Clean Run - September 2017 - 12

You can lure the turn around the cone or shape it,
just make sure to reward very close to the cone.

Initial Tight-Turn Drill
I love this drill for many reasons besides as a tool for teaching your dog to decelerate and land tightly to a jump. At its
most basic, sending the dog around a cone teaches the dog
to use his body better and engage his rear end, creating a
suppler dog. In addition, because you are isolating the skill
and loading the tight-turn behavior with a lot of rewards,
you can create a ton of drive and power through your turns.
It is also a super way to teach young dogs commitment to
jumps; once the dog understands the behavior, you can
send him to the cone and then leave to run to the next cone
as soon as he commits to the send.
I like to shape the circling-the-cone behavior initially, but
you can also lure it. Feel free to use a cone, stake, jump upright, or anything that is handy such as a torch light in your
living room.
Begin by standing very close to the cone and either shaping
your dog to go around it or using a toy or treat to lure him
around it. Regardless of your method, make sure that you
reward very close to the cone. Once the dogs make a revolution around the cone, run forward and treat or throw the toy
to encourage him to power out of the turn.
Remember to practice going around the cone in both directions.
Once the dog is successfully driving around the cone, you
can begin to add motion toward the cone. Again, this can be
shaped or cued using your send cue.
Start at a distance of only 1 foot away from the cone and
step toward the cone. It is important that you cue your dog
to the cone using the arm and leg closest to the dog. Step
straight to the outside of the cone, making sure that your
toe is pointing to the line you want your dog to take. With
success, you can gradually increase your starting distance
from the cone. Again, always remember to circle the cone in
both directions.
12

Step straight to the outside of the cone, with your footing
pointing toward the line you want the dog to take.
The cues will remain the same even as you add distance.

180º with turn
post turn

180º turn with
front cross

270º turn
around cone

360º turn
around cone

As I add more distance, I either do a post turn or a front cross
as my dog turns 180 degrees around the cone. But once
he understands the idea of circling the cone, I introduce a
270-degree turn around the cone as well as a 360-degree
turn as shown in Figure 2. I also begin asking the dog to
wrap the cone multiple times before I reward him; however,
I caution you here to make sure that the turns remain highly
rewarding-don't do too many wraps in a row and don't
forget to reward lots of single wraps as well! If your dog is
losing enthusiasm or speed, you're doing too many wraps
without rewards.
Adding the Tight-Turn Cues
Once my dog understands to confidently drive to the cone
and wrap tightly around it from about 10 feet or so away, I
add my verbal cue. It is at this point you need to decide if
you want to use one cue to mean drive to the jump, decelerate and prepare to turn toward the side I am on, jump, and
land parallel to the jump, or if you want to use a separate cue
for each direction. I use "Tap" to cue my turn to the right in
a clockwise direction and "Dig" to go to the left or counter
clockwise. You may use whatever cue(s) you like. For those
concerned about remembering two separate cues, don't
sweat it; a single cue can be quite effective. The only time
you would ever really need a specific directional cue rather
than a generic tight-turn cue is when you are rear crossing.
Clean Run | September 17

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - September 2017