Clean Run - April 2017 - 3

Cover
THE MAGAZINE FOR DOG AGILITY ENTHUSIASTS

PHOTOS © CLEAN RUN, GENNIE ABBISS,
LESLEY MATTUCHIO

15
Harnesses for Agility Dogs
Most of us do not observe a change
in gait when our dog wears a harness, but seeing subtle changes in
gait is difficult. This small study used
pressure-sensing walkways which
showed that gait characteristics can
be altered when a dog wears a harness. By Dr. Brittany Jean Carr,
Dr. Chris Zink, and Kaitlyn Dreese

APRIL 17

VOLUME 23

35
Jump into Parkour!
Imagine a dog jumping, climbing, and
balancing as his handler shows him
the way. Sound familiar? Sometimes
called urban agility, dog parkour may
be on the fast track to become one of
the more popular dog sports. It can
be done anywhere, at any time, with
any desired level of difficulty.
By Brenna Fender

NUMBER 04

3 Secrets of Connecting With Your
Dog, Part 3: Communicate on the Fly
Do you train to react to the unexpected when you're running agility? Do
you have techniques you can fall back
on instinctively to connect with your
dog? Or are you so stuck to your plan
that you're lost when the plan goes
wrong and communication breaks
down? By Kathy Keats

Features
5

Editorializing: Cherry Picking
Dog Behaviors
For some reason a variety of dog behavior is considered acceptable in the agility world (barking,
jumping on people, pulling on leash, etc.), just
not anything that remotely looks like aggression.
Unfortunately we don't get to cherry pick behavior. By Sarah Stremming

19 Training Freedom: Here I Go Again
This month we look at Shade's training between
the ages of three and four months. It's important
to step back and assess where you are with life
skills development as well as foundation training. By Jo Sermon
30 Sense of Self: Science and Story
As dog trainers and agility instructors, we are
interested in canine behavior and owner behavior; put another way, we are interested in a team's
story. It is our aim to communicate with both
dogs and their owners, so understanding why
these two populations do the things they do is
important. By Tori Self

51 Team Small Dog Agility Humility:
A Good Night's Rest
When you're on a budget, a faraway trial means
another night at the crappy motel shoved between
the bowling alley and the freeway. Such is the
glamorous agility lifestyle. By Laura Hartwick

Human Cognition and Links
to Animal Learning
Dogs, like us, have two systems
of thinking, one wholly unconscious and one unconsciously
and invisibly influenced, which
should make us cautious about
our assumptions when training
dogs! By Laura VanArendonk
Baugh CPDT-KA KPACT

26 Good Footwork and How to
Teach It, Part 1: Foundation
Ladder Grid
Much of jumping success for a
dog comes from good, balanced
footwork. You can use ladder
grids to teach good footwork.
This month we'll discuss the foundation ladder grid. By Susan Salo
42 Practically Training: Learning
from DVDs, Magazines,
Seminars & Online Courses
Mixing training and handling
methods is popular-just pick
what you want to use and get
your information from as many
sources as you can. But are you
making a good choice? Do you
understand all the implications
of what you're teaching your
dog? By Sandy Rogers

54 The Right Way to Repeat By Melanie Miller
64 Power Paws Trials and Tribulations
of a Novice Dog
Nancy and Jim assess the current skill level
of each of their dogs as they progress in their
training and identify where they need to make
improvements as the dogs progress into Openlevel competition. By Nancy Gyes

Columns
6

Tip of the Month By Clean Run

For Your Information... By Brenna Fender

12 The Judge's Debriefing By Terry Elger

33 Days of the Week Training By Nancy Gyes

39 Themes Like a Good Idea By David Bozak

48 Distance Handling in Action
It's time to take the distance skills you have been
working on and apply them on course. This
month we look at distance handling opportunities
on a USDAA Masters Standard course.
By Kristy Netzer

40 Backyard Dogs By Dudley Shumate
45 My Favorite Jumping Exercise
By Giuliana Lund
62 What's My Line? By Ann Croft

55 Biomechanics of Canine
Performance in Agility
Knowing how your dog's body
moves and how the biomechanical forces interact allows you to
assess your dog's physical performance and shows where your
training program should focus
so you can optimize your dog's
abilities. By Robert L. Gillette,
DVM, MSE, DACVSMR

Cover Dog
Finnegan C-ATCH, C-ATE, SCH, MAD,
JM, GM, SM, RM, OA, AXJ, XF, an
11-year-old rescue Border Collie
owned by Diana LaClair of Maryland.
Photo by Ann Hereford, Here For
Dogs Photography.

Clean Run (ISSN 1089-8506) is published monthly by Clean Run Productions, LLC. Principal office: 17 Industrial Dr., South Hadley, MA 01075. Periodicals postage paid at South Hadley,
Massachusetts 01075-9902 and additional offices. © Copyright 1995-2017 Bud Houston and Clean Run Productions, LLC. All world rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without written permission is prohibited. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Clean Run, 17 Industrial Dr., South Hadley, MA 01075.

April 17 | Clean Run

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