Clean Run - December 2011 - 47

Consistent Criteria and Rewards
The good news is that you can have a dog with a solid start line, that is confident, focused, and eagerly still, and that explodes off the start only when released. How? It’s all about consistency in your criteria and rewarding your dog. Let’s first discuss the necessity for having a solid start line:

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Sets the tone for the run: focus, control, and enthusiasm to get to the handler Since agility is a speed sport, it is an advantage for the handler to be farther up the course and to be running less Set up the dog on the exact line you want him driving on Followers of Greg Derrett’s handling system need lead-outs for teaching positional cues Leading out on course allows handlers to concentrate on both timing and execution of their handling Start-line criteria are also directly related to contact and table criteria

er from these criteria unless I release him first. That means if I deliver a treat to him, as I approach his mouth with the cookie, he cannot move his feet to get the treat. If he does, he is telling me he does not understand my basic criteria. Therefore, my start lines begin with a form of Susan Garrett’s It’s Yer Choice game, which is similar to a method used in obedience for years.The dog must figure out how to stay still when food is nearby and in my hands. When he can maintain holding still and not coming forward to the food, it is given directly and rapidly to him. With this game, I can also progress to distracting the dog using the food in various ways as a test of his understanding of not moving forward, thus not moving his feet. It all starts from can he hold still while food is in my closed fist in front of him, progressing to an open palm with food, to food waving in front of him, to food being held up in front of him, to food being set on the ground, to food being “dropped” on the ground, to pointing at the food on the ground—you get the picture. Any and every time my dog is successful, he is also rewarded with the food. If he fails, the food simply disappears and he loses that moment to be rewarded. When he fails, he should respond with trying to earn that reinforcement again but only after passing the test that he failed. Keep in mind that when rewarding your dog, rewards should happen every few seconds. Once a puppy/young dog/retrain/rescue understands this fun simple game, I begin to work it with my start-line cue, which really is just giving him his position cue, Sit or Stand. If I say Sit, the dog should respond immediately by sitting, and I follow that instantly with a treat in his mouth. Then I add in all sorts of fun distractions for the dog to make the right choice, or not. If he maintains criteria while the distraction is occurring, then he is rewarded. If he fails, I do one of the following: if I know the dog has a good idea of the It’s Yer Choice game, I wait him out because I know he will quickly replace himself and from there I can quickly test him again on whatever made him fail just a moment ago. Or, I sometimes quickly replace him in the exact position and spot he was in before

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The dog must remain still whether cookies are in hand or on the ground, until he is released to them. Note that his feet do not move.

Now that you know some reasons to have a solid start line, let’s discuss how to get it. There are four components necessary to have a strong start line. 1. Clear criteria maintained throughout any distraction 2. High reinforcement when criteria are met 3. A verbal release cue 4. Instant reinforcement for release Clear criteria are what you expect your dog to do (or not to do) when left on the start line. My criteria are that whatever position I choose to put my dog into, whether a sit or a stand, he will maintain this position. Furthermore I expect him to have no foot movement at all, not even moving a front foot forward, or shuffling, or paddling. Reinforcement (reward) for this is given in position as the dog maintains these criteria. Now the trick is that even while being given his reward, he may not waivDecember 11 | Clean Run

Regardless of how close the toy is to the dog, he doesn’t take it until it is either given to him or he is cued to release to it.

Clean Run - December 2011

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