Distance Control

[Megs]

Hi Guys,

 

Ok so it was Chaos first "pre-competition" Agility day on Sunday with a judge etc etc etc but it doesn't actually count.....anyway, needless to say I haven't actually done a full 15 obstacle course with him in one go yet but thought it would be a good time for practise and learning curve for us both! I knew my boy was fast but man oh man is he FAST!

 

There is just no way I will be able to keep up.

 

What are the golden rules for distance handling, ie, what should he & I know in order for this to work effectively? Any good reading material etc etc?

 

Please help!

[Root Beer]

I have a long way to go with this, but one thing that helped me a lot was putting Dean in NADAC tunnelers. Since I had "time" while he was in the tunnels, I really got a feel for positioning myself where I needed to be while he was doing his thing.

 

My instructor recommends a lot of clockwork sending to help with distance handling. The idea is that you can send your dog to something and while he is taking that piece of equipment, you can be setting yourself up to handle the next bit of the course.

[Megs]

I have a long way to go with this, but one thing that helped me a lot was putting Dean in NADAC tunnelers. Since I had "time" while he was in the tunnels, I really got a feel for positioning myself where I needed to be while he was doing his thing.

 

My instructor recommends a lot of clockwork sending to help with distance handling. The idea is that you can send your dog to something and while he is taking that piece of equipment, you can be setting yourself up to handle the next bit of the course.

 

Thanks! Well Chaos LOVES the tunnel and I can send him from a long way but on Sunday instead of doing the tunnel right infront of him he chose the tunnel far away, it was weird but I suspect it has something to do with my body positioning and maybe me rushing around trying to keep up with him - we are just begineers

 

I understand what you are saying though! The tunnels do give me enough time to front cross quickly but I get flustered, although at a second attempt I nail it with a tiny bit of time to run my ass off!!!! I guess like anything it comes with practise - he is brilliant the handler just needs some tweaking

 

I normally train on my own or with friends here - finding trainers is limited and my friends are very knowledgable - two of whom went to the AWC this year! So I have a wealth of knowledge lingering I just need to get it in order!

[Pat W.]

There are two types of distance work that you need...I too have a speed demon and reach maximum veloctiy long before he does. The first is forward distance when the dog is moving ahead of you, you want a good "go on"command. I also depend on directionals ie Jump right or Jump Left - some people use the command "switch" instead of right and left. For a "Go on" command you start with the dog driving to a toy (or treat) about 5 feet away from you and gradually increase, then add the dog driving between jump standards, or a tunnel to that target.

 

Lateral distance -when you are moving with the dog but instead of being behind the dog you are to one side. This allows you to take a shorter path while supporting the dog verbally and physically (ie arm out).

 

There is a good book out there called Control Unleashed...you can find it on Cleanrun.com at their store

[Jumpin Boots]

The ability to layer obstacles will help you a bunch, this skill typically saves my butt atleast once per course.

[MicheleS.]

Chase is crazy fast too. It's been a huge learning curve for me since my last dog wasn't nearly this fast. She made everything so easy for me.

I have benefited from the advice given here. All of which I have taken and all of which has helped. It takes time and practice. Things are just starting to come together for me and Chase. The clockwork has helped, box work has helped, the send ("go") has helped, lateral distance practice has helped, layering has helped.

I haven't experimented with the directionals as Pat W. suggested but that sounds like something worth trying! I know I will. (thanks, Pat W.!)

I also have to be very aware of my timing in giving my commands for the obstaclesjumps. I'm still working on this... (sigh) If I don't tell Chase where to go, or show him fast enough with my body position, he's off figuring out his own course

We are making progress with time and practice and it's pretty cool!

 

Have fun!

[Mariji]

You just need to make sure that he understands your body language and make sure he will always check in with you on where to go next. There is a difference between checking in though and staring at you the whole way round which you don't want him doing. The answer to this is CIRCLE WORK!!! Simple as that. He needs to know by your arm signals exactly where you want to go. If arm signals are difficult in a particular part then vocals i.e. left, right, obstacle name, out, go on and here commands work great but you shouldn't need them too much.

 

Circle work (Shadow Handling): Running in a large circle clockwise and counter clockwise with dog on inside and outside. Close to you but not to close he is tripping you up. You should be able to turn and go the other direction with out the dog blind crossing you. Greg Derretts foundation DVD's have this in it.

