Reply To: Search PACE – dogs and handlers (both)

[Kimberly BuchananKeymaster]

Speed kills!

LOL! It’s a phrase some of you have probably heard from Agility but it can certainly be true in NW. As Deb/Sue can attest after watching Zen run last week, there is definitely a time/place for SLOWING down a fast dog. Some need time to gather their thoughts instead of realizing halfway into the room that they missed that threshold hide. Had I started Zen on leash instead of off-leash we might have gotten that one faster. But after much debate w/myself (as Sue pointed out to me w/o hearing what I was saying out loud!) I decided to cut him loose and he bolted to the back of the room. Yep, we found a hide at the far end of the room but boy did we miss a lot in the middle!

I think Sue has a good way of looking at speeding up a slower dog by using your body pressure to pick up the pace a bit.

For anyone who has done competitive obedience, one of the things we see is the handler who slows their pace to meet the pace of a lagging dog. It just makes the dog lag more. Pick up the speed and all of a sudden the dog perks up and strives to keep up. Body pressure has a lot of uses! 🙂

Kimberly Buchanan
Joyride K9 Dog Training