Clean Run - October 2013 - 38

AWESOME
PAWS
Drills
By Linda Mecklenburg
How do you cue a 180° turn on one jump? How do you cue a 180° turn from the backside of one jump? There is not just one
way! You can balance cues in many diﬀerent ways to cue the same desired behavior. It is your responsibility as handler to
choose whatever cue combination is appropriate depending on the situation and then execute in a timely manner.

Figures 1 and 2, A through E, show
the handler cueing a 180° turn from the
takeoff side of the jump. In each, the
handler is using a balance of forward
and turning cues to communicate with
her dog. The forward cues tell the dog
to go forward over the jump and the
turning cues tell him to turn. As usual,
more forward cues (inside arm, shoulders facing forward) may be necessary
for a dog that needs to maintain his
speed, and more turning or collection
cues (outside arm, shoulders facing dog)
may be necessary for a dog that needs
to gear down a bit to make the turn.
In Figure 3, A through E, show the handler
cueing a 180° turn from the landing
side of the jump, using the very same
cue combinations used in Figures 1 and 2.
Once again, in each the handler is using
a balance of forward and turning cues to
communicate with her dog. In this case
the forward cues tell the dog to go forward past the plane of the jump and the
turning cues tell him to turn. Instead of
using a Jump cue as a forward cue (the
verbal obstacle cue to take the jump from
the side the handler is on), the handler
uses a Back cue as a forward cue (the verbal obstacle cue to take the jump from
the backside), but otherwise the cues are
the same. As before, more forward cues
(inside arm, shoulders facing forward)
may be necessary for a dog that needs to
maintain his speed, and more turning or
collection cues (outside arm, shoulders
38

facing dog) may be necessary for a dog
that needs to gear down a bit to make the
turn. If the handler expects to front cross
or push (rather than pull) on the landing
side, the latter may be more useful.
In each scenario, the dog must first go forward, and then turn back 180°. Thus the
basic cue combinations are the same. The
primary difference between Figures 1, 2,
and 3 is the handler location. In Figure
1, the handler cues the dog to go forward
over the jump from a location a bit lateral
to the right wing (or steps that direction
as she cues) so that the dog will naturally
come to her right side after the turn. In
Figure 2, the handler cues the dog to go
forward over the jump from a location
behind the right wing of the jump, so that
the dog will naturally come to her left
side after the turn. In Figure 3, the handler cues the dog to go forward across the
plane from a location near the end of the
bar or behind the left wing of the jump.
Your challenge this month is to try each
drill shown in Figures 4 through 12 using each of the five cue combinations (A,
B, C, D, and E) from Figures 1 through
3 for comparison. Where appropriate,
consider how and when to perform arm
changes, and whether to perform them at
all. Does the timing affect your dog’s performance? Is there a difference between
the two-jump drills and the jump/tunnel
drills? When you perform the drills that
involve the backside of jumps, your dog

must have a solid understanding of a verbal cue to be successful. Without it, you
will not have suﬃcient forward cues to
balance the turning cues. Also, when
performing the backside drills, it is up to
you to determine whether or not a side
change is required.
You should not expect to be successful with all of the cue combinations, A
through E, on all drills. Some depend
more on foundation training that your
dog may not have, others depend more
on natural cues, which may be diﬃcult
for you to deliver.
Most of the drills can be performed
with the dog always turning one direction and/or a combination of both. Try
all variations, always starting from between the two obstacles. Some drills allow for many repetitions of the same cue
combination(s), beyond just #1 through
#4. If you need practice with a particular
cue combination, you may use the opportunity to repeat the skill multiple times.
However, when working through the drills
this month (and the next two months to
follow!), remember that your goal is to
experiment with the different cue combinations to help you understand that you
can balance cues in many different ways
to cue the same desired behavior. Do not
drill your dog excessively, remember to
reward, and be sure to occasionally omit
the turns and cue him to extend over the
last jump to keep him fresh! D
Clean Run | October 13

Clean Run - October 2013

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