Canine Massage & Agility Training

This page has a sample of articles that are in the Fluid Motion Training Archive Teaching your dog to move across the bar Written by Amanda Nelson In this article I will be talking about using the gates to teach your dog to move across the bar of a jump. Teaching your dog to move across the bar is really a more in depth teaching of Out and Here. You are basically teaching the dog which side of the bar you want him to jump to make his path through the course as smooth and flowing as possible. The situation I find it most helpful in is a jump sequence leading up to obstacle discrimination. In most cases the dog will jump the wing that is closest to you, for instance, if you are approaching a tunnel/aframe discrimination (the tunnel being on the outside of the aframe) you could move your dog to the outside wing of the jump to give them a better line into the tunnel. You can use whatever commands that would work best for you and your dog, some people like to change commands so that the new commands only apply to moving across the bar on jumps. I haven’t had a problem using Out and Here for the jumps as well as discriminations etc. Continued in Fluid Motion Training Archive
Bach Flower essence of the Month Amanda Nelson This month’s Bach Flower essence is Olive This is one of my favorite remedies not only for use with humans but for dogs as well, I have used Olive more times then I can count. Have you ever worked to the point of exhaustion, not only mentally but physically as well? Have you ever looked at your dog after a long weekend of trialing and saw they were just overworked? Then you or your dog would probably benefit from Olive, this essence is for people or animals who have been physically or mentally drained and feel like they cannot go on. Continued in Fluid Motion Training Archive	Tip of the Month Amanda Nelson Does your dog seem to be slowing down in the weave poles and you can't figure out why? Sometimes when dogs slow down it is because handlers turn back to watch their dogs in the poles, when the dogs see the handlers turn in this causes the dog to slow down as turning in for most dogs means "check your stride" So next time when it seems like your dog is slowing down in the poles try running straight ahead and not looking back to see if that speeds him up, you can have a spotter there to watch in case he misses a pole.