It’s my intention to publish a suite of distance training exercises in my weblog. This entry begins the foray. I have a number of students keenly interested in distance work. Because most of them come from an AKC background it will be a matter of prying apart the Velcro™. Just between you and me and the wall, it has been my observation over the years that Velcro is a two-part fabric. It takes both parts for a good stick.

Frankly I need to give my own young dogs a better distance training foundation. While Hazard is completely comfortable working a considerably distance from me, she could surely use some fine-tuning. And poor Blue’s foundation training is been somewhat remiss.

I’d love to get them both out in competition. As both of these dogs are shy and need to learn to be braver in the world. Both USDAA and AKC have shut young Hazard down a bit around big dogs because of big dogs lunging at her at their events. She’s lost trust and confidence. So I’m likely limited to TDAA and CPE. I’d love to try DOCNA as an exhibitor, but there is no host club anywhere within driving distance.

In the meantime, they’ll get good foundation and exposure in their own back yard. I do have a big training building and all the equipment, after all.

The Pillbug Pinwheel

In this exercise the distance from jump #3 and the containment line is about 20′. This is a considerable distance. Frankly there are predicate skill exercises: a) progressive sending and b) around the clock. I also do a lot of exploding pinwheel with my dogs.

The conundrum in this exercise is that we’ve offered a great distraction to the dog with the inclusion of the pipe tunnel. Truly, the handler doesn’t get to make mistakes in movement and timing.

The greatest difficulty I have in teaching the handler his proper movement while the dog is moving at a distance, is in getting them to understand how to give focus to the jump the dog is working on. Focus is a subtle cue of intent to the dog. The handler should face, move toward, look at, point to the next correct obstacle until the dog has committed to that obstacle.

At this point we probably need to define and measure commitment. I measure commitment by… the length of the dog.

The biggest mistake a handler will make here is showing any focus to jump #3 after the dog has committed over jump #2. What many handler’s will do is turn sharply right and run down the containment line. If you think about it… all the focus has gone to jump #4 (if that).

Pillbug –Taking Rational Incremental Learning Steps

The clever dog training finds a way for the dog to succeed early, and succeed often. If you marched right out into the back yard and set up the proofing exercise there’s a fair chance that you shut your dog down if he wasn’t up to the challenge.

I’m a big proponent of the exploding training sequence… something we make small and doable, graduated to bigger dimensions (exploding) in reasonable increments. This truly is the art of the dog trainer.

What I’ve done with our sequence is this…

1. I’ve put wings on the jump. This not only gives the jump superior visual acuity, but it also limits the dog’s path in sneaking by the pipe tunnel.
2. I’ve moved the jump a couple feet closer to the pipe tunnel. Now the wing is literally abutted to the pipe tunnel.
3. I’ve curled up the pipe tunnel into a pill-bug configuration. This somewhat removes it from the dog’s imagination. Though it’s always funny to see a dog go wiggle furiously to get into a pill-bug tunnel. I do hope you have a sense of humor.
4. I’ve moved the containment line forward so the handler isn’t at so great a distance.

I don’t think I need to show all of the progression steps. Gradually the pipe tunnel unfolds to the U-shaped position. Gradually the containment line ooches back to the 20′ mark. Finally, I will push the #3 back out to the proofing position. Finally, I will remove the wings from the jump.

Advanced Study in Movement

As the handler fully intends to shorten stride and allow the dog to go on in front, his pinching path continues to apply pressure to keep the dog out to jump #2.

You’ll note also that I’ve drawn a red containment line. The handler should shorten his stride in order to reserve enough real estate to take a couple of steps after the dog has committed up and over jump #2. Often if the dog feels separation from the handler he’ll look back at the handler for information. There’s no better information the handler can give than to move forward (continuing to apply pressure). If the handler has already exhausted real estate for movement… it becomes a problematic moment.