Clean Run - January 2014 - 66

quickly as possible, without babysitting,
by utilizing blind crosses and things like
Ketschker turns and other spins."

Where It Starts
Rosanne's thoughts on the perfect puppy
have changed through the years. "I used
to want a puppy that was really drivey,
wanting to play all the time. Now I want
a dog that is softer and only wants to be
my partner. That type of dog will naturally want to try harder next time and be
more successful than a dog that will keep
throwing himself at something." She
wants a puppy that is willing to problem
solve a bit. She is not concerned if he worries a little about something as long as he
is willing to approach it. She wants a dog
that likes to play with people, but is not
crazy for everybody. "I don't need a dog
that is everyone's best friend, though my
dogs seem to end up that way anyway!"
And she pays a lot of attention to structure.
For the first six months, a new puppy
will be learning how to be mannerly
in the house, acquiring practical skills
such as sit, down, come, and stay. At
six to seven months she starts wrapping
the dog around wings and sending him
through tunnels. "They are also learning
how to control themselves when there
is something going on, to work on the
wobble board, and not to be afraid when
the seesaw bangs."
She works hard to make sure that her
dogs are attentive, not always driving
ahead. "I don't want it to be a mindless
running game." She teaches them handling at the bar, with a pair of jumps set
at 6". "I will show them a front cross, a
rear cross, a wrap. Then we raise the bar
as the dog gets older. I am pretty cautious
with their bodies when they are young."
Contacts start about the same time, as
Rosanne leads the young dogs on controlled walks across the contacts, for
confidence, between six and ten months.
"I won't let them run repeatedly over
them until they are about a year old. It
is very hard on them physically. I keep it
to a short amount of repetitions and then
stop, and I don't do it every day. When
they are over a year, I start to do it more
seriously-training the full obstacle
more than once in a while, in longer ses-

When Strafe started to come out, she
wanted to expose herself to different
ideas, and get the dog on other people's
courses. She has attended several different seminars. "I am hoping to work
with Jaakko [Suoknuuti] and Janita [Leinonen] again (OneMind Dogs). They are
very in-depth and try to see things from
the dog's point of view."
sions, using the contact equipment in a
sequence, and working on training an
end behavior if I want one. That's when
we start raising the jumps, too."
Her own conditioning goes right along
with that of the dogs. "It's mostly hiking
and running with the dogs. I try to work
out a little but I am forgetful about it."

Her Own Education
Rosanne works mostly on her own to
train her dogs. "I like the puzzle of making things work out." She has developed
her own system that is based largely on
body cues and motion, with an emphasis on envisioning where the dog will be
when, and then guiding the dog through
that line on course. She is strongly inﬂuenced by the European handlers she
admires. A few years ago, she started to
integrate a more "European" style into
her own handling. "I watched a lot of
videos of Lisa Frick when I first started
trying to become more 'European' in my
handling, but now I handle more like
Janita Leinonen. I also enjoy watching
videos of people like Tereza Kralova,
Elina Jänesniem, Niina-Liina Linna,
Jaakko Suoknuuti, Silvia Trkman, and
other accomplished European handlers.
I like to see what they are doing, see if I
can figure out how it works, and whether
I want to try it or not!"
It is appealing, says Rosanne, because
it is more aggressive, more focused on
showing the dog where to go than on
perfecting the form of the handling.
"The European style is designed to drive
my dog forward to the next obstacle as

Rosanne rarely receives training help.
Though she says, "I know the goal I'm
working toward and can see it when I am
training," she will bring out the video camera when she needs it. At one point, for
example, she hit a snag in training Strafe's
running dogwalk and turned to the video.
She will also video herself some times
when she is running a particularly difficult
course as it is "harder to see how the dog
is doing when he is running at full speed."

Being Her Best
Rosanne confesses that she has no problems with nerves and really doesn't work
on her mental game. She credits her success, in part, to the fact that she tries a little harder than some people to focus not
only on where a dog will land, but where
he will accelerate and decelerate. "I am
looking at the lines in terms of where
the speed change happens and where the
turn happens. I try to keep the dog looking at the correct obstacle on landing. I
know that I am not the only one doing
that, but my process of figuring that out
might be different from other people."
She puts a lot of consideration into the
physics of the sport including trajectory,
speed, and where the dog will land.
And then there is her ability to make
the smoking-fast runs look almost effortless. "I had to have a 3' stride to
pace out courses in the old days. I think
that because I lengthened out as a kid, I
still have a long stride. And then I commit my dog to the obstacle and leave. If
you stand there and watch them, you will
never get to where you need to be."D

Sally Silverman is a freelance writer whose life has gone to the dogs. She and her husband share their hearts and their home with three Australian Shepherds. An
avid agility competitor, Sally is working on MACH3 with Bounce, who also has a PDCH, as well as many canine freestyle and herding titles. Baby sister Java is now in
AKC Masters and working on her Advanced freestyle title. Sally is an active member of Y2K9s Dog Sports Club outside of Philadelphia, where she trains and teaches.
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Clean Run | January 14

Clean Run - January 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - January 2014