 

Left and Right: Get you dog tugging. When the dog has tug flip them in a circle one way and then the other. Get them used to flipping in circle whilst holding the tug toy then add left or right command right before you flip them. Eventually get them to let go and flick toy in direction of command left or right. Fade toy and you will have a foolproof left and right. Then practice on jumps.

 

Go On: I start with when im throwing a tennis ball i say go and throw it when she starts running out away from me. Now i can say GO and she will start running at which point i throw it over her head. Then take it onto a jump. Say Go On and throw toy over the dogs head as they go over the jump. Then add a second jump each time throwing toy over their head to land in front of them when they go on correctly. A young dog will need you to move forward a few steps to encourage forward drive.

 

Here: Most dogs when you send them over a jump at point of commitment (the point where the dog is definitely going over the jump and can't turn back but not too the late that the dog doesn't have time to react to a directional) say "here", you will get the dog attentions at which you reward to a tight turn back. The dog will run wide the first couple of times but soon he will learn to be sensitive to your commands.

 

Out: Start away from agility equipment otherwise you will confuse the dog. Use a tree or bin or something similar. Shape dog to go around object adding verbal "Out" only when dog understands what is needed of them. Then add distance.

 

Remember this all only work with precise timing. You need to set up two jumps and run your dog over them with people watching looking for the commitment point, the point where your dog leaves the ground, it takes practice for timing but you will eventually know where that point is but it is pretty critical. If you give a directional to early the dog may refuse obstacle. Too late and the dog will go wide or take an off course obstacle. Also make sure your contacts are perfect this will give you heaps of extra time in beginners to get ahead of your dog.

 

My dog is having her first fun match on Friday hopefully and she is 10 times faster at trials than training and i thought training was fast. I have no worries about Myla she sure knows what she is doing but it is me that will let her down. So all those directionals and tonnes of shadow handling have me being able to direct serpentine's and more complicated maneuvers from a distance. GOOD LUCK!!! I know how nervous you are!

[Megs]

You just need to make sure that he understands your body language and make sure he will always check in with you on where to go next. There is a difference between checking in though and staring at you the whole way round which you don't want him doing. The answer to this is CIRCLE WORK!!! Simple as that. He needs to know by your arm signals exactly where you want to go. If arm signals are difficult in a particular part then vocals i.e. left, right, obstacle name, out, go on and here commands work great but you shouldn't need them too much.

 

Circle work (Shadow Handling): Running in a large circle clockwise and counter clockwise with dog on inside and outside. Close to you but not to close he is tripping you up. You should be able to turn and go the other direction with out the dog blind crossing you. Greg Derretts foundation DVD's have this in it.

 

Left and Right: Get you dog tugging. When the dog has tug flip them in a circle one way and then the other. Get them used to flipping in circle whilst holding the tug toy then add left or right command right before you flip them. Eventually get them to let go and flick toy in direction of command left or right. Fade toy and you will have a foolproof left and right. Then practice on jumps.

 

Go On: I start with when im throwing a tennis ball i say go and throw it when she starts running out away from me. Now i can say GO and she will start running at which point i throw it over her head. Then take it onto a jump. Say Go On and throw toy over the dogs head as they go over the jump. Then add a second jump each time throwing toy over their head to land in front of them when they go on correctly. A young dog will need you to move forward a few steps to encourage forward drive.

 

Here: Most dogs when you send them over a jump at point of commitment (the point where the dog is definitely going over the jump and can't turn back but not too the late that the dog doesn't have time to react to a directional) say "here", you will get the dog attentions at which you reward to a tight turn back. The dog will run wide the first couple of times but soon he will learn to be sensitive to your commands.

 

Out: Start away from agility equipment otherwise you will confuse the dog. Use a tree or bin or something similar. Shape dog to go around object adding verbal "Out" only when dog understands what is needed of them. Then add distance.

 

Remember this all only work with precise timing. You need to set up two jumps and run your dog over them with people watching looking for the commitment point, the point where your dog leaves the ground, it takes practice for timing but you will eventually know where that point is but it is pretty critical. If you give a directional to early the dog may refuse obstacle. Too late and the dog will go wide or take an off course obstacle. Also make sure your contacts are perfect this will give you heaps of extra time in beginners to get ahead of your dog.

