run (canter for a
horse) in a circle, it is easy to see that
his inside front leg reaches a bit farther
than the other front leg. This is required
for balance as the animal leans into the
circle. That is all the lead is, whichever
leg is "leading" is the lead the animal is
on. When animals change direction, if
they did not change leads, they would
fall over. It is a very natural movement.
In dressage in the horse world, elaborate training can be accomplished by
controlling and changing the horse's
leading leg.

The Right Job Description
You need to make some choices about
what you expect from your dog before
you start training. Here are two questions to ask yourself before writing your
dog's job description:
* Will you train a single command that
tells your dog to change leads and turn
away from you from either side of your
body?
* Will you go the extra steps to train both
the "Left" and "Right" commands to a
high level of comprehension?
Let's look at what you need to take
into consideration as you try to answer
these questions.
Understanding a Single Turn
Command
Many people find they only need to
train a single command that simply
means "turn the other way now."
Common commands are "Switch" and
"Turn." I use "Hook."
When the dog hears this command, he
changes leads and ends up traveling in
a new direction. I have had great success in the past using the "Hook" command instead of "Left" and "Right." Since
the dog's leading leg is usually the leg
on the same side as the handler is located, the same command will turn the
dog away from his handler regardless of
which side the dog is on. That means if
I run with my dog on my left, he is most
likely on his right lead. If I give my command to change direction, the dog will
change leads, which will cause him to
turn left, away from me, and vice versa.

When I first trained a turn command,
I believed the dog had to be next to
me to understand he was to turn away
from me. Then one day I was hopelessly behind my dog, watching him
head for an off-course obstacle. Out
of desperation, with very little hope
of success, I yelled "Hook." I only said
it because there was nothing else I
could think of to say to save the day.
When my dog turned away from the
wrong-course obstacle and headed
toward the correct obstacle I was
shocked. That was how I learned the
command was just a lead change and I
did not have to be close to my dog for
it to work. What mattered was which
side of me the dog had been on as he
passed me. Thank heavens I have patient dogs to teach me!
Understanding the "Left" and "Right"
Commands
If you are often caught in the wrong
position for cueing your dog to the correct obstacle with your body position,
then you should choose to teach verbal
directional commands to a higher level.
This will give you more flexibility on
course then a single turn cue. Training directional commands means that
you've decided you don't want your
body's position in relationship to the
dog's position to be taken into consideration by the dog at all. You will train
the dog to understand to turn both
left and right no matter which side the
dog is on as well as when the dog is
in front of you or coming toward you.
This means the dog is not just changing
leads, he is turning in the direction he
has been told to, no matter what lead
he is on, including if he is on the lead
needed to make the turn. His comprehension of left and right are at a very
high level. This path will take considerably more training than a simple lead
change cue.
Now that you have decided what you
are going to train, let's look at how to
go about it.

Ground Work
Training a Verbal "Turn" Cue
Those of you who understand clicker
training can train your turn with a

clicker. If you don't know clicker training and would like to learn, this is a nice
behavior for beginners (it is always a
good idea to train a trick or two that
you won't need in the future first, just in
case you have a bit of a learning curve).
Clean Run sells many good books on
the subject of clicker training and many
trainers are qualified to teach clicker
work if you are interested in learning it.
For those not interested in shaping the
turn behavior with a clicker, here is another method.
1. Begin with the dog standing on your
left side in heel position. Either hold the
dog's collar or keep his head in place
with a treat held with your right hand on
the side of your left leg.
2. Tickle the dogs outside hip with your left
hand. When the dog turns his head to
investigate the tickle, acknowledge his
choice ("Yes" or "Good" works well) and
reward so the dog has to move forward
out of the turn to get the treat.
OR
An alternative to tickling the hip: use
your "tickle hand" (your right hand if the
dog is on your left) to put a cookie on
your dog's nose. Slowly drag the cookie
along the dog's body back toward the
dog's hip so the dog's nose can follow it.
3. When the dog steps toward the treat,
rotate into the dog and move forward.
Done correctly, the dog will end up on
your right (new) side and you will have
turned 180 degrees.
4. Get a rhythm of repetitions going and
when the dog anticipates what is happening, start to fade the lure of the
cookie or the hip tickle.
5. Add the verbal cue when the dog understands to turn without much help.
6. Progress to walking with the dog in heel
position, telling him the verbal cue and
turning with the dog after he starts his
turn on his own.
7. Next try jogging then running while surprising the dog with his new turn command from time to time.
Once the dog understands the command your ground work is done and
you should begin your one-jump work.

Clean Run | July 18

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - July 2018