Clean Run - February 2013 - 20

What Cues Your Dog
hat

Really to
Pays attention

OUT SPOT OUT!

By Lorrie Reynolds

Participants in my beginning distance seminars frequently see a signiﬁcant improvement in their ability to
work away from their dogs during the short time they are at the seminar. However, true distance—the 20', 40',
or 60' kind—is a skill that must be taught and practiced. So what explains the seemingly miraculous results at
the seminar? Communication! Understanding what your dog is paying attention to on course allows you to
clearly communicate where you want him to go. When we understand how our cues are affecting our canine
teammate, and change our handling accordingly, it seems as though the dog begins reading our minds.

Dogs are extremely adept at reading
minute signals from other dogs. Intent
in the canine world is communicated
by small changes in a dog’s posture, the
position of the ears and tail, or even
the corners of the mouth. Dogs easily
extend that knowledge to reading cues
from people, even when we don’t realize what we are broadcasting. The next
time you are tempted to blame that offcourse on a dog that “just won’t listen,”
make sure you know exactly what it is
that you are saying. The key to working
with your agility partner is learning how
to communicate, and the communication is fundamentally the same whether
your dog is 5' away or 50'. There are five
major categories of communication with
our dogs: body motion, body language/
body position, handler position relative

to obstacles, hand and arm cues, and
verbal cues.

Body motion
The most important cue to your dog
is your motion. From the time they are
puppies, we intentionally and unintentionally teach our dogs to follow our
motion with every daily interaction. If
we move toward the door, they move in
the same direction so they can go outside. If we move toward their food bowl,
they follow us so they can eat. We play
tag and have them chase us, then turn
the tables and chase them. They move
when we step into their space, to avoid
getting trampled. Our agility training
reinforces the things we unconsciously
teach. We train them to come to heel,
run alongside us, and move away when

we step into their path. Is it any wonder,
then, that the primary cue our dogs focus on when running agility is our body
motion? On an agility course, the dog
will naturally travel in the same direction
that we are traveling.
All dogs have a comfortable working distance in agility. For some, it may be 2'
away from the handler’s leg. For others, it
is 10' or even 15' and they will go around
obstacles rather than completing them
if the handler infringes on their space.
This working space can be increased and
decreased through training, but the basic
principles of movement stay the same.
As we move or turn toward the dog, the
dog moves away. As we move or turn
away from the dog, the dog follows us to
maintain his working distance.

Clean Run | February 13

Clean Run - February 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - February 2013