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[00:00:00] Hey, everyone. Welcome to fostering excellence and ability the podcast. I'm your host competitor, coach and mentor Megan Foster. I help agility enthusiasm, focus on the small details of training and behavior while still having a clear understanding of their big picture. Join me as I take you through key elements of dog agility, training, competing, and teaching, and how you can take action today to start improving your skills within the sport.
Let's get started. Okay. Episode six. I'm going to take you through how I troubleshoot my handling when I'm working on technique training or sequencing with my own dogs or with my clients, stocks, let's dive in. I have. Formula that I tend to go through because when it comes to sequencing and teaching the [00:01:00] dog, how to follow your physical cues, we need to be very careful that we're not always assuming that it's something within our physical cue that needs to be changing.
And we also need to make sure that we're not. Telling the dog that they're wrong when they're actually correct. So we have to have a really fine balance of understanding when it is a handling issue and when it's a dog training issue. So if we're always assuming that. The handling skill is at least fluent without the dark.
We are kind of starting any technique, training or sequence training with a pretty good bet that the handler has put in the effort to become fluent with all of these skills before we're sequencing them. It's really common in the sport of dog, agility to sequence at a really high level, much higher than what [00:02:00] we're seeing in competition.
I am all for this. If all of the team members possess these skills, it's not really fair to either the dog or the handler. If you are kind of pushed into the deep end of a sequence that you don't have all the skills for you don't have the handling skills, you don't have the knowledge to even know what channeling skills to use in which places.
And it's certainly not fair to ask. For you to navigate them, to allow you to navigate them when you don't know where you're going or how you're going to get there. Okay. So just keep that in mind that when you are sequencing, you want to make sure that the sequences are within your skillset and pushing that skillset a little bit.
And we can talk about that a little bit more later when we look at this troubleshooting protocol from the coaching perspective. So the first thing is that if I'm technique training and something goes wrong, so [00:03:00] something unexpected happens, the dog breaks commitment, or the dog takes the wrong obstacle.
I'm going to look first at my reinforcement strategy and this applies most to when you are technique training. So when you're introducing a new technique to the dog and you're trying to make sure. That the dog's behavior matches your own cue. So the physical cue that you are already fluent and well-rehearsed that I want to look at how I'm directly reinforcing that behavior, because if I'm using a lure or maybe the lure is in the wrong place, or maybe if I'm dropping it on the line, I'm dropping it at the wrong time and it's causing the dog to make a mistake.
Or if it's pre places is distraction, maybe the dog isn't fluent enough in that reinforcement strategy for you to be able to leave a toy really far down the line and the dog make a lead change away from the toy [00:04:00] to get to the job. Right? So that's something that we have to at least consider is that the reinforcement strategy might be causing the problem that's happening.
So if something unexpected happens, Ron course, maybe even knocked bars, things like that. We're talking about handling. So those are typically the mistakes that we see in handling check the reinforcement strategy, make sure that it's the correct placement for the stage of the training that you were in and make sure that it, it makes sense for the behavior that you were looking for and test that the dog actually understands how to have that reinforcement delivered in that way.
A lot of times. I see dogs really struggle with having a pre place reward as a distraction, because they're just not sure that they should ignore it. They're so gravitated towards it. And this is using a pre placed reward. As a distraction in my training is one [00:05:00] of the most valuable tools I have added in my toolbox.
So I really just decide note, put that at the top of your list to get comfortable with using. 'cause uh, once I look at the reinforcement strategy, then I have to ask myself, is my cue. What I think it is. I'm just going to double-check right. I don't want to start changing my dog's behavior until I know that my own behavior is actually what I want it to be.
So even though I've practiced this a million times without my dog, and I feel really comfortable with performing this particular skill. Without my dog and that's speed without my dog. I'm just going to check my video one more time to make sure that what's happening is what I want to be happening with my handling.
And there's a couple of ways that we can do this. If it's a refusal, I would [00:06:00] 100%. Um, Check the video, make sure that you were connected. Make sure there's not something kind of tiny detail in there that needs to be changed. You know, are you using the correct arm placement? Are you, are your feet and pointing in the correct direction?
