Clean Run Magazine - November 2008 - 75

Adjust Your Handling to Your Dog This sequence example makes another important point. While there usually is a best way to handle a course with any particular dog, there can be considerable difference between the best way to handle a course from dog to dog. Many handling systems are designed to get the fastest time out of a high-drive dog, and they absolutely are the best systems for that purpose. Unfortunately, those systems may require training or having skills that are beyond the reach of some dogs. Pigs Fly owners are sometimes left feeling that their dogs are somehow inadequate and not fit for agility, because they can’t teach the skills required to follow the “system.” It makes me sad to see people discouraged this way, because there is no reason for it. While I use and enjoy the handling techniques of the top trainers on drivey dogs, I have a different bag of tricks for my Pigs Fly dogs. My advice is to accept your dog’s limitations and find creative solutions to the problems that those limitations present. For example, you might be lucky if you can teach your Pigs Fly dog reliable weaves at all, and, for some dogs, it is highly unlikely that you will ever teach independent weave pole performance. So, you have to accept the limitation that you will always have to be next to your dog in the weaves. That means because you can’t get ahead or move laterally at the weaves, you will probably get stuck doing rear crosses in places where front crosses would be preferable. It’s better to just deal with that challenge rather than beating up yourself and your dog for not having independent weave skills. Handling Reality Staying Out of Trouble Rear Cross to the Rescue Another situation where I might use a rear cross with a Pigs Fly dog is if it could help set up the next obstacle or take an offcourse obstacle out of play as in the next sequence. A front cross in this example might indicate to the dog that the tunnel was the next obstacle. It is true that many Pigs Fly dogs might not have enough forward momentum to actually take the off-course tunnel. Yet, just the fact that the dog thought the tunnel was next, and then was re-directed elsewhere, can be very punishing. Frequent use of moves like that can cause any dog to slow or shut down over time. Since your Pigs Fly dog is starting without much drive to begin with, you could potentially turn him off to agility by doing this kind of call-off only a couple of times. Since your dog probably does not have much forward projection over the jumps, the rear cross is an ideal solution for the sequence. Your dog will land very close to the jump and (one can hope) he will be looking over his shoulder for you, which will point him straight at the correct obstacle, the chute. He is still going to see the off-course tunnel, but by the time he lands that obstacle will be out of his range and a call-off will not be necessary. Now that you have an idea of when you might use front and rear crosses, next month we will start getting into the nuts and bolts of teaching them. Your shelter special can do a front cross like a Border Collie—When Pigs Fly! D 4 4 FC 3 RC 3 2 2 1 1 Jane, a breeder of Bull Terriers under the Madcap prefix, has put 18 performance titles on four different Bull Terriers and is one of only three people to have put an AX and AXJ on a Bull Terrier. Her passion is helping people who have been told that their dogs “just have an attitude” or are incapable of learning. She never trains for mere compliance—she teaches her students how to shape a dog that vibrates with happiness when training. Jane is the author of When Pigs Fly! Training Success with Impossible Dogs (Dogwise Publishing). She teaches both at her home and at Positive Motivation Dog Training in Belvidere, New Jersey. Contact her through her website, www.madcapbullterriers.com, or at janekillion@yahoo.com. November 08 | Clean Run 75

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Clean Run Magazine - November 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - November 2008