Barb Levenson - Flatwork: Foundation for Agility

Flatwork
Foundation for Agility
Barbara Levenson

Dogwise Publishing

A Division of Direct Book Service, Inc.

403 South Mission Street, Wenatchee, Washington 98801

1-509-663-9115, 1-800-776-2665

www.dogwisepublishing.com / info@dogwisepublishing.com

2007 by Barbara Levenson

Edited by Nini Bloch, Monica Percival, Marcille Ripperton, and Lisa Baird

Book design and typesetting by Marianne Harris

Cover photo by Lesley Mattuchio, www.pbase.com/lesleylou

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, digital or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty:

The author and publisher shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of the instructions and suggestions contained in this book.

All photographs, except where otherwise noted, are by Cindy Noland, www.nolanddogart.com

Trademarks: All service marks, trademarks, and product names used in this publication belong to their respective holders.

First edition 2007

Reprinted 2010, 2018

ISBN 978-1-61781-235-4

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my studentspast, present, and future.

My students are primarily pet-dog people, those who have discovered agility after completing a basic obedience course. The majority of them enjoy the camaraderie with friends and the relationship they develop with their dogs. They dont strive to be on a world team; they just want to have fun playing with their dogs. This little book came out of addressing my students needs for control, focus, and connection with their dogs on course. Teaching these behaviors to dogs without obstacles, I found, worked best. It is to these students that I dedicate this book.

Table of Contents

W hen Barb Levenson took her young German Shepherd, Misty, to a local obedience class in Dallas, she did not realize that her instructors had earned multiple obedience championships with their dogs. They introduced her to the world of competitive obedience and recognized and nurtured both Barbs and Mistys potential. Barb and her German Shepherd went on to win their classes and earn a CD just as the dog turned one year of age.

Finding that she enjoyed training and teaching, Barb combined the two when she returned to Pittsburgh in 1983 and began teaching obedience privately to people in her community. But she was uncomfortable with the compulsion method popular among trainers in the mid-80s and early 90s. She saw her own Border Collie T.D. developing more and more avoidance behaviors in the ring. At one obedience trial T.D. wouldnt bring the dumbbell to Barb; he preferred to take it to the judge. This behavior spoke volumes to Barb. She realized that many of the problems facing obedience dogs were a result of the improper use of compulsion. Listening to her own dogs, Barb began to look for other methods. Influenced by Ted Turner (from Sea World), Leslie Nelson, Patti Ruzzo, and others, Barb began introducing positive reinforcement methods into her teaching and training as early as 1989. Recent influences include Nancy Gyes, Tracy Sklenar and Susan Garrett. By the time she opened her own training school in 1991, she was using positive reinforcement in her puppy, basic obedience, and Canine Good Citizen classes and, shortly after, in her competition obedience classes.

Barb with Fly and Class.

Barb added the sport of agility to her school in 2000 and a couple of years later began teaching the classes herself. Barbs approach to both agility and obedience has her marching to a different drummer, in part shaped by her equestrian experience. She believes that the best way to develop handling skills is on the flataway from the equipmentand incorporates ideas from the horse world about training dogs on the flat. Barb also believes that a strong foundation in obedience sets the stage for a solid relationship with the dog that is critical to enjoying and succeeding in agility. And that means training and refining the communicationespecially body languagebetween dog and handler. To date she has competed with 11 dogs and has titles in obedience (Canadian and American), agility, and herding, rally and tricks.

I first learned about the concept of flatwork when I attended Susan Garretts Say Yes Puppy Camp three years ago. There I learned about the importance of teaching my young dog how to follow my body without the distraction and interference of obstacles. We practiced many of the skills we would need on coursesame-side turns, front crosses, and the beginning of rear crosses. Learning to communicate with a dog through flatwork made a huge impression on me. I realized both its importance and the fact that I had not taught it to my first two agility dogs.

I began using the term flatwork for these exercises because I come from an equestrian background. Young jumpers spend a great deal of time on the flat learning obedience to the riders aides, such as rein and leg signals. And since I also come from a strong competition obedience background in the dog world, it was easy for me to make the paradigm leap.

A horse learns to respond to rein and leg pressure so that his rider can change pace and direction. Here leg pressure on the horses left side aids in turning him right.

Like me, most people starting out in agility prefer to practice obstacles and sequences because it seems to be so much fun for the dogs. In agility, however, your dog actually spends more time on the flat running with you to the obstacles than he does performing the obstacles. Thus, what happens between the obstacles is at least as important as what happens on the obstacles. Its on the flat, after all, that you set your dog up for the next obstacle or sequence. Its on the flat where you as handler do most of your job guiding the dog. Performing flatwork successfully requires excellent communication between dog and handler.

To run agility successfully with your dog, you need to develop a clear, coherent, and timely communication system that relies more on body language than words. The pick-up signal cues a change of direction.

Practicing your signals without your dog helps you become a better handler. Practicing signals with your dog but without the equipmentflatworkfine-tunes the system. At right, a dog targets Levensons hand from a distance. Targeting forms the basis for training the pick-up signal at the far left.