And are you connected? Those are kind of the, the main things we can also, if a wrong course occurs, we can also decide to. On the next repetition, I'm going to handle my dog to that wrong core. So if I wanted my dog to turn over a number jumped to, and I was going to use a reverse spin for that jump. And there's a tunnel on the dog's path after jump to that, I want them to ignore it might not goes into that tunnel anyways, when I didn't expect them to my very next repetition, I'm going to handle them to that tunnel.
And now I have two very different. Cues that I can [00:07:00] look at the video and compare, and then I can ask myself, why did my dog think that the first way I cued this jump meant the tunnel. And does he understand the difference between those two cues? That can be so enlightening and whether that's something that I'm doing for myself, it's definitely going to be the strategy.
For any client that's working with me in person or online, I'm always going to ask you to handle to that wrong course. So you, the dog went off. Course, you handled to that off course obstacle. And now you have those two cues to compare on the video. So now you've decided, yeah, the cue was wrong. Well now, how do we decide what was wrong about it?
Don't worry. We have a formula first look at the timing because everything can be perfect from the top of your [00:08:00] head to your tippy tippy toes. But if the timing is off, it's not going to matter what a perfect handler you are and how well executed that reverse spin or front cross or rear grass or anything is if it's not on time, the dog is not going to be able to react.
So first, we're going to look for the timing. I'm going to look at that jump number two. That's the jump that I was looking at to get a turn. And I'm going to ask, where was my dog looking when they landed number two? If I, if I see that my dog was looking at the wrong obstacle, when they landed, I'm going to then compare that to what my body looks like when they landed.
So when they landed, did what was my body telling them, and then I'm going to work backwards to what was my body doing when the dog was taking off for that job. And then I'm going to work one more stride back. What was my body doing? One stride before my dog was taken. [00:09:00] 'cause that one stride before the dog was taking off was their final decision making moment.
By the time they get to their takeoff point, the dog has already decided how they're taking that jump and how they take that jump determines which obstacle they take next. So I'm going to work that back all the way to at the VA, the latest one stride before takeoff. And I'm going to say, well, was I giving the cue that I needed to be doing at this moment?
Or was it happening later? Because if it happens later and the dog goes off course, well, then I just need to change my timing of the cue. So, if you look at the video and you see that, it's the timing, you go back to the original question, you fix the timing you fixed, the problem you move on with your life.
What if you watch the video and your timing is great and your dog still made that mistake, they went off course. [00:10:00] Or maybe the problem now is that there's a refusal. Have no fear. We're going to first check. That your motion was correct. Was your motion moving in the correct direction when your dog was committing to jump to?
Okay. Where are you moving parallel to the intended path of the next obstacle when your dog was deciding how to take the current one? So that. When my dog is on approach, number two, I need to be moving in the direction of number three so that he can parallel the, the future path that I'm showing after he takes number two.
And so you're going to check your motion first. Then you're going to check your position was my position relative to the dog and relative to the obstacle queuing, what I thought it should be queuing. Right? So sometimes when we're too far off, We're queuing more extension than we need. So if I were too [00:11:00] far on the landing side, maybe my position was queuing the wrong course tunnel.
Maybe if my position was too far on the takeoff side, I was queuing too tight of a turn. So my dog missed number three, right? So we need to check motion first, then position. They know we're going to check where you are looking because while I do want my dogs to be forgiving and that I am human and I have.
Disconnect and look away at very, very poor times. Sometimes I want them to rely on me most of the time. I want them to trust me as their navigator. So we check where we're looking and making sure that the connection loop is maintained. And if there's something that we. Change about that and improve about that, that we do that on the next rep.
Then these are the next we're going to get into the less [00:12:00] relevant handling cues. That, and what I mean by that is that if your motion position and you're looking in the right place are correcting, and then you're also have good times. You're probably good. Right? So usually if you understand how to complete a specific handling technique front cross reverse vein rear cross, doesn't matter what it is.
If you understand the elements and you're moving in the correct direction, your position is correct. And you're looking in the right place. All of the other pieces of that technique tend to fall into place. Okay. However, sometimes there can be mistakes with where your chest is pointing. I'm just going to say that if you're looking in the right place, your chest is usually pointed in the right place, they're pretty well connected.
