Clean Run - October 2019 - 20

Handlers with well-proofed dogs see
their homes-and the whole world-as
one big agility course. "My living room
has lots of stuff for foundation training,"
says Arlyn Sigeti, AKC and UKI agility
judge and Certified Professional Dog
Trainer with more than twenty years'
experience. "I have a tippy board, a
fit ball, a balance disc, and
Paw Pods. I also have
pool noodles on
toilet plungers to
teach turns and
crosses. On
the road, I
bring a step
aerobic
platform to
proof twoon/two-off."
"The other
day we were
at the vet,"
Jane Elene
Christensen, a
OneMind Dogs
Coach, told me, "and
my dog offered a two-on/
two-off on the scale!" Generalizing that behavior also improved her
dog's confidence. "She has fear issues,"
especially at the vet, but thanks to her
training, she had a familiar, reassuring
behavior to offer.

Isolate Behaviors
Eager to graduate to full courses, we
can forget agility is a series of bundled
behaviors. To proof your dog, unbundle
them. For example, while practicing
backsides, your dog drops the bar but
executes the backside, so you reward.
However, your dog doesn't know which
behavior you rewarded.You just taught
him that he doesn't have to clear the bar.
How do you isolate behaviors? Using
the backside example, put the bar on
the floor until you're getting a backside
at least 75% of the time. Then start raising the bar. When your dog drops the
bar, good! That's a teachable moment.
Don't reward, do it again, and only reward when your dog performs the backside without dropping the bar.Your dog
will soon understand, to keep getting
rewarded for a backside, he must also
clear the bar.
20

Increase Your Consistency
First, increase the consistency of your cues. Come up with signals and sounds that
work for you. For example, if, like me, under stress you tend to confuse words that
start with the same letter, find new verbal cues for "tunnel," "table," "teeter," and "tire."
Some people can't tell left from right, especially while careening around a course, so
don't train that way. "When the dog is coming toward you, left and right are mirrored
and confusing," says Selthofer. "I use 'here' for 'come to me' and 'get out' for 'move away
from me.'" To train "get out," she uses a toy so the dog's eyes track away
from her, something you can practice indoors. Remember it's not important which syllables you use, what's important is consistency. Decide for yourself, be consistent, and your dog will know exactly
what you mean.
Another way to proof your dog is to make your reward markers consistent. Most trainers recommended
you keep clickers and treats on hand. Although she's
achieved over 100 AKC titles in various sports, O'Day
always goes "back to a clicker when teaching something new." The voice, she says, is way too inconsistent.
When you pay attention, the inconsistency of wording,
pitch, volume, and timing might surprise you. As creatures of language, we possess such a symphony of unconscious verbal options we can't trust ourselves to be
clear and consistent even when we're trying. The clicker
takes care of that.
"The voice is a butter knife, the clicker is a scalpel," O'Day says.
"Which do you want to operate with?"
Be consistent, too, in how you combine cues and reward markers. When
you cue, be prepared and precise when you mark, and never-never ever-reward
for un-cued behavior. If your dog goes off course, it may be because, without realizing
it, you've been rewarding your dog for un-cued behaviors.
While teaching a workshop one day, Lyons noticed a dog happily walking backward
and placing back paws on everything. "The handler was rewarding the rear-foot targeting even though she wasn't asking for it." When a dog "throws" behaviors, it's charming. It shows intelligence and creative problem-solving, and dogs most often throw the
behaviors that make you proudest. That charm wears off fast when it loses you a Q.
"Just make sure you've asked for the behavior," Lyons says. Make it a habit to insist on
cue-action-reward.When you're offered behavior you didn't ask for, "ignore it, ask for
something else, and reward that." This way, if you're unclear with a cue or your dog's
confused, your dog's default reaction will be to wait for clarity, not to second-guess you.
Here's a catch: some of us live with people who reward un-cued behaviors.You can ask
them to stop, but humans aren't always as biddable as dogs. In that case, you have to
be more disciplined. At the dinner table dogs know which laps to drool on. They know
who'll treat for "spin" when the cue was "sit." Don't let it be you.
Last, "develop a warm-up routine," Lyons says. "Muscles and joints perform better
when they're warmed up. Down-stands, sit-stands, bows, paws up, spin left and right.
Test range of motion before you do anything else." Having a consistent warm-up routine puts you both in a cooperative working mode that you can repeat right before
you go onto the course.

Mix It Up
Mix ideas like these into your days and your dogs will be proofed in no time:
*

Two-on/two-off-Use any change in elevation or surface texture (such as steps,
planks, curbs, logs, door sills, tree stumps) and changes of surface (such as carpet
Clean Run | October 19

Clean Run - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - October 2019