Clean Run - October 2017 - 66

Always intermittently send your dog forward down the line.
If he begins to check in with you at any time, go back to the "go" drills you used initially to create
an independent drive down the straight line.

If your dog goes wrong in any of these drills, just call him back
using a fun non-reward marker and reset him to try again.
When my dog is wrong on a behavior I want to give him the
feedback but also maintain a high level of motivation and
engagement, so I use a non-reward marker said in a fun, dynamic manner: "That's not it!" and "Get over here you" are a
couple examples. Keep a smile on your face!

4B
4C

4A
60

Once your dog gets good at these drills add distance and speed.

Bringing Distance Verbals to Fluency
The drill shown in Figure 13 is a great basic setup for testing
and perfecting the fluency and timing of your verbal cues.
You can do just portions of this setup, change out obstacles,
change distances between obstacles, and easily alternate
between driving your dog down the middle line from behind
and using your verbal cues to create different turns. This is a
setup that you'll want to revisit even after your dog is fluent
with his distance verbals; these are behaviors that must be
maintained to keep them sharp.

3
50

General Training Notes
* To maximize the effectiveness of your verbal training, you
want to do these drills with little to no leadout as if you
were encountering the challenges midcourse-try to always start lateral to your dog's position.

10
10

10
40

* If you need to assist your dog physically to get a particular
behavior, it's not the end of the world, but over time be sure to work on gradually removing your physical support until the
dog can perform the behavior on just a verbal.
* Always intermittently send your dog forward down the line. If he begins to check in with you at any time, go back to the "go"
drills you used initially to create an independent drive down the straight line.
* Reward your dog for driving straight or for completing a turn successfully. Accurate throws are important. Remember that
you want confidence. You do not want your dog checking in with you. Throw your reinforcer before your dog checks in and
throw the reinforcer so it lands in a location that helps build the behavior you want.
There are an infinite number of possibilities for exercises you can do with this setup. Here are just a few sequences to get you
started:
* Do #1-#4B to work on your "Go" behavior.
* Do #1-#4A, cueing "Left" at #3.
* Do #1-#4C, cueing "Right" at #3.
Do #1-#3, cueing a tight turn at #3 ("Dig" or "Tap" as we worked on in last month's article). D

Stacy Winkler has been teaching agility for over 15 years. She is located in Vista, California. For more information on the training concepts in this article and other training
articles you can visit her blog: https://stacywinklerblog.com. To learn about her Foundation, Connection and Drive, Jump and Contact Foundation online classes, inquire
about seminars, or contact Stacy directly, go to http://www.stacywinkler.com.
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Clean Run | October 17

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