Clean Run - August 2019 - 45

Beginning Sequencing with Serpentines
By Jo Sermon

This month we look at serpentines.
Serpentines require a specific skill-
slicing a jump. So it is well worth
revisiting one-jump work before you
start teaching serpentines to make
sure that your dog has that jumping
skill, indeed that your dog recognizes
a jump from an extreme angle. If you
have a small dog, it's also worth having a look at the type of jumps that
you see and deciding what sort of
angle of approach is appropriate. If
the jumps have big heavy feet, for
example, they present an additional
obstacle for small dogs, and I recommend a softer angle of approach. The
next point to remember is that slicing a jump widens the area that the
dog jumps; each time the dog takes
a jump at an angle, he is effectively
jumping a spread, so do please be
sympathetic whilst your dog works
out a successful strategy.
As there are so many handling systems these days, each with their own
take on serpentines, please examine
the advice that I'm giving here in the
light of any system you are following.
My own preference is to teach a serpentine as a set exercise with a specific cue. I want my dog to be able to
recognize a serpentine and perform it
independently from a distance, from
any angle with me able to handle it
from any position. That means I invest
the training to make sure the performance isn't related to a specific handling position.

August 19 | Clean Run

Reminders

The Sequences

Remember the associations that
you are building with training.
Spend a little time looking at your
build up to a training session. Check
that your dog enjoys his warm-up
and his cool-down. If you've made
the associations that we're looking
for, your dog should be visibly excited as you go into your warm-up.
Your cool-down should also be a
focused time between you.

Before you start a sequence, decide
what you will do if your dog goes
wrong. How will you react? What
will you say? Having a plan means
that you will react in a timely manner and your dog is less likely to
be left in limbo. What will you do if
your dog is slow and distracted? Is
he okay? Are you okay? Remember
that your dog is constantly watching you, he is expert at reading
body language. If you're feeling
tired and fed up, he will without
doubt know, and that's not a good
association to make with training.
Consider going for a walk instead!

On the course plans, you'll sometimes
see a green circle labelled "R," for reinforcement. This is where I recommend
that you reward. It's the area in which
I would leave a dead (planted) toy, or
a food toy, or a remote food dispenser.
If your dog hasn't yet learnt how to
work until you cue him to take his reward, use this as an area in which you
will stop and play with or feed your
dog. Be careful with it, as dogs quickly
pick up areas of reward. Also, always
remember that a send should be rewarded at or beyond where the dog
was sent to. Elsewhere, reward at the
end of the sequence. Make sure that
you pay attention to the reward and
focus on your dog. If you're feeding,
do it more than once. If you're playing,
have a real game. Your dog is working
for his reward. Make it worthwhile!

If you struggle with a particular
sequence, try backchaining it. Start
with the final obstacle and reward
it five times. Then start adding the
obstacles before it, one at a time.
Dogs who lack confidence or are
nervous often enjoy backchaining,
as they go toward an already wellrewarded behavior. It's a nice way
of lengthening your sequences if
you are having problems.

The final point to consider is that the
angle of approach to the serpentine
makes a considerable difference to the
degree of difficulty for the dog, so care
needs to be taken with the setup for
the early exercises.
Figure 1: One-jump work. Vary your
handling position and movement as
well as your dog's starting position to
ensure he understands slicing a jump
and can do it regardless of your position. Lead out and start ahead of him,
start behind him, run ahead of him, and
run from behind. This is also a good
time to teach your dog to focus on
the jump and wait for a verbal release,
45

Clean Run - August 2019

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