Friday, May 29, 2009

Between Exercises: Reconnect, Praise, Relax, Motivate, and Control

When you enter the obedience ring with your dog there are many things that you may use in training that you can't bring into the ring with you:
* Treats
* Toys
* Leash (for many exercises in novice and all of open and utility)
* Any targets, platforms, boxes, and other training tools you use
* Ability to use your voice (during exercises).
Lack of these tools can be daunting for both you and the dog but it doesn't have to be. There is a lot you can do in the ring to reconnect, praise, relax, motivate, and control your dog that doesn't involve any of the above.

Between exercise you are allowed to have quiet a bit of interaction with your dog:
The only guide line is NOT to annoy the judge. I once saw a woman who asked her dog to roll over to both sides and circle both ways between each and every exercise. It took quiet a bit of time and the judge got visibly more and more annoyed each time she did it.
Short of a long elaborate ta-do like that one and as long as you are moving briskly to the start of the next exercise the "in between" exercise portion of the trial is YOURS.

How to best use this time:
There are 5 things you want to accomplish or re-establish during the time you have between exercises.

(1) RECONNECT -- First and foremost the time between exercises gives you a chance to reconnect with your dog. Don't worry about talking to the judge, stewards, looking over at your fans in the audience. Don't worry about anything other than Yourself and Your dog. Nothing else should exist. Look into your dogs eyes, get their attention back, feel that invisible leash between you. I try to establish this connection between exercises and than maintain it through out the next exercise, I answer the judges questions almost as if they are from a dream, all my active concentration and energy is on my dog (and theirs on me). When I heel my dog in the ring, for example, I still say "sit" to my dog only now I say it just in my mind and not out loud. I do this because it keeps me actively engaged with my dog at all times. If I lose them I use the in-between exercises portion to re-connect with them.

(2) PRAISE -- You want to praise your dog for a job well done. You want to be genuine, if the dog didn't do his best you want to temper your praise. But NEVER correct between exercises. The only way corrections between exercises work is if your dog is a seasoned competitor (in the ring every weekend) who knows exactly what to do and who decided not to do it. On the other hand if your dog is not a seasoned competitor, is likely frazzled by your stress, being in a new environment, having the judge in the ring, etc ... and did a job less perfect than he does at home CORRECTING him for it will take out whatever "want to" is left in him and I guarantee you won't be happy with the results. So even though you may offer less praise, do PRAISE. Keep a happy and up-beat attitude. "It's okay, good try, on to the next thing let's try this one". In addition to PRAISE being genuine you want PRAISE to be GREAT! Do whatever your dog most likes and give him your full attention. The ring should be happy and marvelous place. Make sure you PRAISE in this way in practice as well so that your dog understands it as a good and familiar thing.
Here is video of Dee Dee Anderson and her dog Dream at the AKC National Obedience Invitational (NOI) from 2007 the year they WON it! Watch how Dee Dee interacts with Dream between exercises --- she gets down on the floor with her and practically gives her belly rubs!


(3) RELAX -- Despite your best efforts the ring and trial environment is different from the training environment and your dog knows it. Many dogs will lose confidence in a trial environment, they won't know what to do, they may not know what is right anymore, all this combined may lead to the dog exhibiting stress or even shutting down. Use the in-between-exercise-time to relax your dog. In training pay attention to behaviors your dog exhibits when they are relaxed and happy. Put these behaviors on cue and ask your dog to preform them between exercises. If a dog is stress he may not even BE ABLE to preform them. This will give you a good indicator of his stress level. For example some dogs bark when they are excited and a stressed dog won't, a friend of mine asks her dog to bark just before she releases him in agility this instantly relaxes him and got him over a very bad stress sniffing problem. Asking your dog to bark is not a good choice for obedience but there are many other things you can do; ask your dog to jump, to snap his teeth together, to wag his tail, to sneeze (many dogs sneeze when they are relaxed and excited therefore a sneeze on command can be a powerful de-stressing tool). I have a friend who's dog has a 4 ft vertical leap which she does when she is excited, in the ring however she refused to jump, by putting her jump on cue and asking her to do it in between exercises my friend managed to completely de-stress her dog and vastly improve her scores.

(4) MOTIVATE -- Many dogs rev-down for trials, they slow down, they mop through the exercise, they don't seem to enjoy them. This is common and totally normal. In fact most dogs do it to different degrees. The end result is something a little-to-a lot worse than what you have in training. Sloppier, slower, less power, less drive. By using the in-between-exercises-time properly you can do a lot to motivate or re-motivate your dog. To motivate my dogs I use "excitement" words. When we are out on a walk and my dogs see a squirrel or rabbit and they get excited I label that excitement with a word "squirrel" or "rabbit". I can than use those words in the ring, "where is that Rabbit? Oh, my goodness I think there is a Squirrel here." This gets my dogs ears up, their tails up, increases their energy level and really motivates them. You can label other things as well: "treats", "cookies", "jackpot", "breakfast", "tuggy", anything that gets your dog excited.
Below is a video of Bridget Carlsen and her dog Hemi earning a UD leg (Hemi now has his OTCH). Watch how Bridget interacts with Hemi between exercises. Watch especially how she gets Hemi ready for articles. She asks Hemi to "bite". This is Hemi's cue to air snap, something he loves to do and something that gets him really excited for his less-than-favorite exercise.


(5) CONTROL -- Depending on your dog the in-between-exercises-time may give you a good opportunity to get control of, or maintain control of, your dog. In her book "Dog's are problem solvers, Handler's should be" Connie Cleveland diagrams out the obedience ring. She shows where each exercise takes place and diagrams the best path to use to move between them. There is no reason you can't think of a trial as one continuous exercise that last for about 3 minutes and choreograph the in-between-exercise movement as just another exercise or extension of the exercise before and after. If you have a dog that is easily distracted or "wild" this may be the best thing to do.
Here is video of Petra Ford and her dog Tyler for the 2009 NOI which they WON! Watch Petra and Tyler between exercises, you will see that Petra shifts her hand to a new position as they move to another exercise, it is not really a heel, but rather a choreographed, taught, and totally controlled between-exercise-movement. It keeps her and her dog in-the-zone the entire time they are in the ring and makes for an elegant performance.


For more info: Adele Yunck wrote a blog entry about "What to do between exercises" that includes a video of her and her dogs between exercises.
Northfield Natter: What to do between exercises in the obedience ring

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