Clean Run - June 2014 - 12

Changes in your body cues can result in a major change in your dog's path or jumping arc.

handlers to be aware of how even the
slightest changes in our body cues can
result in a major change in their dog's
path or jumping arc. See Figure 4.
Every now and then we are asked if it
is worth training all the techniques
even though we do not normally face
the same challenges in national competitions that we do in international
agility. The answer is definitely yes. We
have several reasons why we like to do
diverse agility training. We think it is
interesting to learn the dog's perspective on interacting with us in agility,
learn how our dogs react to different
combinations of handling cues and
changes in them, and to get the feel
of differences between different dogs'
reaction speed and sensitivity. Training
handling techniques is rewarding and
loads of fun. We really enjoy getting to
know our dogs so well that we know
how they respond to our handling and
can get them through really tricky sequences on the optimal path. Versatile
training with your dog gives you lots of
confidence in your and your dog's ability to perform great runs and succeed
in competition.

A Single Word Contains
a Lot of Information
One reason to identify individual techniques is to make learning agility skills
easier for the handlers. When you execute the particular predetermined
maneuver and always know precisely
where your dog will take off and land, it
is easier to get through sequences with
the dog staying on the perfect path
throughout the run. All of our named
techniques include specific information about how different elements of
handling should be used when executing the individual techniques: how
12

to move, where to position yourself,
where to look, how to use the chest
laser, how to position legs and hands,
whether verbal reinforcement is needed, and timing of all the actions.
A clear image of how to execute each
technique enables handlers to train
by visualizing the execution over and
over again, without exhausting the
dog with excessive repetitions. Handlers need much more training to master the techniques than dogs. Training
and teaching the dog to understand
the cues is required only with a few
of the techniques we are using. Dogs
naturally understand the vast majority
of the techniques and cues we use, if
we are able to execute them correctly
from the dog's point of view. We try to
avoid using conflicting signals in our
handling and use cues where all the elements of handling are balanced with
each other so it is easy for the dog to
understand the behavior we want him
to do. The way we use the combination of different elements of handling
is based on the dog's natural response
to our body cues, not on teaching the
dog something that did not make too
much sense to him to begin with. We
can demonstrate the different techniques in our seminars even with dogs
that are completely unfamiliar with our
way of handling.

Unclear Instructions vs.
Precise Information
You can save a lot of time in training
classes and lessons by being able to
simply tell the trainee: "At jump #3 you
can do a forced front cross, German
turn, or whiskey cross." With this information the handler has a clear image of
all given handling options and where
and how to execute them to success-

fully run the sequence. If the instructor
needs to give a detailed explanation
of all the possible handling options at
every obstacle requiring some type of
handling maneuver, it would be quite a
lot of information to give at once: "You
can go to the takeoff side of the jump
and position yourself 1' beyond the
closest wing, viewed from your direction of approach, with your chest laser
and your toes pointing toward the outside edge of the wing when your dog
is still at least 9' from the plane of the
jump. Call the dog to get him to pay
attention to your hand by shaking it
at the tip of the wing at the height of
the dog's chest and watch your dog's
eyes to confirm the commitment to
your hand and, therefore, to the outside edge of the wing. After confirming
commitment, start executing the front
cross on the flat when the dog is one
stride away from the plane of the jump.
Move parallel to the jump while simultaneously starting to rotate around by
taking two steps so the last step is directed on an angle toward the farthest
wing. Keep watching the landing area
to maintain good connection to the
dog through the handling maneuver.
Or, you can choose to stay on the landing side of the jump and..." This is a
partial explanation of the execution of
the forced front cross.
If the instructor were to give similar explanations of all the other possible handling solutions, the handler wouldn't
remember much by the time the instructor finished.
Without named handling techniques,
the problem would occur again in the
next week's training session because
the instructor would start explaining
all over again: "Do you remember what
you did at jump #3 last week when you
went to the takeoff side and..." Without
having precise and detailed information about the execution of individual
techniques, it is difficult to understand
why sometimes when the handler goes
before the dog to the takeoff side of
the jump, the dog makes a wide turn
beyond the plane of the jump, sometimes takes the jump from the wrong
direction, sometimes gets a refusal, or
sometimes advances beautifully on the
optimal path throughout the handling
maneuver. It would be really challengClean Run | June 14

Clean Run - June 2014

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