your dog follows your line and passes the jump or drops a bar because he isn't sure whether to take the jump. Movement is the most important element of handling. Most simply, when you accelerate, your dog will accelerate; when you decelerate or stop, your dog will do the same. Handler's Arm Signals You can actually apply most of the OMD techniques without using your arms at all. Some dogs are easily distracted by handlers waving their arms at every obstacle and may drop bars just because of that. We basically use our arms either to get the dog closer to us by lowering our hand to the dog's nose level or to send the dog farther away from us by extending our arm. If during the front cross you step forward instead of toward the dog's landing point, your dog will move parallel to you and pass the jump. Five handling elements are telling the dog to pass this jump. Only the handler's arm and verbal cue is telling the dog to take the jump. The dog naturally follows the stronger handling cues and passes the jump. 34 Dogs pay attention to subtle details, like your fingers when you want them to concentrate on your hand. If you hold your fingers as if you have a treat or a toy in your hand, it's much more interesting and tempting to your dog than just an open hand. Another important thing to remember is that dogs are hunting animals so they often can't help but pay attention to anything that's moving. We use this to our advantage by moving our hand at the dog's nose level to draw his attention to our hand in techniques where that's necessary. We are consistent in our handling and always use the same arm in the same situations. Consistent handling allows you to use some techniques from as far as 30' away and still have the dog follow the handling. Example: Arms in the Forced Front Cross In the forced front cross, you create a connection with your dog by moving your hand beside the close wing at your dog's nose level. After your dog has committed to go around the wing, you start to turn and commit your dog to the jump with the help of your arm located on the dog's side. Your arms are not essential when cueing your dog to commit to the jump-at this point, your position and feet are more im- Clean Run | February 14http://www.greatmats.com http://www.greatmats.com