Clean Run Magazine - March 2009 - 51

In the beginning, it is very important that you break everything down and make your cues large and obvious. You will find yourself naturally making these cues smaller and more subtle over time, as your team develops fluency in rear crosses. Speaking of Rear Crosses I do add a verbal cue to the rear cross after my dog is proficient at doing rear crosses with my physical cue—I use Switch. Some of my dogs do beautiful rear crosses with the verbal cue and some do not respond at all. My Cattle Dog will switch instantly on the flat if I give her the cue, and my Bull Terriers are completely oblivious to the verbal cue. I might as well be saying “miter saw” instead of “switch.” I continue to use the verbal cue along with the physical cue on all my dogs, however, because it is just easier for me to be consistent than to remember which dog gets what cue. Besides, I am a hopeful person and, who knows, someday the verbal cue might stick with one of my Bull Terriers. My suggestion based on my experience with both my students’ dogs and my own is that it is very much worth your while to try to add a verbal cue for the rear cross, but please don’t be disappointed if your dog does not ever pick up on it. Verbal cues are difficult for some dogs to process, and it is no big deal if you have to use a physical cue alone for rear crosses. Note that you should not add the verbal cue until your dog’s rear crosses are pretty good. You want to be sure the behavior you are naming is the one you want! A handling seminar that will fit in your training bag. In the Long Run In the beginning, it is very important that you break everything down and make your cues large and obvious. You will find yourself naturally making these cues smaller and more subtle over time, as your team develops fluency in rear crosses. How subtle your cues ultimately become and how quickly you can fade to that subtlety will depend on you and your dog. Some dogs can quickly learn to pick up on even a slight bobble of the handler’s upper body as a cue for a rear cross and some dogs will always require a big windup and pitch to get them to hoist their body to the new lead. You and your dog will find a comfortable way to communicate on rear crosses in your own time, so don’t be in a hurry to fade your cues. Now that you have a working space and know how to do front and rear crosses, you have the basis for all the handling skills you need to run a course. Next, we will do some exercises that will incorporate these skills and start to put them to practical use. Your Welsh Terrier can do a beautiful pinwheel— When Pigs Fly! D This special collector’s edition of Clean Run is all about handling: Linda Mecklenburg describes her system for giving the dog early notice of direction changes, Susan Garrett details correct front-cross footwork, Jane SimmonsMoake shows how crossing behind a layer back can put you way ahead, Nancy Gyes looks at setting up efﬁcient lines, Jo Sermon explains how to reward turns at a distance, Deb Jones talks about the blind cross, Chris Zink shows how to train for lead changes, Tracy Sklenar explains the false turn, a photo glossary of handling maneuvers, and much more! 104 pages Jane, a breeder of Bull Terriers under the Madcap prefix, has put 18 performance titles on four different Bull Terriers and is one of only three people to have put an AX and AXJ on a Bull Terrier. Her passion is helping people who have been told that their dogs “just have an attitude” or are incapable of learning. She never trains for mere compliance—she teaches her students how to shape a dog that vibrates with happiness when training. Jane is the author of When Pigs Fly! Training Success with Impossible Dogs (Dogwise Publishing). She teaches both at her home and at Positive Motivation Dog Training in Belvidere, New Jersey. Contact her through her website, www.madcapbullterriers.com, or at janekillion@yahoo.com. March 09 | Clean Run ® www.cleanrun.com 51

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Clean Run Magazine - March 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - March 2009