What's Your Style? 

There are many different dog disciplines available to us to participate in: agility, herding, fly-ball, tracking, protection sport, barn-hunting, and obedience, just to name a few. And within each discipline there are separate governing bodies that outline and facilitate how their interpretation of that discipline should be carried out. The obedience presentations within FCI competitions in Europe are far different than those presented in AKC rings here in the United States. Between the two organizations you'll see dogs judged based on different criteria, different handler presentations, and emphasis on different exercises - although it all falls under the category of obedience.

As competitors it's important for us to understand the idiosyncrasies of our chosen sport, the organization that monitors it, and the rules that govern it. Understanding the rules and expectations of a given sport and its overseeing body will allow you to prepare and train accordingly - giving you the greatest chance at 'playing' well. 

Heeling - at least some form of it - tends to be a major emphasis within a lot of obedience-centered sports. Many different sports, throughout many different organizations across the world to a greater degree are prioritizing happy, energized, precise heeling exercises within obedience routines. And while many of these sports agree that a happy, precise, and animated dog is preferred, they don't agree on how the handler aesthetics. 

IPO (Schutzhund) prefers handlers to move naturally, where their hands at their side while the handler looks straight ahead, inattentive to their very attentive dog. AKC has carries a tradition of handlers walking around with their left arm bent in front of them at the elbow - left hand resting somewhere near the belly-button, and if you've ever watched a video of a Crufts competition you've surely noticed a steady stream of tidy handlers shuffling their feet along with their arm bent and held carefully to their side while their left hand rests neatly along the outside seam of there trousers. 

No matter the venue, no matter the sport, no matter the expectations of the organization that govern it, the top trainers and performers will likely always leave you impressed - at the joy of their dogs as they perform complicated behaviors. And while the handler's may not always look natural or comfortable, the overall picture and feel of the performance is sure to impress.

Back on track! This segment is not about breaking down the differences between sports, it's about encouraging you to be conscious of what your competitive picture will be and to begin 'showing' this picture in training more frequently. The great thing about the foundation of training we are building here is that how you 'present' yourself in the work should have little effect on the dog's understanding of heeling behavior. In the end, we should be able to hold our hands at our side, stomach or hip while our dog seamlessly displays the same precise position and happy attitude.

**Please excuse El's itching, scratching, and shiftiness - he was 'off the clock' when I was talking:)**

The following videos primarily address the traditional AKC / Broken Wing picture as well as the traditional IPO / Schutzhund picture. 

 3 min 36 sec

Charging the Broken Wing Picture - A Quick Word

This short video briefly discusses how we transition and 'charge' the AKC / Broken Wing picture. Because we've been teaching our dogs to not fall for the temptation of our left hand - even when reward is in it - those of us desiring to should be able to transition to this picture without deterioration in our heeling picture. 

With the help of our Reward Placement understanding, we can begin to show a more formal 'broken wing' picture to our dog while reinforcing for correct head and body position. 

Notes: 

• The work you'll see here incorporates concepts covered in this week. After working through the reward placement material, if desired, please revisit this information and work through it after your dog has a greater understanding of reward placement options.
• These videos demonstrate just a few reward placement options to play with but please feel free to be creative and use others.
• When our arm takes on the 'broken wing' position we have two immediate goals in mind: 1) there's a reward coming, and 2) that reward comes from (whichever reward placement you choose).

 1 min 33 sec

Different Reward Placements When Charging the Broken Wing

With the addition of a dog (Endy) this video illustrates how you might consider 'charging' your broken wing reward placement. For those of you competing in a sport venue that allows or requires this picture, these are a few considerations for how to introduce the dog to the visual with a complimentary reward placement. 

The 3 reward placements illustrated are all chose because of their incompatibility with interfering with the left hand. Remember, one of the things I don't want my dog to do is to follow or track my left hand across my body when I assume this particular heeling position. If they do gravitate with my left hand, my picture will deteriorate and my dog is likely to forge or crab. 

3 Options Illustrated (2 of the 3 will be covered in this week's material):

1. Back Alley Presentation - as left hand assumes 'broken wing' posture, dog is released behind the back to right hand.
2. Back Alley Delivery - as left hand comes to position, food or toy is tossed behind back over dog's left shoulder.
3. Right-Hand Upward Release - this is demonstrated in the video: as my left hand comes to position I 'terminal mark' and quickly bring my right hand across my body so the dog can leap up to meet it. This position works great for lesser motivated dogs or dogs who have a tendency to lag.

CHARGING THE AKC / BROKEN WING PICTURE

 3 min 26 sec

Charging with toy...

    Here's a little more information on 'charging' the broken wing picture - this time with a toy. With the help of El, I cycle through a few options for reward placement which can be used to create value for the picture as well as maintain correct position within it.

EL, CHARGING 'BROKEN WING' W/ TOY

1 min 59 sec