Clean Run Magazine - November 2007 - 43

agility season, the bulk of her caseload is made up of neurological and orthopedic cases. Because of injury, her canine clients have lost the ability to perform basic movements, such as standing, walking, and sitting correctly. Dr. Hady and her team work with the dogs to rebuild functional muscle memory. Stacy Peardot-Goudy is an agility veteran who has qualified for the USDAA Grand Prix the last 13 years in a row. She owns C Spot Win Dog Training in LaPorte, Colorado. She says that she and a veterinarian friend have a running joke that they have “re-coined” the term muscle memory, choosing instead to call it an automatic response. Peardot-Goudy feels that the term muscle memory is misleading: “It’s not the muscle that is remembering—the muscle doesn’t work independently of the brain.” For purposes of this discussion, I will use the terms “muscle memory” and “automatic response” interchangeably. or Magic? incorrectly. Be fully engaged while you ” are working repetitions with your dog. Peardot-Goudy recommends a solid training plan with multiple skill sets as a way to combat boredom. This way you can practice doing small pieces of multiple behaviors during each training session. “Write it down, and make lists, ” she says. “Especially for novices, the more clearly you can lay it out, the easier it will be to avoid too many reps and to circumvent boredom. ” By Heather Esterday © SABY ROCHON/SPORTPHOTOGRAPHY.CA Peardot-Goudy says that confidence inherently builds speed in both types of dogs, although it is more obvious with thinkers, because they start out more slowly. Besides learning slowly, the learning environment should be as relaxing as possible for the dog. Lack of stress allows the dog and handler to build trust; too much stress can hinder learning. This is not to say that stress isn’t useful in training, but its role is outside the learning process. Both Hady and PeardotGoudy gradually increase stressors, such as increasing the number of criteria or complexity of the movement and changing the environment. contact?” says Hady. Peardot-Goudy lists the ways in which proprioception is necessary for agility: “It is hugely important to have rear-end awareness for contacts. If you are teaching a two-on/ two-off position, it defines the behavior. It is also integral to jumping. ” Step 4: Adding Speed, Adding Stress Neither Hady nor Peardot-Goudy looks specifically at increasing the speed of a movement as an important part of teaching muscle memory. In fact, Hady says that it is the last variable that they look at. “Nobody learns at full speed, not dogs, not people, says Peardot-Goudy. “People ” assume that they want a high-drive, fast dog.You can classify dogs into two types: ‘doers’ and ‘thinkers.’ Doers want to do everything at full speed, but that can lead to fuzzy behaviors without meaning for the dog, because he never really took the time to learn the movement. So, learning slowly is key for doers. It is also key for thinkers, because you don’t want to overwhelm them with information. ” November 07 | Clean Run © CLEAN RUN Exercises for Muscle Memory To build automatic response for agility, you must consistently and correctly practice the obstacles. Besides working repetitions on individual obstacles, there are other exercises that can help your dog to improve body awareness. Both Hady and Peardot-Goudy recommend using a balance or wobble board to improve your dog’s proprioception. Proprioception is “basically balance, and knowing where a particular limb is in space. Most healthy dogs have a good sense of this, but for agility, you can work to perfect it even more; for example, am I totally on the When using a balance board, use tread tape on the surface of the board to make sure that your dog doesn’t lose his footing. Remember that the balance board can be scary. To begin, hold the board for your dog and have him walk onto it. Gradually increase the difficulty to being able to wobble the board while the dog is sitting on it, working a sit to stand while the board is wobbling, and finally having your dog turn a circle on the board. Other useful tools in building proprioception are traffic cones, stairs, and ladder work. Full-size traffic cones are 43

Clean Run Magazine - November 2007

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