Clean Run - April 2014 - 64

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directionals

By Allison Bryant
Recently I was asked if I thought it was worth it to teach a
dog directionals. Directionals are basically teaching your dog
to respond to Left and Right commands so that you can steer
him verbally instead of solely by body position and movement.
I have mixed feelings about directionals. As an agility judge, I
see a lot of directionals. And lucky for me, I'm right there near
the dog and handler so I can see it up close and personal.
Dogs do well with directionals. The problem is us. Handlers
will walk a course and decide, "I need to give a 'left' here on the
course." So they practice that during the walkthrough and then
yell the directional command at that particular spot when they
run the course, whether or not the dog needs that cue.
These handlers decide they have to give a directional based on
the course design and not what the dog is actually doing (and
this is an important distinction). While running the course, they
are unable to evaluate in real time whether the command is appropriate because they are focused on the course and not responding to the dog's actions. So they give the command at the
practiced time and the dog does something unexpected (in their
mind) and things don't go as planned.
The dog is running the course and spots the next obstacle (therefore, his head is pointing to the correct obstacle) and the handler
gives the predetermined directional command, even though the
dog has eyes on the correct obstacle). The dog takes the command and ends up being redirected to a different obstacle. So
basically the handler has called or pushed the dog off the correct line because of the handler's inability to evaluate the dog's
path as he's moving through the course.
64

Let me repeat this in different words and hopefully save you lots
of seminar money and entry fees. Some handlers can't realize
that the dog is already going to the correct obstacle soon enough
to adjust their plan, so they give the directional command that
they practiced in the walkthrough even though it's not needed.
The sainted dog obeys the command and ends up going the wrong
way. This results in the handler carrying the dog off the course.
It's hard to watch. The dog is upset because he obeyed the command and got punished for it; the handler is frustrated because
the hours spent teaching directionals appear to be wasted. The
dog learns that next time he ignore the directional command.
So to answer the question...
If you can watch your dog's head and evaluate if he's pointed in
the right direction and give the command accordingly, you will
do great with directionals. They are a powerful tool. But like
any tool, they have to be used correctly for best results.
If you can't evaluate where your dog's head is pointing while
running a course at full speed, you shouldn't plan on shouting
a direction at x-marks-the-spot because a lot of times it isn't
needed and you end up sending the dog the wrong way.
My Aussies, for example, don't like bad navigation information. They lose faith in their handler and start making up their
own courses or worse, they get slower and slower. So if your
dog goes in the wrong direction, keep going and just promise
to try harder to give him better information next time. Don't
stop and "ﬁx" the problem. You risk slowing your dog down or
encouraging barking/arguing behavior.
Clean Run | April 14

Clean Run - April 2014

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