How would you handle this?

DogIsMyMantra said:
What I wrote. :smile2:

In the past I probably would have relied on a flip (Bel has a reliable flip into a tunnel), but one of my recent personal goals in training and running my dog has been to make more appropriate use of motion. I would rather rely on natural cues when possible than trained cues (arm cue in this case). Also, I think that using lateral motion in this scenario would allow me to get further ahead after the tunnel and be better prepared for what came next.
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Sorry, didn't mean for you to rewrite what you wrote, I just mean to say that's all I was asking. lol.

Just curious, why are you going for natural versus trained cues? Or is it you just want your dog to be comfortable with both types?
 
I think natural cues are easier on the dog. There are some wonderful exceptions of course, but many of the dogs I see being handled by people relying primarily on trained cues seem to get 'jerked around' the course more.

I see runs where the dogs think they are going one way based on natural cues (motion primarily) and then get told at the last second that they are supposed to go another way by a trained cue. They usually end up jerking their bodies around to compensate.

I want to approach running an agility course with my dog as smoothly and seemingly effortlessly as possible. I don't always do this, but my favorite and most successful runs with Bella are the ones where I use motion appropriately.

It also has to do with keeping my dog running fast and happy. When I use more trained cues I find Bella is slower since she has to think more about what I am telling her instead of just doing what comes naturally.
 
DogIsMyMantra said:
I think natural cues are easier on the dog. There are some wonderful exceptions of course, but many of the dogs I see being handled by people relying primarily on trained cues seem to get 'jerked around' the course more.

I see runs where the dogs think they are going one way based on natural cues (motion primarily) and then get told at the last second that they are supposed to go another way by a trained cue. They usually end up jerking their bodies around to compensate.

I want to approach running an agility course with my dog as smoothly and seemingly effortlessly as possible. I don't always do this, but my favorite and most successful runs with Bella are the ones where I use motion appropriately.

It also has to do with keeping my dog running fast and happy. When I use more trained cues I find Bella is slower since she has to think more about what I am telling her instead of just doing what comes naturally.
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Makes total sense, thanks for explaining. :)
 
corbinam said:
I would use a flip. It's something that you see a lot in USDAA, so a lot of trainers teach a flip. Basically, you stay to the right of the dog (and the dogwalk), release and use your hand closest to the dog to "flip" him into the tunnel.
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This is exactly what I'd do; in fact it's what I did do to get Edan from the A-Frame to the Tunnel in the CPE trial I was at over New Years. If you look at the video, you can see me step into him and you may be able to see the hand/arm motion, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f-ciC1erBI&feature=related. Unfortunately I don't have any other videos showing a flip.
 
Silaria said:
This is exactly what I'd do; in fact it's what I did do to get Edan from the A-Frame to the Tunnel in the CPE trial I was at over New Years. If you look at the video, you can see me step into him and you may be able to see the hand/arm motion, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f-ciC1erBI&feature=related. Unfortunately I don't have any other videos showing a flip.
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I'll check it out. I have yet to watch the videos. I did see the yps listed. Go Edan!! He's sure speeding up!!
BTW, you handled that beautifully and Edan too!
 
I had the same exact setup a few times now, for me I am a bit faster then cosmo, and can usually set myself up at the end of the walk before he gets there to flip him in also we are still working on left, right, turn proofing. IN that example I would probably do a push to the left at the end of the walk myself & then direct him into the tunnel with my left arm, if you spin turn yourself to the right at the end you risk pulling him around the wrong way I would also leave a bit more room at the end of the walk, I wouldn't be crowding it as close. Now if you have trained a left or right command and your dog does this then I would
probably stay going forward signal with my left arm and give him his back command to turn left , once I knew he was comitted to the tunnel then I would break to the right,an easier turn for me, to meet him at the next exit jump.
So Pretty much what everyone else said.
 
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I just wanted to post an example of something I tried a few weeks ago. Rather than a flip, I tried this. I really just used this because I was afraid that my slowing down at the bottom of the dogwalk would cause Bentley to jump (ha! Obviously going fast didn't work either).

Check in at 35 seconds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1ZJ2GaLpPs
 
Ashley, I'm glad that worked for you. If I would have tried something like that, Edan would have been off across the dog walk. What it does show quite nicely is there are multiple options to handling the same situation. Which one works depends on your dog.

At my CPE trial, a number of people tried to run up the opposite side of the A-Frame from me (the far side rather than the near side in the video). Their thought, I guess, was to pull the dog to them. In most cases the dog didn't go easily into the tunnel because it couldn't really "see" the tunnel entrance. Those that used a flip were a lot more successful.
 
Silaria said:
Ashley, I'm glad that worked for you. If I would have tried something like that, Edan would have been off across the dog walk. What it does show quite nicely is there are multiple options to handling the same situation. Which one works depends on your dog.

At my CPE trial, a number of people tried to run up the opposite side of the A-Frame from me (the far side rather than the near side in the video). Their thought, I guess, was to pull the dog to them. In most cases the dog didn't go easily into the tunnel because it couldn't really "see" the tunnel entrance. Those that used a flip were a lot more successful.
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Oh yes, I was quite worried that this wouldn't work. But, knowing that it gave him the best chance at getting his dogwalk contact, I thought it was worth a shot.

The flip is much more reliable for me, too, in most circumstances. You are definitely right in that there are numerous ways to handle, and some work for some, and not for others.
 
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