Clean Run - July 2012 - 49

his side of the barrier. Also give the dog a treat when he’s “completed” the chute and is one body length away from it. As with any other situation, work the dog on your right as well as left. For this particular exercise I don’t like to use any kind of targets since it is about my dog making a choice between crossing into my lane or staying in hers. Good choices are rewarded; incorrect choices are ignored and I wait for my dog to fix the error. If the dog doesn’t fix the error, I will start the exercise again from the beginning.

peat the “stay in your lane” exercise in the previous section. Start the dog on the fabric and move in a parallel line to him, walking at a consistent speed and rewarding the dog for staying in the center of the fabric. As before, throw the treat toward the dog so that he gets the treat on his side of the barrier and while he’s walking along the center of the chute fabric. Work the dog on your right as well as left. Once you have worked the dog on both sides, take the lane markers away and repeat the exercise as shown in Figure 9. The reward is still delivered on the fabric and then off the fabric at distance of one body length from the exit of the chute.

Fabric Work
Once you have taught your dog to stay in his lane, it’s time to move this exercise onto a fabric chute. Chutes are made from many different fabrics, some lightweight and some heavier weight. The one thing that they have in common is that they feel different to the dog than the surface he is running on. My goal is to teach the dog how to accelerate on the fabric, decelerate on the fabric, and also run down the center of the fabric. Many dogs like to migrate to the edge of things, which causes the dog to pull the chute fabric toward you. This is undesirable because the dog can get tangled and it can also set up an awkward approach to the next obstacle; so it’s important to teach the dog to run down the center of the fabric. Lay the fabric flat on the ground as shown in Figure 8; it is detached and away from the barrel at this time. Re-

Deceleration Cues and No Motion Cues on the Fabric
One of the things that I have noticed when dogs get tangled in the fabric or come out sideways is that they slip on the fabric or lift their head prematurely. So I have started teaching my dog how to start and stop on the fabric. Because this is impossible to do when the dog is performing the full chute, I take the fabric off the barrel so I can work on this skill. The setup is the same as in the last section. Sit your dog at the “entry” of the fabric. Lead out a bit and stand next to the fabric, facing the way the dog is headed. Release the dog to you and reward him for stopping at your side as shown in Figure 10. I do not ask my dog do sit when he reaches me because I don’t want to encourage lifting of the head.

Training for success can be fun!
2-time World Champion
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Clean Run - July 2012

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