Clean Run - June 2018 - 8

Instead of starting in front of the jump, the handler treats the first jump as a backside approach. The extreme angle along with
the boomerang start allows him to get ahead of the dog.

Sin 2: Stopping a sequence and taking
the dog back to an obstacle he missed.

dog to them and try to turn the dog back
to the jump.

required to help the dog understand your
acceleration and deceleration cues.

Why is this an agility sin? Because repeatedly taking the dog back can erode
the dog's confidence and enthusiasm.

It only takes a couple of repetitions of this
behavior for the dog to lose confidence,
causing him to reduce speed and drive
towards jumps and engage in higher handler focus. This confusion is often compounded for the dog because, in reality,
the handler did want the dog to respond
to the reduced pressure and deceleration;
for example, the handler was trying to
cue a wing wrap. The handler just cued
too early.

If the dog has lost confidence driving
away from you due to handling errors,
you need to support the dog making
choices to focus on obstacles. If you stop
and bring the dog back to the obstacle he
has just missed, you are telling your dog
to focus on you rather than the obstacle.
So firstly, if you must take the dog back
to the jump, don't do "the dance" with
the dog allowing him to bounce around
and change direction in front of you.
This dance encourages the dog to focus
on your movement and hand signals and
builds frustration (often leading to barking). If you feel you must take the dog
back to the missed obstacle, smoothly
circle the dog around the outside of you
and re-present the jump cleanly.

Missing a jump in a sequence is a common problem for novice dogs and novice
handlers.
Mainly agility runs go wrong for one of
two reasons: 1) Handling skills, the cues
were not sufficient; or 2) training, the dog
does not understand the complexity of
the job he is being asked to do.
Even when a dog has a good understanding of driving away from the handler to
a jump, it is easy for handlers to create a
problem once they start more advanced
sequencing because they become focused on getting the course "right" rather
than on what their dog is learning. An
example of this is when a handler who
uses a movement-based handling system
sends their dog towards a jump and then
pulls away before the dog's commitment
point. It is the deceleration and reduction
in pressure to the obstacle that causes
the dog to pull away from the intended
line to the jump and instead rotate back
towards the handler-a handling error.
But the handler wants to get the course
right (it's human nature, after all, we all
want to do things well), so they call the
8

What started as a couple of handling
errors can quickly reduce the dog's confidence and increase his focus on his
handler. Consequently, it becomes harder
for the handler to get the dog to focus on
obstacles that he is being directed to. In
extreme cases, the handler ends up with
a dog that is barking and in some cases
spinning in front of them.
The Fix
If you have identified that lack of understanding on the dog's part is the
cause, then it is time to revisit your dog's
foundation training. Back to basics and
playing training games, such as sending
the dog around cones to increase his understanding of obstacle focus and powering away from you. Circle work is also

But that's if you must take your dog back.
I'm going to ask you to do something
else. Let go of the need for perfection
and focus on what your dog is learning.
If your dog pulls in towards you instead
of driving the jump line, let the missed
jump go. Yep, in the words of Elsa in Disney's Frozen, "let it go." Instead, your aim
is to get the dog's focus back to the next
jump in the sequence, back to obstacle
focus using body language to exert pressure on the line. Reward the dog away
Clean Run | June 18

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - June 2018