Clean Run Magazine - November 2008 - 79

3 2 4 1 drills. Run forward with the dog and stop. If the dog stops with you, reward him. The young pup is taught that when the person he likes stops running, and he stops too, he gets fed or gets that tug toy or gets affection. He soon learns that your stopping means that he should start to brake; so you both stop in the same place, and he will get his reward. I hope you can see that this isn’t rocket science; it’s quick and easy to teach. Using recalls and distractions strengthens the behavior so that the behavior is easily understood and the dog also finds it rewarding to stop. By using basically the same method, this skill can then be transferred to a jump. BCBL RZ BCBL 5 The dog should always be aiming for the reinforcement zone. Figure 8 This diagram shows the incorrect positional cues from Figures 2, 4, and 6 (light blue) along with the correct serpentine handling positional cue from Figure 7 (dark blue). Notice that all these positional cues are within the same very small area. The dog is supposed to go to #5 in the bottom right corner of the sequence. But from the dog’s perspective, he sees the handler run a nearly identical path and stand in almost the same position when the handler does a front cross and the dog is expected to go to a different obstacle. Therefore, the handler’s position does not give the dog any information about the next jump he will be expected to take after #4. Figure 10 Putting the Cues Together If you combine an understanding of deceleration with an understanding of positional cues, you will have a dog that will turn tightly on the front cross. These tight-turning dogs are not exceptional dogs; they are just dogs trained with consistency. The timing of my front cross is on takeoff. I run to position, decelerate as my dog gets near his takeoff spot, and I execute the front cross as my dog’s front feet come up. I believe that is the key to my success over the last few years. I know where to go and where to stop, and my dogs know exactly what this means because they don’t see anything else. 3 Our dogs’ errors, such as wide turns and offcourses, often can be explained in relation to the BCBL. For example, a blind cross is a handling maneuver that I believe causes many problems, one of which is wide turns. In Figure 11, the dog on the red path is completing what most people consider a blind cross; he has run past the handler and behind his back. The dog on the orange path is beginning a blind cross by running toward the BCBL rather than toward the RZ. When we relate this to the handling in next month’s article, you’ll see why the blind-cross behavior causes wide turns. 2 5c PC3 PC1 5a 4 PC4 PC2 5b 1 BCBL RZ BCBL 5d PC1 = Positional cue if dog is taking 5A PC2 = Positional cue if dog is taking 5B PC3 = Positional cue if dog is taking 5C PC4 = Positional cue if dog is taking 5D When a dog does a blind cross, he is aiming for the BCBL rather than the reinforcement zone. This can cause wide turns. Figure 9 Here I have put the four sequences (Figures 1, 3, 5, and 7) on one diagram with the corresponding correct positional cues. You can see that as the dog drives toward jump #4, the handler’s position gives the dog very clear information about which jump to take next, out of the four possible #5 obstacles. As the handlertaking 5A rotate to execute starts to PC1 = Positional cue if dog is the front= Positional cue if dog isthe information that: if the PC2 cross, the dog has taking 5B PC3 = Positional cue if dog is taking 5C handler is Positional cue ifPC1, the next obstacle is #5A; if the standing at dog is taking 5D PC4 = handler is at PC2, the next obstacle is #5B; if the handler is at PC3, the next obstacle is #5C; and if the handler is at PC4, the next obstacle is #5D. Figure 11 The Blind Cross Body Line One other simple concept that affects the dog’s understanding of positional cues and that I teach dogs in this handling system is the blind-cross body line (BCBL). This is an imaginary line that runs laterally from both sides of my body. In front of me is the place where I reinforce the dog, called the reinforcement zone or RZ as in Figure 10. I teach my dogs that they should always be heading toward the reinforcement zone because that’s where their payoff is! If I handle correctly, according to the system I use, the dog is always trying to respect the BCBL and to find the RZ. Later, when agility equipment becomes involved, this theory gets slightly more complicated, but we won’t get into that until subsequent articles. Another behavior I work hard to avoid is called a “flick-away.” This is when a dog turns away from the handler’s RZ, as seen in Figure 12. The dogs on both the red and orange paths are flicking away from the handler’s reinforcement zone. If you’re not sure why this is such a problem, just watch all the off-course eliminations at the next local trial and see how many are the result of flick-aways from the reinforcement zone. The Deceleration Cue Cueing of deceleration is a very important skill that needs to be taught to the dog. As you prepare to do a front cross, you have to slow down to rotate. This deceleration should be a huge cue to the dog that a turn is likely to happen. Teaching the dog how to interpret deceleration can be done in several simple steps. First, on flat ground with no equipment, begin with some simple running BCBL RZ BCBL These dogs are "flicking away" from the handler's reinforcement zone. Figure 12 November 08 | Clean Run 79

Clean Run Magazine - November 2008

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