Clean Run Magazine - April 2010 - 3

Cover
The magazine for dog agiliTy enThusiasTs april 10 Volume 16 number 4

PHOTOS © LOTSikaS, cLean run and raymOnd e. duTTOn Jr.

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Congenital Conditions: Patellar Luxation Patellar luxation is a common congenital condition seen in toy, miniature, and large breed dogs. Here we’ll examine anatomy, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and therapy. By Peter J. Lotsikas, DVM, DACVS and Faith M. Lotsikas, DVM, CCRT

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Let’s Play! A Fail-safe Plan to Teach Your Dog to Love Toys, Part 2 Playing a rousing game of tug, then sending your dog over a jump, and rewarding with more tugging builds a sense of agility as a fun game. Tossing a toy ahead of a dog teaches him to drive away from you. Here’s part 2 of a plan to teach your dog to love toys. By Helix Fairweather

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The Strategy of Colors: Orange You Glad You Walked Both Courses? Colors, played in CPE and TDAA trials, is a handling game consisting of multiple overlapping short courses on the field. The objective is to successfully complete one of these courses. In this article you’ll get some tips for planning your game strategy. By Jeff Boyer

11 Applying Groundwork Principles to “Real” Agility Training Groundwork training has come to encompass much more than just the exercises we do to teach our dogs to follow us. Perfecting your handling on the ground before you start using equipment is a sure bet that you will have a great working relationship with your dog while performing “real” agility. By Nancy Gyes 22 Salo Jumping Work: The FAQs If you have tried the grid work described in Susan Salo’s articles and DVDs, you may have some questions. We compiled the questions we get most frequently from readers and asked Susan to respond. By Susan Salo

Features
5 Editorializing: The Benefits of Joining an Agility Club If you’re not a member of an agility club, you’re missing out on many of the intangible benefits that come with membership. By Cindy Wilmoth 76 Technical Skills Can Help You in NADAC or Any Venue In this article we’ll look at how the technical skills developed for other venues can help to solve NADAC puzzles too. The author describes a handling approach that works for NADACstyle puzzles, but also translates well to other venues where you can handle your dog along an ideal path and the obstacles are presented to the dog because they are in his way. You’ll learn about managing your dog’s path and controlling the variable performance obstacles (jumps, tunnels, running contacts). By Andrea Dexter

27 Can You Handle It? This month’s article presents challenges from the Finals of the 2009 AKC Invitational, with practice derivatives for a 60' x 80' area. By Marquand Cheek 40 Building Your Plan: Developing Performance Goals, Part 1 Once you have evaluated your current agility performance, it’s time to build on this information and develop a plan for improvement that includes short-term and long-term goals. This month, you’ll learn about the training cycle, a method of breaking down the agility year in a structured way. Carefully planning your agility year is an important tool for enhancing performance and achieving your goals. By Steve Croxford 45 What’s My Plan? Three handlers with different styles of handling analyze the same course and share their handling strategies. This month they look at an AKC Excellent Standard course. By Greg Derrett, Rachel Sanders, and Jane Simmons-Moake

56 Train to Maintain: Releases Need some training ideas for maintaining your dog’s agility skills? This new series presents a maintenance program that is easy to implement and that is designed to accomplish a great deal in short sessions. This month focuses on start lines and releases while the handler is in motion. By Mary Ellen Barry 67 It’s Your Turn! Cue #3: The Front Cross, Part 1 Having a dog with well-trained turn cues can make your life easier and is also much easier on your dog’s body and brain. In this series, you’ll learn how to teach your dog the seven turn cues. Here’s the third cue, the front cross. By Sandy Rogers

Columns
6 7 8 Tip of the Month By Maureen Strenfel Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Agility… By Brenna Fender Backyard Dogs By Stuart Mah

19 CR Central By Annie Pyle 37 Nested Courses for a Small Universe By Debbie Sacerich 63 Skill of the Month By Karen Holik

Cover Dog
Tamber FD, FDX, FDCH, FDCH-S, a 4-year-old Cairn Terrier owned by Byron Dillard of Virginia. Photo by Diane Lewis Photography.

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 1995-2010 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.

April 10 | Clean Run

Clean Run Magazine - April 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - April 2010