Uh, and then we can also look at the direction of your feet, what your arms are doing and what your voice is doing. These last three, your feet, [00:13:00] your arms, your. Those tend to be the ones that dogs look for as like tiebreakers, they're like all of those other really important things are saying a couple of different things.
So we're going to try to get some information from those other things from your feet, your arms. But like I said, if those top four, if your motion, your position, your eyes, your chest are kind of working towards the same goal. The others don't have to be as specific and as precise. Okay. But of course you can look at them.
Some dogs are going to be more sensitive to the direction of the feet. Sometimes in some situations, our feet are really relevant and really important. Sometimes our dogs can be more sensitive to our arm movements because there may be, they are more handler focused. So they're looking up for where the reward is coming from.
Maybe you had been rewarding from your hand, so your, your hands are more [00:14:00] relevant. And also what your arms are doing does impact where your chest is pointing. So we do want to eliminate as much conflicting information. As we can within those handling elements. So you've gone through the thing most of the time, if there's a problem with your handling, you're going to get it solved in motion, position, and eyes, but feel free to check each of the handling elements.
And then you're going back to the course and problem solved. You fix the little bit in your handling that needed to be fixed. Okay. On with your day, but what if you look at the video and you're like, Nope, this looks exactly like, it looked like in the walkthrough. I feel really good about this. And I really feel like I should expect the dark to be followed.
Now we have to consider maybe the dog is missing some skill or he had the skill previously, but it has [00:15:00] run out of fluency. It's out of money and it's bank, so to speak, and this can really happen for. Both keeping commitment and following the handling. So if keeping commitment to obstacles is something your dog struggles with.
It's probably one of those things that you're going to be constantly having to refill their buckets. For a long time, same goes for really high obstacle focused dogs, getting them to consistently follow the handling means that you're going to have to be pitching a lot of money in that bank account for a long time.
So if the dog has gotten a refuse, And we've decided it's not the reinforcement strategy and it's not the handling. I'm going to put that dog back into a keeping commitment context. I'm going to use reward placement to ensure without any doubt that the [00:16:00] dog will commit to the obstacle. Okay. So that usually means kind of just taking a step back to using a pre-placement reward as a lure so that you can rehearse the correct timing and the correct handling with knowing that the dog will jump because what I want to avoid a hundred percent of the time, if I can is by escalating my cue in a way that quote helps the.
Okay. So usually what that looks like when your dog gets refusal, is we go a little closer to the gym or we wait a little longer, right? Neither of those things teaches the dog to maintain commitment while you run. Hey, it's a little bit of a pet peeve of mine to hear. Well, his commitment will get better as he gets experienced.
I would like their commitment to get better through training. I would like their [00:17:00] experience to be maintaining commitment while I move away to the next obstacle. And I find that that's really a tough spot that a lot of handlers get stuck in is going closer to obstacle. And waiting longer. And it's really hard to get unstuck because going closer and waiting longer becomes your dog's cute to commit and stay committed.
So then as the dog gets faster, your cues are now late and now you have a dog that tends to go towards more. And when I've realized that my dog is leaning more towards going off course, I need to then take that moment and put the sequence back into a following the handling context. So this is where I do want to use my pre placed reward as a distraction that I handle my dog.
Okay. So I want to [00:18:00] eliminate the major distraction, which here would be the tunnel. And I want to insert a P pre placed reward as a distraction that I can handle too. So I'm going to make sure that the dog can follow my handling away from the reward in order to get the reward. And then I'm going to work my way back to working with the actual off-course petition.
So then you've gone back to skill-building, you've put your dog back into those kind of foundation context within whatever technique, training or sequencing that you are doing now. What. If you've solved the problem. Excellent. You should have solved the problem. You may have run out of reps or time to know that you've solved the problem today, but this is actually my preference.
I would rather come back to this same question or similar question again in a new, fresh [00:19:00] training session so that I can see my dog's response to this handling when they're brand new, fresh, ready to roll again. It's not super satisfying to me. If I get one. Final that was quote perfect rep at the end of kind of a longest training session or a longest training day when I'm most satisfied when I can come back to that same training question, nail it, and then I can go, okay, that's solved if I come back to it again the next day, and I have the same problem.
