BusyDog

Go with the flow

Allison Bryant
912 Four Mile Church Rd
Ball Ground, GA 30107
Ally ‘at’ busydog .com
Article first appeared in January 1, 2004 Aussie Times

There is an aspect of running an agility course that I try to teach people, but it’s been difficult. From early on in a dog and handler’s training, I feel that developing a ‘flow’ is very important. I try to convey this idea to my students but usually they can’t understand it until they feel or experience it it.

From previous articles you probably have figured out that I like to train using positive methods. I like the dog to have fun and learn without feeling like it’s a chore. I feel like it keeps dogs interested and it keeps their drive high. One of the ways to accomplish this (in addition to lots of cookies) is to maintain a good flow while running the course. Flow also extends to your training session. You should maintain a good flow while doing your training exercises as well.

What do I mean when I use the word ‘flow’? I see ‘flow’ as a way of handling a dog that makes sense to the dog. It is a way of smoothly running a course where your position affects the path of the dog. By your body position and the direction you are moving, the dog is able to see what obstacles are coming next and prepare for them. When the dog knows what obstacle is next well ahead of time, he is more likely to drive towards that obstacle with speed.

Flow during your training sessions is just as important as flow during your actual trial performances. You need to establish a way of handling during your training sessions that you will use while in a trial. ‘Flow’ is not relying heavily on your ‘come’ command to pull a dog off the wrong obstacle at the last second. Flow is not stopping the dog after missing a contact, jump or weave pole and yanking them back to the start of the obstacle and doing it again.

If something goes amiss on the agility course (maybe my dog missed a jump), I don’t come to a screeching halt, pull the dog back, and send her back to the jump. Instead, I like to loop around, maybe doing a few jumps on the way, and then resend the dog to the jump. I don’t want the dog to know that something went wrong. Why? Because if something goes wrong on the agility course, it can be traced back to two things….1. Lack of training or 2. Poor handling.

If I haven’t trained my dog to seek out the next obstacle, then it’s my fault when she runs by the jumps. If I am late with my commands or slow to be in the proper position to indicate the next obstacle, it’s my fault.

So I do one of two things. If I have a novice dog and the dog did several nice obstacles in a row, I give them a cookie even though they may have missed one. The dog tried. 3 out of 4 is good enough for a cookie. If I have a more advanced dog, and I want to work on a more challenging sequence, I will redo the sequence. However, I will either give the dog a cookie for the first performance for a ‘good effort’ and then redo the tough part. Or I will circle the dog around, maintaining a nice flow so the dog thinks we are still working a good course and redo that section.

Above all, I don’t want to yank the dog back to the trouble spot and lose all my momentum or flow. Many times, I see people training their dogs who stop short and pull the dog back to get a missed jump. This is very demotivating for the dog. The dog’s ears go back and he slows down. He knows something went wrong but he doesn’t know why. Technically, it’s not his fault. Since agility is a man made sport, basically anything that goes wrong is the trainer and handler’s fault. That makes things very simple for us.

I have had students whose dogs have motivation problems. Their dogs are slow and are not enjoying agility. Most often, it is because their handlers have no flow. The first thing I change in their handling (and training) style is when the dog misses an obstacle, I tell the handler to just keep going and try to complete the next obstacle. Minimize the negative and focus on the positive. Then after giving the dog a small reward, they attempt the sequence again, hopefully handling the dog better to ensure success.

Often the root cause is a steering problem and in fixing the missed obstacle, handlers create flow and motivation problems in their dogs. Many times handlers focus on running the course and not running the dog. There is a big difference between the two. When you run the course, you focus on the obstacles and which one comes next. When you run the dog, you focus on steering the dog. You focus on how your body position can push and pull the dog through the course. You focus on the path you want the dog to take. The agility equipment just happens to be things in the way of your path. If you have trained you dog properly, she will know how to negotiate these obstacles independently when they appear in her path.

So if you have a dog that is slow or worried on course, think about your flow. Do you do several obstacles and then stop short to fix something? Do you have a fast dog that you don’t want to slow down? Think about your flow and the best way to maintain it. Try to set up sequences where the dog can succeed. If a mistake happens, make a circle or loop through a couple obstacles and try again. Don’t let the dog know that things were less than optimal. Make a mental note to address the issues in another session and develop an exercise that will help the dog succeed. But for that sequence, keep going! Go with the flow.