Clean Run - June 2013 - 43

Often Nancy’s training plan is dictated
by something she thought could be better at a trial. “For example, my runs at
a recent AKC competition were not as
smooth as I wanted. So I came home and
worked on my timing, making sure that I
am not late with my cues and improving
the timing of my side changes on wideopen AKC-type courses.”
One thing she will never do, she says,
“is drill my dogs to death. I have the luxury of multiple short sessions in a day.”

The Up and Comers
At the moment, Nancy has four dogs at
different stages of life. Panic, the oldest
at 12, is retired because he has epilepsy,
but he is still an active dog that runs with
the pack every day. Ace, at nine, is at a
maintenance level of training, running in
group classes twice a week with just a
few short individual training sessions in
between. Fitness is the number one requirement for him at the moment. It is
the two younger dogs that get the lion’s
share of her training time.

June 13

| Clean Run

Scoop is three and a half, but has had
health issues on and off that have prevented consistent training. With him,
Nancy is doing a lot of jump work. “I
train him more like I would a two-yearold. We are trying to catch up and get
our timing together.” She describes him
as “big and fast and a handful of a dog.”
He gets the majority of her formal agility
training right now.
Her youngest, Pie, Nancy refers to as
“a very big training project.” The oneyear-old has a fear of moving cars, which
she is compelled to encounter day after
day. “Her training is not like my normal
puppy agility training. We don’t work as
much impulse control around agility as I
normally would with my young dogs.”
The goal is to make her wild and crazy
enough for agility that she won’t notice
if a car happens to go by while she is
working. “The saying is that you get the
dog you need to help you grow. Well, I
am learning way more than I ever wanted
to know about canine phobias, but I hope
it will help make me a better dog trainer
and that in turn will allow me to better

understand some of my clients’ fearful
dogs.” One thing that Nancy has discovered is that Pie was more likely to alert to
vehicles coming onto the property during
control moments, like sitting on the start
line or transition time between exercise
and play. When she is running and jumping she is unlikely to notice a car. When
she is killing a tug toy in play with Nancy
she may not even notice that a vehicle is
moving. “Part of her anti-stress antidote is
motion, keeping her moving and engaged
is likely to keep her focused, attentive,
and unlikely to stress. Long sit-stays are
boring and she has time to look around
and make the wrong decisions.” Pie’s car
phobia continues to improve and Nancy
is hopeful that it will lessen to a degree
that it will be safe to have Pie off leash in
the competition ring.

Conditioning
Fifteen acres healthy, ﬁt, and happy dogs
make! Nancy’s dogs run the open pastures and ﬁelds by their home for 30-45
minutes at least once a day. “I walk with
them and run with them.” When she is

43
http://www.auburnlabs.com http://www.auburnlabs.com
Clean Run - June 2013

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