Clean Run - March 2015 - 3

Cover
THE MAGAZINE FOR DOG AGILITY ENTHUSIASTS
PHOTOS © CLEAN RUN,
WATTSPHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK, PETER STEPHENS

14
Being an Innovative Dog Trainer:
Reinforcement Strategy, Formula 2
If you want to supercharge your dog's
behaviours and get more speed and
motivation, the key is reinforcement
strategy. There are six components of
reinforcement. We'll talk about transitions, reinforcers, and rate of reinforcement this month. By Tom Mitchell

MARCH 15

The 6 Reasons Handling
Errors Happen
Errors on course are inevitable; after
all, this is an unforgiving sport at times!
Success comes when you can identify
exactly what you did on course and
what you should have done to avoid
the error. By Rachel Sanders

VOLUME 21

NUMBER 03

59
Teaching the Seesaw the DogLogical
Way, Part 3: Troubleshooting and
Overcoming Fears
No matter how meticulous your training, you will inevitably encounter challenges along the way. Included here are
some of the most common questions
that arise as well as suggestions for
overcoming fears. By Lynne Stephens

Features
5

Editorializing:
A Magic Pill for Dog Training?
What if it's not the finding of the magic pill that
is the problem, but the temptation and journey to
seek the magic pill that is actually the root of the
trouble? By Stacy Winkler

26 When "Run Faster" Isn't an Option,
Part 2: K-8
To train great distance skills, you first need to
build a great foundation which includes the
Choose Me game, directional, sit-stays,
acceleration and deceleration, and more.
By Helen Grinnell King
30 K9 Conditioning: A Proper Warm-Up
When muscles and joints are warm, it increases
efficiency of movement and reduces the chance
of injury. A proper warm-up will also increase
mental focus and enhance your dog's overall performance. By Bobbie Lyons, Cert CF
44 Class Plans from Happy Dog Ranch
One of the challenges instructors face each week
is designing exercises and courses that require
little moving of equipment between groups and
challenge all the students in the class while not
making it so difficult that they cannot be successful. By Kristy Netzer
47 Weave Skills and Drills, Part 2:
Training Independence
This month you will work on teaching independent entries and reliability, which includes adding
handler motion and changing handling locations
while the dog is weaving. By Ann Croft

54 Training with the Stars: Tori Self
A full-time student, Tori manages to find time
to train her own dogs as well as teach others.
She believes one of her strengths as a teacher is
understanding the struggle that one can have with
motivating a dog and getting the dog to love the
sport. By Sally Silverman
62 Keep It Simple for Success
Are we making agility unnecessarily complicated?
Does success on course really lie within increasingly complicated cue combinations? Let's look at
simple and straightforward handling solutions for
a complicated course. By Daisy Peel

Columns
6

Tip of the Month By Jim Keim

Everything You Always Wanted to Know
About Agility... By Brenna Fender

10 Using Lotus Balls
to Build Motivation
The Lotus Ball is a treat-dispensing
toy that has many uses for agility
training, including building your
dog's motivation, drive, obstacle
focus, and distance skills. Learn
how to make the most of this
useful tool. By Sherry Kluever
17 As the World Turns:
Backside Tunnels
There are times on course when a
dog needs to turn away from the
direction of the curved tunnel so
that he is headed to the "backside"
of the tunnel when he exits. Learn
how to teach this valuable skill to
your dog. By Mary Ellen Barry
34 Power Paws Skills: Teaching
a Retrieve with a Clicker
You can have a reliable and
enthusiastic retrieve even if your
dog does not regularly play with
toys. Retrieving is one of the
most valuable training tools
used in teaching agility.
By Nancy Gyes

49 A Novel Way to Teach Stays
Here's a simple method for training a stand-stay that you can do
in your living room every night
while you are watching TV. There
aren't a lot of rules to remember
and it's forgiving if your timing
isn't perfect. By Carla Simon

Backyard Dogs By Mia Grant

57 The Judge's Debriefing
By Carol Kramer

Cover Dog
San's Branco's Best Bet GCH, CD, BN,
RE, NAJ, NA, a.k.a. Breeze, a 5-year-old
Belgian Sheepdog owned by Alissa
Levine of Kentucky. Photo by
www.richknechtphotography.com

Clean Run (ISSN 1089-8506) is published monthly by Clean Run Productions, LLC. Principal oﬃce: 17 Industrial Dr., South Hadley, MA 01075. Periodicals postage paid at South Hadley,
Massachusetts 01075-9902 and additional oﬃces. © Copyright 1995-2015 Bud Houston and Clean Run Productions, LLC. All world rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without written permission is prohibited. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Clean Run, 17 Industrial Dr., South Hadley, MA 01075.

March 15 | Clean Run

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Clean Run - March 2015

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