Clean Run - November 2019 - 46

Obstacle Discrimination:
A Short Primer
Words
It is important that the names of
obstacles that could be involved in
an OD are all quite different sounding. All your nouns should have
distinct cues, and your dog should
be trained to move toward the obstacle with just a verbal cue (see
"Name Recognition").
I encourage you not to use words
that all start with the letter "T."
Tunnel, teeter, touch, target can be
confusing. The same with your verbal directions. If you use the word
"come," for example, the first syllable of "tunnel" can sound similar,
"come" and "tun." Choose distinct
words and evaluate how they sound
when used together as well as with
your dog's name.

Your dog's name should not rhyme
with a direction cue, like Trout and
"out" or Riot and "right." You don't
want even the first letter of your
dog's name to be the same as a
direction or obstacle cue, like Tory
and "tunnel." You will likely need to
use your dog's name to call your
dog to the closer of two OD obstacles, and you often have just a
split second to say the word and
get your dog to respond correctly.
Direction Cues
For OD, two of the most important verbal cues are the one that
pushes your dog to the farther obstacle (like "out") and the one that
calls your dog toward you to take
the closer obstacle (like your dog's
name, "come," or "here") I use my
dog's name for the closer obstacle
and "out" for the farther obstacle,
or I use a threadle cue if there are

two turns to the contact or the tunnel. At times, the OD challenge
requires shaping an approach or
using a collection cue at the jump
prior to the OD.
Name Recognition
I like to teach my dog to recognize
the name for each obstacle they
may encounter in an OD. I want
them to move quickly toward the
appropriate obstacle when they
hear that verbal cue without any
physical help from me.
I usually use a short tunnel and a
flat board when teaching words for
the tunnel and contacts. I do not
move when teaching name recognition because I don't want my handling to override the dog looking
for and moving toward the obstacle
when I say the cue. See Figures 4
and 5.

Tunnel!

Climb!

tunnel
Climb!
tunnel

Climb!

Tunnel!
R

Tunnel!

Using a short tunnel,Tunnel!
work on all your
Tunnel!
Tunnel!
tunnel
sends using a verbal cue only. Don't
move! Be sure to toss your reward to the
end
of athe
tunnel.
Using
short
tunnel, work on all your
tunnel sends using a verbal cue only. Don't
move! Be sure to toss your reward to the
end of the tunnel.

tunnel
Climb!
tunnel

Climb!
Climb!

Give your verbal cue, stand still, don't move! If you
have a table under the board, toss the cookie or toy
directly to the table. If you aren't using something to
prop up the board, toss the reward off the board.

It is important that the names of obstacles that could be involved in an OD are all quite
different sounding. All your nouns should have distinct cues, and your dog should be
trained to move toward the obstacle with just a verbal cue (see "Name Recognition").

Clean Run | November 19

Clean Run - November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - November 2019