I bought a few things from Kmart recently, including new dog beds. I thought Rik might appreciate an upgrade from her slightly-too-small bed which has lost a fair amount of stuffing to Able, but she was most indignant and refused to go anywhere near the new beds. After two weeks of watching her sleep on the floor, I caved yesterday and restored her old bed to its place of honour.
Able outgrew his crate recently so he scored a new bed to fit the gigantic second-hand crate I got off TradeMe, and a couple of cheap toys. The toys did not last long but he enjoyed them!
Which Side Now?
I’ve been working on our outside circles recently. Most of agility is outside circles/ovals, especially if your dog is faster than you. Watch these handlers at Crufts 2020 – they are all on the outside all the way after the weave poles at #6, although they choose different places to cross on the straighter segments.
Able and I had a huge amount of trouble with one exercise I worked on last week. I left him in a sit stay, lead out ahead of him a bit, called him, started running, and then began a wide circle just before he reached me, so that he had to drive forward and take the long route around my body. I just couldn’t get him to stick with my outside if I started the circle before he caught up to me, no matter how obvious I tried to make my body language. We both got quite frustrated!
I made it easier by slowing down to a walk, and making sure he was only one or two strides behind me when I began bending. He still couldn’t do it. Then I tried leading out, turning my body 45 degrees away from him, and recalling him to the outside arm while I was standing still. He couldn’t do that either, so we have been working on that little piece in several different locations this week.
When you’re ahead of your dog, it is important to remain a connection with him over your shoulder, on the side that he is supposed to be running towards. This means you need to have your arm and shoulder on that side back, and your head angled a little in that direction so that you can see your dog in your peripheral vision. These are the cues that the dog should look at when he decides which side he’s supposed to come to.
Able is young and he obviously doesn’t fully understand these cues yet. He is looking at some other cue, like the orientation of my hips or legs, or just deciding to take the shortest path to reach my side. To him the picture probably looks similar to the blind crosses I’ve been doing with him on walks – but I’m connecting with him over a different arm, so he shouldn’t cross behind me.
This week I started with a refresher on recalls to side in a straight line, and then I’ve gradually been rotating myself around to that 45 degree that he struggled with last week. While I don’t think I’ll encounter this exact scenario very often on an agility course, this little hole in his understanding of how to follow my body would have caused other problems for us as well.
Circle work is not at the top of my list of things I love to train, and I’ve neglected it a bit with my last two dogs. This week Able has reminded me how valuable it is to work on these foundation handling skills by themselves, before your puppy is ready to tackle sequences of obstacles. Next stop – inside circles!