Basic Cues

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Basic Cues

WAITS

Practice your waits little and often- adding more and more distractions over time.

Don’t expect miracles- begin by asking for a 5 second wait standing right next to your dog. Extend the time first- NOT the distance. Once you can get your dog to wait like this for about twenty seconds then you can start SLOWLY adding the distance.

Learn to read your dog- If he/ she looks like he/ she is about to get up- return, reward and- then release them- maybe you are taking it to quickly? DO NOT REWARD if they get up before you get back to them!

You eventually want to be able to throw a toy past your dog/ put food in front of it and know that it will hold it’s wait- once you can do this then you can be fairly confident that your waits are good enough for the excitement of agility!

DIRECTIONAL CUES

Begin to teach your dog what left and right means. For the large percentage of us we are just not going to be as fast as our dogs so directional commands that we can give verbally are a must have for most agility competitors.

Start by holding a titbit or toy to the left or right of the dogs head- when the dog turns it’s head in the direction of the treat- give the dog the relevant directional cue and reward him!

Once he is happy doing this begin to ask the dog to start turning his shoulders, then his whole body- eventually even ‘twisting’ in the correct direction you ask him to.

Again build this up over time- you eventually want to be able to give the dog a directional cue without using physical signals and the dog will turn the way you have asked!

The most important thing is to keep all of this fun- Motivation is the key- make sure you always give your dog a reason to work for you. Stock up on yummy titbits and exciting toys and always bring them with you to training!