DISTANCE CHALLENGE
Lisa Bonker, PhD, CCFT
Every venue in agility has a class that requires distance skills. Whether it is Chances, Fast, Gamblers or Jackpot, you are required to work away from your dog. Many teams have solid directional and discrimination skills when they are close to their dogs, but do you have these skills at a distance? The first step is to have a clear, consistent cueing system! The farther away from your dog you are, the clearer you have to be with your handling. So before you start training for distance, you should think about cues. The handler needs to recognize where and when the dog must be given a cue. (Location and timing of cue) and understand what cue(s) should be given (verbal, body, what motion).
A cue consists of up to 3 different properties; verbal commands, body language and motion. Saying the right words, giving the right body language (shoulders, arm, feet, head, eyes) and movement (acceleration/deceleration, stride length), all in a clear, crisp, consistent, calm, confident way while maintaining criteria, running with conviction and staying connected with your dog---all work together to provide a proper cue. If you can cue properly, your dog will be confident and go faster and you can have more distance !!
You need a solid foundation of directionals and discriminations before you can add distance. When training, start pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and push the distance a few feet at a time! There are many ways to teach these skills. If you are interested in how I teach my dogs these skills check out my seminar schedule or my online classes at www.inthezoneagility.com .
Once the team has some distance skills, then you should utilize these skills at trials and incorporate them into all classes, not just the distance class. One of the underlying issues people have in the distance class is that they don’t practice distance in any class but that class. If you do not practice distance in other classes, it will be extremely difficult to get distance in the one class you need it. If you start to use your distance in other classes, it will feel more comfortable and the distance classes will become easier!! So my suggestion is to pick a sequence in a non-distance course where you can incorporate distance skills. Start layering obstacles, send your dog to a tunnel and not run all the way there… do a pinwheel from behind, get some lateral distance on the contact and weave poles etc. Start with just a few feet and work up to Elite level distances. The more you practice distance skills in all classes, the more confident you will be, the more successful you will be! Train it, trust it and trial with it!!
Join my 2017 Chances Challenge ~ http://inthezoneagility.homestead.com/onlinechanceschallenge.html
Every month in 2017 I will set a Chances course, go over course analysis - explain options for handling it and video tape me running my dogs on the course. I will set a Novice, Open and Elite line. This is a great class to have training and handling discussions about the skills needed for each course I set! There are always many ways to handle courses and I think it would be fun and informative to have monthly Chances training and handling discussions!! This class will benefit NADAC Chances competitors, but also help in CPE Jackpot, USDAA Gamblers, and AKC FAST.
Here is an example of a Chances Course we discussed in the group. This video just shows the run. In the Chances Challenge group, we go into detail different ways to handle each course at each level. Rev Colt Chance