 

My dog is having her first fun match on Friday hopefully and she is 10 times faster at trials than training and i thought training was fast. I have no worries about Myla she sure knows what she is doing but it is me that will let her down. So all those directionals and tonnes of shadow handling have me being able to direct serpentine's and more complicated maneuvers from a distance. GOOD LUCK!!! I know how nervous you are!

 

THANK YOU!! You are an Angel! Timing is one thing that I think is going to be the hardest but we are still new to this and I have only been running my friends dogs for less than a year with great success so now it's my boy's turn - I never realised he was SO fast though, like super speed fast......will check in again with photos of the first round - when it happens!!

 

Good luck for you and your dog, get someone to take pictures and put them up!!!!

[Mariji]

THANK YOU!! You are an Angel! Timing is one thing that I think is going to be the hardest but we are still new to this and I have only been running my friends dogs for less than a year with great success so now it's my boy's turn - I never realised he was SO fast though, like super speed fast......will check in again with photos of the first round - when it happens!!

 

Good luck for you and your dog, get someone to take pictures and put them up!!!!

 

I know how you feel, we were doing rear crosses the other night and my gosh it took me like 4 rear crosses before i got the timing right. I am terrible at timing but i will get there. Considering i have only been training since April and haven't yet run a trial course i have a long way to go, but my little prodigy sure is way ahead of me! If she is allowed to do the fun match tonight, hopefully i can get my friend to run her, then i will film her an post it up. Good luck with your first run sometimes soon hopefully!

[diane allen]

Just time for a quick note here: this is not a new publication, but I think it is one of the best for teaching distance from a book!

Available from CleanRun.com: Go the Distance, by Stacy Peardot & Bud Houston. Lots of progressive exercises you can do on your own. There are others that are newer, but after 10+ years, I STILL go back to exercises in this one!

 

diane

[SoloRiver]

I'm not posting this to scare you, but just as food for thought.

 

Solo is fearful of strangers, men especially, and was sometimes quite freaked out by agility judges since they have to follow you around the course and stare at the dog. For this reason, although he had no trouble learning the skills, and we could do all sorts of distance work in class, I NEVER handled him at a distance in trials. That meant that yep, I ran right there with him every step of the way. I never wanted him to feel that he was alone out there and that the scary judge guy was closer to him than I was. I am no Olympic sprinter, but I am fit enough to keep up with a dog on an agility course. It isn't that hard -- courses aren't that big, and they tend to double up on themselves (if it were a flat-out straightaway it would have been a different story).

 

Sometimes Solo would spook at the judge during a run and I'd have to scratch (this is why I preferred NADAC, because we could at least leave the ring on a positive note since NADAC allows training in the ring). If he didn't spook at the judge, he would always Q and very often we'd win or place. So, even though I had to run with him we had no trouble making time or even beating the other dogs. Solo is tall, and ran in the biggest class (24"? 26"? I forget what the jump height was) so often we were running against GSDs and Labs, and this may have been part of the reason that we did well, but we beat Border Collies too.

[Freeman 101]

Hi Guys,

 

 

There is just no way I will be able to keep up.

 

Please help!

 

My advise would be that you get help from an experienced trainer that runs fast dogs.

 

I started distance handling early on in training because I thought that I could never keep up with my dog, but the truth is that you need to master both distance and close work. For me, training with someone that runs fast border collies has been very helplful.

[Brad]

This is an important facet of running a fast dog. There is no way you're going to keep up. Essentially you want to be able to handle 3 or 4 obstacles while running to one. As mentioned, directional work, accelerations/deccelerations, use of arm and body position are all important. Sending to obstacles at a distance is important, I train all my obstacles at 25 feet. If you can't find a full time trainer, maybe a clinic will be avalable within travelling distance? I think the biggest thing is learning to queue direction with body language, the dog has to understand where to go without you telling him each step. All my jump work is silent, and I call out each piece of equipment (tunnel, walk, frame, etc)

Teach left, right, away, out, for directional work. Also, a subscription to clean run might be helpful, lots of execises in there demonstrating handling skills/directional work.