Clean Run - September 2014 - 23

he finds most stimulating. Mats
are portable and can be used in
all sorts of ways to get dogs to
settle when they're really excited.
If your dog doesn't know how to
go to a mat yet, work on the "Go
to Place" exercise in McDevitt's
Control Unleashed book. If your
dog does not know how to relax
on a mat, I recommend Dr. Karen
Overall's "Protocol for Relaxation"
(there are many resources online
for the protocol).

Flatwork Heeling Patterns
Reorienting and off-switch games
can be added to your agility foundation training. I like to use a variation of Linda Mecklenberg's foundation flatwork from Developing
Jumping Skills that is designed to
teach the dog motion cues: when
the handler slows down or stops,
it is a cue to turn or collect.
In this game, I perform flatwork
heeling patterns with the dog on

Texsi practices heel work on the flat.

my right and my left side, using a
high rate of reinforcement. This
exercise can be combined with
the Give Me a Break game (found
in McDevitt's Control Unleashed
book) to increase the dog's focus
and desire to play this game.
Next, I add the four turns on the
flat (see Developing Handling
Skills)-front cross, rear cross,
push, pull-continuing to use a
high rate of reinforcement for the
dog staying in position. If I stop
and the dog stops with me, I click
and treat. If the dog gets a little
ahead of me, I stop and the dog
should reorient to me.
Note: When you follow Linda's program, the dog should return to heel
position. When I use these flatwork
exercise for CU training and behavior modification, I just want the dog
to reorient to the handler. I have
not found that this affects the dog's
ability to understand his job on
course when handling sequences.

Texsi gets ahead of his handler
and reorients when she stops.

Adding reorienting to jumps: Texsi is asked to jump. Texsi's handler stops.
Texsi reorients to his handler.

September 14 | Clean Run

Once my dog and I are successful on the flat, I start to add
speed changes and then jumps
and tunnels. If I move forward,
the dog moves forward, and he is
reinforced for maintaining a connection with me. If I continue to
walk past an obstacle, he should
take the obstacle and maintain
a connection with me. If I stop
when the dog is ahead of me, he
should reorient to me.

Adding Mats as Another Obstacle
For dogs that get very excited or
stressed by running agility, and
increasingly become so ramped
up that they eventually run
zoomies (especially after a run),
I like to add off-switch games to
the flatwork exercises by placing mats at various points on the
agility course or heeling pattern. I
consider mats to be another agility obstacle for my dog to target.
They also trigger relaxation and
help create drive and focus.
The end of a course can be a
point where some dogs become
overly ramped up. This is usually
due to the dog being ahead of the
handler during those long straightaways that seem to be common at
the end of a course. This can be
exacerbated by excitement, anticipation, and stress about reaching
the end of the course or what is
going to happen next. Some dogs
are worried or distracted by what
is happening outside the ring.
Once the dog is in this state, he is
more likely to disconnect or run
away from the handler.

Mats are just another obstacle,
and can be added to decrease
arousal and increase focus.
23
Clean Run - September 2014

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