Clean Run Magazine - December 2008 - 80

A D2 3 2 1 D1 H2 2 3 H1 H2 3 2 3 5 H1 4 1 away from the chute you are) helps the dog to know whether he should drive ahead or be ready to turn when coming out of the chute. Body language alone can guide the dog in a case where he has multiple choices for the same type of obstacle, such as multiple tunnel entrances. Here you must give the dog more information through body language cues. It does not help the dog to say Tunnel, when he has two entrances to choose from. Still, there are times when body language by itself isn’t enough. One in particular is when the dog is exiting a tunnel or a chute and will need a verbal cue to stay on the correct path. If you have been unable to alert the dog before he went into the tunnel that a direction change is coming, it’s time for a verbal cue. to cue in to my body language. The off-courses started to disappear as well as the Las Vegas type bar-dropping runs—ping, ping, ping—there goes another bar. In classes or seminars I always see dog and handler teams that show dramatic improvement through silent running. Often the “flinch factor” dogs show impressive progress. These dogs are ready to explode off the start line and generally end up choosing their own courses because the handlers are much too late with information for the dog. The handlers become tense and, in doing so, “close up” or forget to use their body language cues so the dog is left to guess what is next. This can happen to an experienced handler who has run a slower dog in the past or a first-time handler with a ballistic dog. Handlers can be quite intimidated when faced with a dog that has more speed than they are used to handling or believe that they can handle, which often leads to the handlers’ becoming frantic and jerky in their motions. Their voices reach an octave rarely heard, causing the dog to overreact as well. The dog can easily begin to drop more bars or go off course, because the handler is not providing information for the dog in a timely or fluid manner. Practicing using body language alone without verbal cues helps the nervous or frenetic handler to concentrate on her handling rather than thinking about doom and gloom. Silent running lessens the frantic energy echoing between the dog and handler. The dog should always be given a verbal release from the start line. From that time on, the handler has to rely solely on body cues to handle the dog. Handlers become much more aware of body cues, and more precise with them, because they must focus only on those cues. The dogs become more tuned in to the handlers, since they have to keep an eye on the handlers for cues. Verbal commands are your backup for a correct performance. When faced with a discrimination or a trap on course that you were unable to eliminate because of a handler restriction, you can use your dog’s name to alert him that he should pay close attention. Then give the dog a directional cue, such as Come or Get Out, and then an obstacle command or a Go On type of command. A common error in running a course is the placement of the front cross, which can lead to off-courses, dropped bars, and wasted yardage. Running silently can help you develop a better sense of timing. Having a visual marker on the course is helpful to indicate where to make your front cross, so that when you turn around you do not move out of position. A marker could be the upright of the jump, a tape mark on the bar of the jump, or anything that you can easily see without having to search for it. In Figure 3, the ideal placement of the front cross is shown by the dark blue path and handler H1. The corresponding dog path is shown in red (D1). If the handler begins rotation of the front cross while pulling toward the right wing of jump #4, the dog gets the needed information that takes the off-course jump out of contention. The light blue path and handler H2 show a common front-cross error. The handler continues to move laterally across jump #2 before executing the front cross, opening up the off-course jump as a possibility. By the time the front cross has been started, dog D2 Silent Running Silent running worked well for me with my dog, Misha, when she was a young, ballistic, kamikaze dog. She would take off from the start line and go on her own mission while I was calling out multiple commands, most of which she ignored. When I began to use body language cues almost exclusively, I found that I had been at least four hours late in my body language cues to her. Without frantic verbal commands, she quickly learned 80 Clean Run | December 08

Clean Run Magazine - December 2008

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