Clean Run - June 2012 - 24

You may be able to think of so many more examples of proofing than I have offered up here. I have used obstacles as distractions/discrimination, toys, other dogs, and body momentum. I haven’t touched on using verbal distractions because I don’t like to encourage that part too much. I do call my dog’s name and run the opposite way whilst he weaves and he does have to complete the weaves before coming to me, but be careful because you don’t want to dilute his name or confuse the poor hound.

Run the opposite way squeaking balls. Lean on weave pole number four whilst swinging a ball on a rope in one hand. Do as many different silly things as possible, but—I cannot repeat it enough—always be consistent in how you reward the dog for the first year or two. If the dog realizes the reward never comes from us when weaving then he should stop focusing on us as much. If you throw the toy for the reward then I can promise the dog will be focusing on you to some extent when he

enters the weaves, even if he completes them correctly. Eventually we want to phase out placing the toy past the last jump, or get it placed so that it’s after two jumps, but please don’t be in a rush to do this. I would keep the toy there for the first year or two of the dog’s career and then still have it there a certain percentage of the time.

A Word About Lead Legs
My way of handling on an agility course is to cue a turn a few meters (depending on size of the dog) before his takeoff point. If I do this correctly then the dog can adjust his takeoff position (maybe take off closer to the jump or round a little more over it and collect himself), but most importantly he can change to the correct lead leg before the jump and not after it. When a handler doesn’t cue a turn, the dog can potentially be on the wrong lead leg for that particular turn. My handling is based on letting the dog know where he is going next at least one obstacle before. By doing this I believe I am getting the tightest line around an agility course whilst allowing my dog to take off and land on the correct lead leg for that route. If the dog consistently does this, it is so much better for his body than taking off and landing on the wrong lead leg for a particular turn. My observation is that the more you cue turns before the jump, the better and the more adept the dog gets at changing legs before takeoff point and starts to get clever with his feet (this is most apparent on a rear cross). I believe this can relate to weave entries as well. When a dog is weaving, he needs to know which leg to enter the weaves on and which leg to exit on.

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24 Clean Run | June 12

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Clean Run - June 2012

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