Clean Run - September 2017 - 14

3 3
3B 3B

2 2

Go!Go!

1 1

Drill
Drill
1 1
Drive
straight
Drive
dogdog
straight
ahead.
Gradually
decrease
ahead.
Gradually
decrease
lead-out
distance.
lead-out
distance.

3A 3A

2 2

Key,
Key,
Key,
Key,
Key,
Key...
Key,
Key...

1 1

Drill
Drill
2 2
Use
soft-turn
Use
soft-turn
cuecue
& &
decel.
Handle
other
decel.
Handle
on on
other
side
to turn
to #3B.
side
to turn
to #3B.

strongly once, as an immediate recall on course if they are
headed the wrong way, but that means that the dog should
head straight to me.
The tone you use for a cue can impart a lot of information.
Dogs have no trouble differentiating these things as long as
you train them clearly. It is no different from what dogs are
expected to know in herding. A single cue used in a faster
way or more emphatically will mean something a bit different than when it is said or whistled softly or more slowly.
Same thing goes when you release your dog from a crate. If I
say my release cue softly, let's say I am releasing my dog out
of the crate in the car, I don't expect him to bolt out at a 100
mph. But, if I am revving him up to call him out of the crate
to work, I will use a more dynamic release and expect him to
come to me with a lot of power. Same cue, different intonation. That being said, you can use a totally different sound
or cue for this. It's completely up to you. It doesn't matter as
long as you train it fully.
As with the tight-turn cue I like to give my dog as much
warning as possible so if I am able to I like to give them at
least two strides to hear the cue and adjust to it. Some folks
find it difficult to remember when to say their cues. To repeat
what I mentioned earlier in the article, I find the easiest way
to remember when to say any of these distance verbal cues
is to pick a point on the ground where the dog needs to be
when you want to use the cue. That may be as the dog lands
from another jump or after a stride-the more specific you
are the easier it is to be timely.
Teaching the Cue
This is pretty simple to train. I use five jumps, as shown in
Figure 5, but you can use three jumps (moving one to the
left or right of the line as needed) and an obstacle other
than a jump as your last obstacle in the straight line.

You begin by driving your dog forward down the line of three
jumps, and reward forward as we did with the "Go" cue drill in
the July issue. You want your dog to confidently drive down the
line in front of you without having him check back with you. Initially you can lead out, but with success gradually shorten your
lead-out so the dog is driving forward well ahead of you.
Next do the second drill in Figure 5. Lead out a bit. When
your dog lands from jump #1, begin repeating your soft-turn
cue (with little dogs you may want to wait a stride or so in
to begin). Make sure that you support jump #2 with physical
cues so that your dog doesn't pull off it, and use your physical deceleration to help him with the turn (blue dashed line).
Initially reward your dog when he turns at #2 and as he gets
the idea, you can reward him after he completes jump #3A.
Also do the mirror image of the drill, working the dog on
your right side and turning him to jump #3B.
Once your dog can do this drill on both sides, take yourself physically out of the picture by leading out less and less until you are
able to stand next to your dog, cue him to take jump #1, and then
give your soft-turn cue to tell him to take jump #2 and then turn
to either #3A or #B, depending on what side you are working. To
be clear, you should still be running with your dog, not standing
still for this drill. We are trying to get this on a verbal only, but we
do want you to be moving. Down the line, when this is trained to
fluency, if you want to show off your verbals to your friends while
sitting in a chair, go for it! But on course, you will always be moving even if it's slowly and far away from the dog.
If at this point your dog's understanding of his tight turn cue
is strong, you can add in that cue. Vary between driving your
dog straight down the line, cueing a soft turn, and cueing a
tight turn (wrapping your
dog back toward you). You
can always begin with using physical help and then
wean your dog off that support until he is responding
on a verbal cue only.
I also recommend working
this drill with four jumps in
a straight line, as shown in
Figure 6, and varying where
you ask the dog to turn.

Next Month
Next month we'll work on
independent tunnel verbals and also look at taking
some of the verbals we
have already taught to the
next level. D
Use straight line of four
obstacles and vary
which turn you cue.

Stacy Winkler has been teaching agility for over 15 years. She is located in Vista, California. For more information on the training concepts in this article and other training
articles you can visit her blog: https://stacywinklerblog.com. To learn about her Foundation, Connection and Drive, Jump and Contact Foundation online classes, inquire
about seminars, or contact Stacy directly, go to http://www.stacywinkler.com.
14

Clean Run | September 17

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