Hi All!

Nando is starting his first agility class on Sunday after I met the trainers and also viewed the class last week. The dog that I visited with (Who was a beginner) was told to start direction target training, left/right.

I have a question about it... Basically they want the dog to eventually go left or right on command, what is the best technique for training this?

I have started nose targetting to my hands but obviously this means Nando is facing me!

My plan is to have two 'markers' with me standing in the middle, and directing him to one and then clicking & treating when he goes there, and then adding in the queue, eventually I was planning on making the markers smaller and smaller until they're not needed.

Any ideas? I know the club will help me with this but I'd also like to practice it at home.

Josh

There seems to be as many training styles as there are trainers! I only started 3 months ago and my trainer uses lure and reward.

However my dog is older and has previously had HWTM training so either he is already attuned to directional requests from me via body language, or my trainer just doesn't use verbal left!/right commands. The latter, I think.

Wait til you start learning crossovers! I am starting to think it'll never sink in.....lol

I would wait and see what method the club use. I have found that sometimes  people like to teach you their way and not have you use a different method

I always use close (Rt turn ) and back (Lt turn) as we are walking on the lead so mine kind of know anyway and you can use it constantly to re-enforce the commands. It was drummed into many years ago in obedience traing LOL old habits die hard...
Aileen

Furriefriends is right - in a way it's  bit cheeky to ask for this first from a novice owner and young dog, you could end up doing it all wrong (not that you would Josh!).

I take it this is a group class? I would book a couple of half hour one-to-ones if you can, to get to know the trainer and the trainer your dog, and get some basics in, before going to group.

It is amazing how much you can learn and do in a 1-1. Groups don't suit my dog, and after 3 mths of 1-1 we have learned so much, we both love it, have a great rapport with our trainer and it's cheaper than going to the gym!

Furriefriends is right - in a way it's  bit cheeky to ask for this first from a novice owner and young dog, you could end up doing it all wrong (not that you would Josh!).

I take it this is a group class? I would book a couple of half hour one-to-ones if you can, to get to know the trainer and the trainer your dog, and get some basics in, before going to group.

The first class we went to is a group class but he is putting on a beginners class for mine and my friend's dog to focus on basics. He hasn't told me I have to learn it by the first class - far from it - but me being me, I just wanted to get a head start on training this particular aspect as I imagine it is pretty important!

I've always taught directions by putting on the 'command' as the dog naturally does it, as I do when training my young dogs on sheep. So if your dog goes left say 'left, good left' (or similar) etc, can be done whilst out on an off-lead walk. No conflict in training methods there, you're just taking the opportunity of putting a command onto a natural action. But as the others say, for anything more formal than this I'd wait and see what the trainers say about teaching directions, saves any hassle of undoing at some point ... life can sometimes be easier if you go with the flow, or in this case, go with the methods being taught at the class!!

Re using markers, I'm not sure I'd be clicking for arrival at a marker, I'd rather be clicking for the actual left/right hand movement as that is what you are wanting in an agility round. Hope you enjoy your training ;-)

> I've always taught directions by putting on the 'command' as the dog naturally does it, as I do when training my young dogs on sheep. So if your dog goes left say 'left, good left' (or similar) etc, can be done whilst out on an off-lead walk.

That's all I ever did when Remy did agility, and I do it with all my dogs.  Once in the agility class I backed it up with hand signals where needed to make sure he got it right and it was pretty solid very quickly.

> He hasn't told me I have to learn it by the first class - far from it - but me being me, I just wanted to get a head start on training this particular aspect as I imagine it is pretty important!

Ahhhh.... ;)
Yup, me being me, after my first couple of sessions, I asked someone I know who competes in Agility if they could recommend any books or DVDs... Quickly realised that as there are so many styles of training, I not only would be out of my depth but possibly could train against something my trainer does (I am after all, paying her!).

TBH my dog already does directions, but we haven't used any verbal directional commands and that's after 3 months of weekly 1-1's. It's about engaging my dog, getting him to work with me via hand signals and specific vocal commands (release command, jump command, and especially a very solid WAIT, plus STOP and a solid SIT). Those are the things you could be working on, as you will likely be re-working on them once Nando decides he likes it - bright dogs who really enjoy it get very enthusiastic and start anticipating the handler.

The only directional command we've used is when directing him to move away from me a bit to get into position for a jump after at tight turn. The usual command for that is 'Back' (regardless of which side your dog is on) but that didn't work for my dog, who did HWTM training so Back for him means 'back up' i.e. walk backwards. We tried it again with me saying 'Away' instead and I was pretty much gobsmacked when he knew exactly what I meant and did it perfectly!

You can also get Nando used to working on both sides of you - dogs can get used to sticking to one side of the handler for obedience, but need to be more adaptable and able to work on both sides for agility (and HWTM).

Once the dog decides it really likes agility, it will be looking at you for directions for where to go next, plus you also have to work on getting its attention if it wanders. (And probably, while you're standing talking to the trainer about the next task, your dog will be bimbling about in the background going through tunnels and hopping over fences without you, just for the fun of it- always reminds me of the character in Little Britain who gets out of his wheelchair once the carer's back is turned!).