Agility

HANDLING TIPS

by Jane Mohr (www.Netscenes.com/pawabilities)

A run on an Agility Course is either made or broken by the handling skills of the Human half of the team.Agility is a team sport, it is your responsibilityto give the four legged half of your team all the help it needs to have a successful and fun run.

Handling Skills are comprised of 3 parts:hand signals,body cues and verbal commands.Ideally ,all three should exist during initial training. Depending on the dog, verbal commands may be dropped during advanced training and during a course run.Many handlers are successful with only one or two or three components, but these are handlers that have been training with their partners for years.

In the initial stages always train with all three components in mind.

Your dog is completely dependent on you to tell them where they are going and what comes next. It is your job to give them information in a timely, non-distracting manner.  

Hand Signals

• Always give your hand signal with an open flat palm. This is a bigger surface area and is easier for the dog to see than pointing a finger.
• Always indicate the obstacle with the hand closest to the obstacle.Using the hand closest to the obstacle will open your shoulders to that obstacle, and serve as an additional body cuefor the correct direction or obstacle.
• Hand signals should be steady, not swooping or limp-wristed, and not flashing. Your hand signal should be used to indicate the next obstacle to the dog. It should not distract the dog from the next obstacle.
• Hand signals should be given inconjunction with your verbal command.
• Even when the dog is working in front of you, give your hand signal.Dogs have much better peripheral vision than we give them credit for.
• When the dog is on the dog walk, keep your hands down by yoursides. Donot use your hand to show your dog where to walk. If you were to do this and move your hand slightly, you might cause the dog to fall off the dog walk because they were focused on your hand instead of where they were walking.
• Timing of the command (both signal and voice) for ther next obstacle should be when the dog is in the air over the previous jump, or as they are exiting the tunnel or coming off the contact zone of a contact obstacle.
• Never run a sequence or course with food in your hand. This will only focus the dog on your hand, not on the obstacle in front of him. After you have completed the sequence, make a big deal of going into your bait bag or pocket for food to reward him, or have your tennis ball or toy in your pocket.

Body Cues

Your body position plays a tremendous role in dictating course direction to the dog. Dogs quickly become focused on the handlers body, with particular focus on the shoulders. You can send a dog to the correct obsatacle, or pull them off it, through use of the shoulders alone.

• Your body (shoulders,hips and feet) should always point in the direction that the dog is to go. You should never face your dog and run backwards because two things will happen:
• You will trip and fall
• You will lie to your dog with your body about what direction you are headed.
• Your body will act in one of two ways to your dog:
• As a Magnet: Your dog will be drawn towards you and away from the incorrect obstacles or towards correct ones. Most dogs are drawn towards their handlers.
• As a Block: You can (with some dogs, not all) use your body to block the dog from talking the incorrect obstacle.
• There is a direct relationship between your body position and your line of movement and your dogs line of movement when you and the dog are running on parrel lines: when you move to the right, your dogs path should move to the right, and the same for the left. The exception to this is when you hav egiven your dog a directional command that will differ than the direction your body tw\ells the dog.
• Your body can be used to push your dog in away from an obstacle or jump, by moving towards the obstacle and using an OUT or GET OUT command inconjuction with a pushing hand signal.
• Your body can be used to draw your dog in towards an obstacle or jump, by moving away from the obstacle and drawing the dog closer to it and using a COME or COME IN command.
• A shoulder rotation or dip acts as a big signal that the dog should make a hard turn in the direction the shoulder is turning.
• The simple act of turning your shoulder towards the dog or away from the dog, can serve to push the dog furthe rout or draw them closer in.
• Your dog should be able to work comfortably on both your right and left side. All obstacles and jumps should be trained from the beginning from both sides. If your dog has had a lot of obedience work and is hesitant to work on your right (off) side, giv ethe dog reward treats as he heals on the right combined with a command of SIDE, or THIS SIDE

Voice Commands

• Give the command only once unless the dog shows confusion or lack of confidence.
• Donot repeat the command over and over. This is distracting to the dog and draws their focus off the next obstacle and onto you.
• Donot use a dogs name before an obstacle.That will draw their focus away from the obstacle and onto you.
• Donot speak to the dog or chatter to them when they are on the dog walk or see-saw, unless they are hesitating or showing stress.If the dog is moving along under his own steam(with confidience) on a contact obstacle stay quiet. Talking to them will only distract them and possibly cause them to turn their head towards you and fall off the obstacle.
• It is preferable to give encouragement while they ar ein one of the tunnels so they will know where you are when they exit.
• Keep your tone of voice low when giving commands, unless you have a dog that needs motivating. It is harder to distinguish command given with a high squeeky voice than with a low clear voice.
• If you have a dog that is slow or needs motivating, by all means give it praise to help it out.
• If you have a fast dog, give only directional command and keep quiet. Let the dog do his job.
• Once you dog is familiar with your body signals and all the obstacles, try running a course without using any commands.This is called "running slient" and can be very enlightening, and generally is the best way to run a fast dog.

The more work you do with your dog on jump sequence and directional controls, the further you will be able to work away from your dog, and shorten your running path.
A goal we'd all like to attain.