Clean Run Magazine - September 2007 - 27

so that the dog can see it better and hit it out of my hand. If I am working on lateral distance, I might not go quite as far to the side as before. If I was increasing my speed and running by the end of the plank, I may slow myself down to a fast walk instead of sprinting away from the dog. If I had recently increased the dog’s starting distance from the touch board, I may move him to a closer starting point before reattempting the exercise. If changing one aspect of the exercise does not help the dog succeed, consider changing a different aspect of the exercise. For example, if the dog misses the touch board and you were working on lateral distance from the obstacle and you were running, try leading out farther before releasing the dog and moving at a fast walk instead of a run, but maintain the same lateral distance you were working at when the dog made the original mistake. There are many ways you can make an exercise easier for your dog to get his success rate back up after a mistake. Carefully analyzing all the factors involved in the exercise when your dog makes a mistake will help you decide what is an appropriate way to make the exercise easier without underchallenging the dog. Training Safe Dogwalk Approaches Teaching your dog to safely get onto the up ramp of the dogwalk is extremely important. Since we did a lot of extension work in our dogs’ initial contact training, they must be taught how to get on correctly from an angle, possibly with collection. You can do this with a lowered or full-height dogwalk. Dogwalk Approach Exercise #2 Put a jump 15' in front of the dogwalk and set the dog 15' feet away from the jump at only a slight angle. Recall the dog to you and reward as in the previous exercise. Work your way through all of the angles. Dogwalk Approach Exercise #3 Lead out half way between the jump and the dogwalk. Recall the dog over the jump and run with the dog while he crosses the dogwalk. Once you can do this from all approach angles, replace the jump with a different starting obstacle (like a tunnel or a chute) and repeat the exercise. Dogwalk Approach Exercise #1 Place two jump wings parallel to the up ramp. Set the dog 15' feet from the up ramp on a straight approach. Stand facing the dog at the end of the “wing chute. Recall the ” dog to you with a hand signal extended through the wings toward the dog, and reward once all four of the dog’s feet are on the plank. Feed the treat from your hand and then have the dog jump off the dogwalk to begin the exercise again. With success, begin to set the dog on a slight angle, working on both the right and left. Increase the difficulty of the approach angle in 3' increments until your dog can straighten himself on the approach from a starting point perpendicular to the end of the plank. Other Exercises You can also work rear crosses onto the dogwalk with this setup. Keep the wing chute on the dogwalk as long as necessary; also be ready to put guides on if you are going to sequence to the dogwalk at an angle. What’s Next? Your dog now has a solid foundation and is ready to work the contacts in longer sequences.You can begin by adding more obstacles at the exit of the contact obstacle. I generally use four or five obstacles before the contact obstacle, working the dog on both straight approaches and angled approaches. As the dog is successful, I add obstacles to the approach, and then add one or two obstacles after the contact. This is also the point where you need directional commands to control your dog’s exit off the down ramp. With a dog that can execute the contacts independently, you can get to where you need to be to direct the dog onto the correct path as he exits the contact. D Increase the difficulty of the approach angle in 3' increments until your dog can straighten himself on the approach from a starting point perpendicular to the end of the plank. Ali Roukas-Canova is a full-time agility instructor and co-owner of Mountain Freaks! Agility in Port Murray, New Jersey. Contact her at DaWishie@msn.com. September 07 | Clean Run 27

Clean Run Magazine - September 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - September 2007