Clean Run - July 2014 - 33

There are different ways to achieve good results and not all of them are yet
discovered. If your dog even occasionally interprets your cues or intentions
incorrectly, it is always beneficial to assess if there are some elements in your
handling cues or techniques that should be changed or improved, so that you and
your dog can understand each other better in all situations.

Intentional Mistakes

Trial and Error

In 2009 we published some technique
videos online. From these videos we
later compiled a DVD called Handling
Technique 1. There has been lots of positive feedback about the part where we
discuss the most common mistakes people make when executing one of the
techniques shown. Understanding the
influence of different elements of handling in all of the individual techniques
has enabled us to demonstrate what is,
from the dog's point of view, a good way
to execute each technique and what impact variations have on the dog's performance. An inconsistent use of the chest
point laser, for example, gets the dog to
make a wide turn, earn a refusal, or go
in the wrong direction after the jump. To
demonstrate the use of feet in handling,
we can make the dog take the jump
from the backside instead of entering
it from the direction of the approach
or get the dog to go past the jump.

Sometimes people are hesitant to experiment with different and new handling techniques or solutions if they
don't have a trainer to supervise and
give advice and feedback during the
training session. We think that your
best trainer is always present-your
dog. If the dog offers a different behavior than you expected, just reward him
and try to figure out what element of
your handling made your dog understand your cue the way he did. Daring
to experiment and learn through trial
and error teaches you to understand
your dog's behavior and what elements
of handling are most important for him.

Some might think dogs learn the wrong
behavior from making "mistakes" because they are not executing the technique correctly. We don't think so; we
believe the dog is just trying to follow
our handling and offering us a behavior according to how they interpret our
handling cues. So when experimenting with different scenarios of making
various mistakes, we always reward
our dogs for following our handling,
because from their point of view (and
ours), they are doing it exactly right.

If you can make things right, you can
also intentionally make them wrong.
Making so-called mistakes does not
have a negative impact on your dog
if you do not let your frustration show
and you do not punish or leave the dog
without reward. Be happy whenever
your dog tries his best according to
your handling. If the behavior you get
is not what you expected, change your
behavior and modify your cue so your
dog understands you the way that you
expected. Feel free to experiment with
your dog to see how he interprets your
body cues in the agility field!

The Dog Is the Star
Whenever we give a seminar at a place
we haven't visited before, we often
start with different handling tech-

niques. This gives participants new
handling tools to successfully negotiate various sequences they will face in
agility courses, and helps them understand the effect that different elements
of handling have on their dog. This is
why most people associate OneMind
Dogs closely with handling techniques.
In the bigger picture, however, sometimes the main goal of what we do is
lost. OneMind Dogs is much more than
a set of handling techniques. We work
to increase the mutual understanding
between handlers and dogs. The dogs
are the true stars in agility. Through
the dogs we can learn if our handling
is working, or if we still have areas that
need improving. If your dog doesn't
get refusals, jump wide when you want
him to turn, or turn in a different direction than what you intended, there
really is no obvious reason to make
big changes to your handling palette.
We do not obsess about the system or
cues someone is using to get through
the course, as long as the dog knows
where to go and understands clearly
what the handler expects him to do.
There are different ways to achieve
good results and not all of them are
yet discovered. If your dog even occasionally interprets your cues or intentions incorrectly, it is always beneficial
to assess if there are some elements in
your handling cues or techniques that
should be changed or improved, so
that you and your dog can understand
each other better in all situations. D

Janita Leinonen has been working as a professional dog trainer since 2000. She has coached handlers competing in all heights to be FCI Agility World Championship (WC) medalists. Many of her students are now teaching agility for their living. Janita won the European Open Individual in 2013 and the EO Team
in 2010 and 2011 with teams formed only with dogs from her kennel Decathlete's. She has been among the top ten in the FCI Agility WC twice with different dogs and won the Nordic Championships three times in a row. Her clean run percentage in competition has been over 80% with four different dogs.
Jaakko Suoknuuti has been working as a professional dog trainer since 2006. He has coached several people to the international top level in all
height categories. Jaakko was the first person in Finland who got results for a Havanese to compete in Finnish Championships. He has spent seven
years on the FCI Finnish Agility Team. He won the EO Team in 2010 and 2011. Jaakko also won the FCI Agility WC Jumping course in 2008. He has several championships and medals from Finnish and Nordic Championships. He has earned four top ten placements in EO and WC individual competitions.
Contact them via their website at www.oneminddogs.com.
July 14

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http://www.oneminddogs.com

Clean Run - July 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - July 2014