This is also great information because this usually means that. It's a history problem. So somewhere in my reinforcement history or the dog's reinforcement history, there is a misunderstanding and I need to take a step back and look at this history of whatever this handling technique is. Whatever this issue is in the dog's [00:20:00] ability to follow the handling or stay committed.
I need to look at the big picture. I need to look at how I've traditionally reinforced the dog for this behavior. I need to look at the entire context. Could there be some leftover baggage from a specific location that's causing this is this the work of some outside trigger people around dogs around birds, around noises.
I need to take a bigger step back and decide. What's actually influencing this problem. What's keeping this problem alive because if we're to that point, if you've been through this whole flow chart of troubleshooting and you still have a problem, you're not going to handle your way out of this one.
You're going to have to think and plan, and probably do a little rebuilding to get yourself back on track. And I know that's not really the fun answer or anything. That anyone wants to hear, but I [00:21:00] hope it's also encouraging that if you do run into that problem, it's not, well, you just need to be a better handler.
Well, no, there's only so much better handling can get you. And that's just reality. So work your way through this process, starting with reinforcement strategy, handler skills, dog skills, and then see where you are at and then take it from. I would love to see this troubleshooting process in action. So if you do have a training session where you're able to apply this and you posted it on social media, please tag me.
Or if you want to post it in the center dog Stuart's community on mighty networks, I would love to see it. So how does this process help us as training? Well, hopefully the last 20 minutes have kind of shed a lot of light on that, but [00:22:00] basically it gives you a formula and most of my clients, they want a formula.
And while I can't always tell you exactly the it's not, it may not always go as seamlessly as I described it here too. But it's a really nice starting point. And a lot of times, the most, most of the time we can problem solve and troubleshoot our own handling in this way. And that's just the order that I go in because it feels the most fair to the dog.
And it forces me to focus on the big picture and not judge. Make small adjustments in that moment to make it go right in that moment. But it forces me to take that step back and make sure it's going to work big picture that I can come back the next day and still get it right. Which is directly impacting the way you compete, because you have to be able to go into a competition and know that when [00:23:00] you do X handling, you get Y response from the dog and everything goes exactly how it should.
But if in training, you're making small adjustments to just get through that one training moment. You don't go into the competition knowing what solved your problem. And that's really the most important thing here is that you need to know how, how to get your dog from point a to point B. And you need to know why your dog follows your cues.
If you can understand those two things, you have a lot more. Uh, it's flexibility in how you handle and the decisions that you make on the agility course. And then obviously if you are coaching and teaching agility, this is exactly how I take my time. Through their training. And it's how I take my students through their training as well.
And having this kind of flow chart in your head, as you are [00:24:00] teaching as a coach, you can kind of go through the flow chart for them. You can check while it's happening. Yeah. The reinforcement is there. Hopefully you've coached them to have the reinforcer in the most optimal place. So you've already you're one step ahead there.
Then as you're watching them handle. You can see, is their motion correct? Is their position correct? Is their timing correct? You can be working through this flow chart while they're just doing one rep in front of you. And then if you know, and you're pretty certain that their handling is correct, you can just jump straight into dog training mode.
Get this problem solved, have that success rate super high, and then move on. Also make a note and go, well, you know, most of my students had the same problem next week. We're going to work on something similar and I'm going to see if I can tie this into a more cohesive lesson. Okay. So [00:25:00] long story short, you can work through this and kind of solve your own handling pieces without sacrifice.
Precision and long-term success. Like I said, I would love to see your training. So if you would like to share that with me on social media, please, please, please tag me. That's all for today. We'll talk more next week.
Thanks for listening, please subscribe and leave me a review. If you'd like to support this podcast, head over to synergy, dark sports.com/community to access bonus content and to get your questions. Via podcast episodes and other social media content. If you'd like to know more about what I'm up to and what's coming up, make sure to bookmark my website, www dot synergy, dog sports.com.[00:26:00]
