Clean Run - August 2013 - 65

7

fore, the delivery of the reward should
occur as the dog is committing to the
jump and the placement should allow him
to grab it upon landing. If you have really
good aim and timing, it is possible to toss
the toy so that the dog actually catches it
in his mouth as he is landing before the
toy hits the ground.

T

3

2

1

Reward the dog's drive to the RZ in response
to the positional cue. The toy is delivered with
the hand closest to the dog (no front cross).

If your aim is not great, it is best to either
practice throwing first or get a helper who
has good aim to throw for you. It is important that the toss of the reward does not
cause the dog to give an inconsistent behavior such as a flick away or accelerating
past you or even blind crossing you. It is
also important to note that if you are rewarding the dog yourself, be sure that you
don’t show inconsistent body cues such as
turning to throw with an offside arm. Try
to throw with the arm nearest to the dog
without any big gestures that might unintentionally become an added cue.

Rewarding the Positional Cue
on the Lead-out
Once you have rewarded the collection response from the deceleration
cue (you standing still), you can move

on to rewarding your positional cue.
This in essence will still be reinforcing your deceleration cue and will
result in the dog making a turn as he
drives towards the RZ.
To reward the positional cue correctly,
stand at the farthest upright of the jump
where you are doing the front cross and
face the direction you want your dog to
run. You should be standing close enough
to wing that you can comfortably reach
out and grab the stanchion with your hand.
Hold a toy in the hand farthest from
the dog so the toy is in front of you and
against your chest. You don’t want the
dog to see it from his start-line position.
Release the dog to do the jumps in his
path. Staying in the same position and
facing the same direction (no front cross),
switch the toy to the hand closest to the
dog so you can reward him for driving
toward the RZ as shown in Figure 7.
Note: It’s a good idea to periodically go
back to rewarding the dog’s commitment
to the jumps before the positional cue
jump as described above in “Rewarding
the Dog’s Collection on the Lead-out.”

e
Magnetic Cours
Map Clipboard
Here's a great way to
organize your course
maps at trials as well
as to design agility
courses or “copy down”
a course at classes,
seminars, or trials.
p
The Magnetic Course Ma
100'
Clipboard has an 80' by
magnetic agility grid
(1"=10' scale) on the top
and comes with a large
les
variety of magnetic obstac
).
(plus handlers and a dog

®

August 13

| Clean Run

www.cleanrun.com

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Clean Run - August 2013

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