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Agility newb question here...

 

Is a push turn very nessesary in agility? I don't think I like them and they don't make sense to me. Actually I think what I'm learning is called a push turn, like when you push the dog away from you over a jump. Here a drew a picture

of it, lol, http://postimage.org/image/11w276io4/ee36faf8/ The instructor said we could call it "out". Sorry if I called it the wrong thing.

 

Anyway it doesn't feel right, like its not being consistent with how I'm training him to read my body language... Unless I'm doing it wrong. Maybe if it was trained by a word command and no body language, but he would still be reading my body.. How do I properly signal it? We haven't done it much in class, and I just realized it'll be on our class assesement monday night (dogwalk push to tire jump), he'll be in his 2o2o so it wont be so bad, I'm just gonna lead-out so it's barely a push, or quick release and keep a running momentum if I am ahead enough.

 

 

I also realize I use the from "their" in my title :unsure:

 

Edit to add: I do understand there are more options of handling it, but we are told specifically what handling maneuver to do on the line we are practising. So we learn everything, and get a feel for what works and what doesn't. And then opposite we also have to take lines and figure out what would work for our dogs best. So as I'm learning and figuring out different styles, I find that I don't like this move very much, so I'm seeking to learn more about it

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I am just barely scratching the surface with my understanding of agility (the more I learn, the more I realize what I don't know) so take my comments with a grain of salt.

 

I have not learned a "push turn" per se, but I have learned and seen other handlers use a command to turn the dog away from you (which looks like it is similar to what you have diagrammed). Some people use the the word "Turn" to cue a turn away from the handler. I use the word "Switch" and hold my outside arm out - which is supposed to indicate to the dog to turn away from me (actually it is supposed to specifically mean change leads and go away from me). I find this to be a very useful command since my dog is very fast and is often running even or ahead of me.

 

I will be really interested to hear from the others who are more experienced as I hope to learn too.

 

Jovi

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I would probably move my dog slightly past the jump in a straight line and then do a switch on the flat for that.

 

Or, I might bring the dog to the other post and do a wrap.

 

There are almost always options.

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Yeah, teach it. It comes in super handy - there are so many occasions where you need your dog to flip out away from you to take an obstacle you simply, physically cannot reach. Especially if you don't want to lose valuable time, or in a gamble for example.

 

Last night in class we had an exercise where we came up a fast straight away on the right, hard turn out of the tire into 12 weaves coming right back down beside the line, and then flip out to the right again to another fast straight away back up the other side of the weaves. If you have a speedy dog, you can't beat them to the entry for a front into it (and the people who tried got wide turns and missed entries), and trying to turn them with you at the end of the weaves lost people some important seconds and sometimes popped 11th poles. And I don't layer obstacles. My dogs all have a "flip" which essentially means "turn away from me and take the next thing you see." (Tweed has directions - ie right and left - but they often fail me because I mix up my directions fairly chronically). Without morphing into a racehorse, I have no hope in hell of keeping up with Dexter "Long Stride" Morgan on any kind of straight away (and I can run really fast!), so the flip is a godsend.

 

The thing is, even if it's not something you regularly use, it's a handy thing to have in your bag of goodies. How else would you get a turn into a tire away from you under a dogwalk, 20 feet away behind a gamble line, for example? I try not to be verbal with my dogs too often when running (a hard habit to break) but when I do need to issue a directional, I'm really glad they have it. It can often mean the difference between Q'ing a gamble and not.

 

I don't usually use the same arm the dog is running on for a flip though - when I hold that arm out, it means stay away from me, but it doesn't mean turn the other direction. I use the opposite arm, turning into the dog, so they turn their head away from me. But if you time it incorrectly, and square up to your dog, it means "come here" so you can't waiver, you just have to switch ;-) Sometimes however, I forget myself and just wave my same-side hand daintily at my dog, and thankfully, they all still know what I'm talking about. Poor things, stuck with me as a handler!

 

RDM

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...Anyway it doesn't feel right, like its not being consistent with how I'm training him to read my body language... Unless I'm doing it wrong. Maybe if it was trained by a word command and no body language, but he would still be reading my body.. How do I properly signal it?

I am going to assume that you are not married to any handling "system", and I only link to this video because it addresses your issue as to how to handle a flip away (that's what I call it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HfmguME_c0

 

 

I use a flip, and I find it quite useful, but for my dogs, it's quite consistent with my motion cues. Plus I can't remember left and right, so verbals are next to useless for me. smile.gif

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A flip! That's totaly what it's called. I could't find what I wanted on handy youtube, and its probably because i wasn't naming it right,, I totally can see that it would be super useful as im having trouble getting where I need to be most of the time. It was one of those things in class where it "worked" in class yet I had no idea what I did. It's like somehow my dog Jude figures out everything I ask of him, yet myself I don't even remember what I'm doing :P He;s a genious at shoulder reading.

 

And nope i don't use a specific system I don't think I'm agility smart enough yet to even try it. Rules aren't my thing. Maybe over time when I'm better and more seasoned I will with future dogs but right now I think it would be better to just learn everything.

 

thanks all!

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