Clean Run - December 2017 - 15

Sample Lesson: Students are instructed
to do an "arousal check" before beginning active stations. They should give
their dog a cookie and observe his
mouth pressure (too hard? too soft?),
and then ask their dog for a simple
behavior like sit or down before beginning. This will get them into the habit
of checking their dog's emotional state
before they get to work.
Consent Signals
Agility trainers work hard to get dogs
in the game. This is another area where
agility soars above other dog sports;
we want to see dogs that want to play
our sport! Still, problems with checking out (which can manifest as sniffing,
visiting the judge, zoomies, rushing
the next dog on the line, or even blast-

ing off the start line to take on the
course handler-free) can and should
be prevented by teaching handlers
how to provide their dogs with a "consent vernacular" early on. This is done
by understanding that reinforcement
is defined by its function; not by you
or me. If we teach the dog a behavior
(like lining up at our side, or giving us
eye contact) that consistently leads to
agility starting, we will see whether
the dog is ready or willing to begin the
agility game once he understands this
consequence.
In the initial acquisition of the behavior the dog will get a classic reinforcer
like a cookie for compliance, but soon
after the behavior is established we
will only follow that behavior with
the chosen sport. When the dog understands that complying with the
request to line up, offer eye contact,
etc. will lead to agility, he will not do so
when he is not interested or not able
to do agility! The importance of asking our dogs what their opinions are
regarding our silly games is a transformation our sport needs; and a natural

If you caught my last two articles for
Clean Run, you know that I find assessing your dog's ability to work to
be an important skill. Knowing how
your dog normally takes food, plays
with toys, or responds to cues is part
of being aware of his ability to work
and respond at any given time. If foundation classes encouraged handlers
to do quick "arousal checks" before
beginning work, these handlers would
not be taken aback when arousal is
not at an optimal state and their dogs'
behaviors are affected. On the flip side
of this coin, handlers should be given
a toolbox from which to draw when
they need to affect the arousal state of
their dog. Instructors should talk about
how to tell if a dog is in an optimal
state of arousal, and how to soothe (or
spike!) that arousal if not. Better understanding of the emotional state of
our canine partners should be of high
priority when instructing handlers getting started in this sport.

Arousal Assessment and Soothing

one for the play-centric game we love.
Sample Lesson: For the first half of the
course students are instructed to teach
the consent behavior, and are not
told it will be used as such. A line-up
behavior works best, and is vital for
start lines and resets. When students
have solid line-up behaviors, introduce
them to the concept of asking for the
line-up and not presenting the dog
with a primary reinforcer for this, but
rather following it up with agility. If
the behavior becomes less consistent,
discuss why this might be, and instruct
students to move to a spare "waiting"
station if the line up is refused. This
concept is tough to grasp even for
experienced competitors; it should
be left out unless the instructor truly
understands it. With skilled instruction handlers will be utilizing consent
signals and understanding how to respond to dogs that say no over time.
Coping with Environmental Pressure
Agility instructors typically have no
control over the genetics or socialization background of the dogs that wind

Our sport has never been bigger, more competitive, or more demanding.
The missing link for so many handlers lies in the unseen skills successful competitors already understand,
but that are left out of foundation classes. Instructors can improve their classes by incorporating some
of these lessons, and competitors can take it upon themselves to fill in the gaps for their own dogs.

December 17 | Clean Run

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - December 2017