Clean Run - August 2014 - 61

ExErcisE 5:
running in a Pack
This exercise is very difficult for dogs
and I tend to train it only when confident that I have thoroughly trained the
"lie down on the run" behavior. You
need two dogs. I use my 15-year-old
deaf Aussie and whatever dog I am
training. If you don't have an older
deaf dog to employ, just use a friend's
pet. Do not use a second competition dog when training, you need to
focus on one individual at a time.
Allow the two dogs to run around your
yard. After they've had a run and are
quietly walking around investigating
or engaging in other inactive behavior,
ask your dog to Down and reward him
as soon as he does as in Figure 9.
Repeat this several times before increasing the difficulty of the exercise.
Next, begin playing with the other dog.
Either encourage him to play with you

or get him to run after a toy. Let both
dogs run for a minute or two and then
ask the dog you are training to Down. If
he does, immediately run to him, reward
with a high-value reward, and then release him to play with the second dog. If
your dog does not immediately go into
a down, stop playing with both dogs
and walk toward your dog while repeating the Down command. As soon as
he moves into a down, reward him and
allow him to continue his social play.
Troubleshooting: If your dog is struggling to lie down while another dog
is running, you can use a second
trained dog that will respond to a verbal Down. This way, when the command is given, the older more experienced dog will stop the play so that
the youngster you are training is unable to reward himself for engaging
in incorrect behavior. In Figure 10,
you can see naughty Happy still wanting to play after I have asked both dogs

for a down. Unfortunately for Happy,
Dilly responded immediately to my
Down command and the game ended.

thE BEnEfits
of sELf-controL
Teaching my dogs self-control is not
as much fun as running sequences
or even taking a walk through the
woods. But, the benefits of dog
self-control make both running sequences and even walks through
the woods more enjoyable. Sequences are more fun when they are
fast, tight, and accurate, and walks
through the woods are only fun if I
trust my dogs to listen to commands
when deer, other wild life, or cars distract them from our walk. Teaching a
down on the run is not the only way
to teach self-control; however, when
you have a reliable down on a verbal
command it is suggestive of a dog
capable of controlling himself. D

Amanda has been competing in agility for 10 years. She and her Border Collie Dilly were 2008 and 2009 USDAA Dog Agility Steeplechase finalists at the Cynosport World Games. They
were also finalists in 2007-2009 in the Grand Prix at Cynosport, placing 3rd in 2008. Amanda is a tenured professor of Psychology at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts
and teaches classes in statistics, learning, dog evolution, and animal behavior. She is a frequent agility seminar presenter and can be contacted at amandashyne@gmail.com.

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Clean Run - August 2014

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