Verbal handling cues - how much do you say?

[Hurtseverywhere]

Guilty, to verbal here especially with Cosmo, but then he listens, Stormy not so much so, so far the only thing she listens to and then only sometimes is Target, easy, and wait(rarley) I have been really trying with WAIT, so that I can get her to stop comming off the walk , frame or teter so that I can get caught up and she doesn't go flying off on her own. She is especially a sucker for any decoy jump or tunnel that is even remotely close by.

 

[romeosangiovese]

Hmmmmm... interesting. I do think my dogs will take the jump ahead of them even if I don't say anything. I will really need to give this more thought.

Oh, small stupid question. At the very start, when you lead out, do you at least call out the first obstacle (eg. if it's a jump, would you say "over") then not call out the rest? Or would you just start running?

I'm looking forward to not saying so much on a course. I get reeeeally out of breath.

 

[corbinam]

Oh, small stupid question. At the very start, when you lead out, do you at least call out the first obstacle (eg. if it's a jump, would you say "over") then not call out the rest? Or would you just start running?

Nope. If I'm standing on one side of a jump and they're on the other and I say "Okay" they know to take what's in front of them.

 

[k9kreationz]

Oh, small stupid question. At the very start, when you lead out, do you at least call out the first obstacle (eg. if it's a jump, would you say "over") then not call out the rest? Or would you just start running?

I'd say 99% of the time I wouldn't call out the first obstacle. The 1% is if I'm unsure he'll take it due to the set-up/angle.

I think the more you train and progress, the less you'll use verbal commands. I think I stopped calling out obstacles when I started trialing consistently, because like you, I was out of breath running. I needed to save that breath to um, breathe, not call out obstacles, lol. It's also when I learned just how much Koji reads my body language. And I started working with that too.

I say, in training class, give it a whirl. Call out less things. See what the dogs take or doesn't take. You'll find out fast what you need to support with verbals.

 

[HopeShelties]

Depends what I'm setting up for I guess. If it's a jump, I expect my dog to take what is in front of him or her. If it's a tunnel, and I've lead out to where my body isn't really supporting what I'm asking, I'll go ahead and throw in the verbal. Also, there are often jump dogwalk opening sequences in standard, and while I won't say jump, I will go ahead and give the verbal to walk it if I'm leading out a good ways down the dogwalk, and maintain eye contact when I take off. There are often courses for me where getting a third to half the way down the dogwalk when leading out can be pretty beneficial since I have running contacts.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

That is an EXCELLENT point. Weaves are one of the only obstacles where the dog should totally ignore whatever the handler is doing. The handler should be able to speed up, walk backwards, sit down, pick their nose razz and the dog should complete the weaves regardless.

I agree, it's important to teach independent weaves, you won't get them if you don't teach your dog to find the entrance and continue training for it... with or without a cue... Toffee takes them straight on without a cue, but I just realized another hole in the Swiss cheese holes of my training that I hadn't taught him a rear cross recently since I re-started independent weaves... so back I go from the start, mix it up to once again add more value for the entry!

I don't believe I need a queue if I'm running straight on or offside, but if you're sending him out to it, then yes I find a cue helpful.