Are you mrs satnav?

Do you have problems with your dog going off course, dropping poles, becoming distracted, or wide turns  I observe all these behaviours regularly. So what is causing this? 

Well, obviously there is never just one cause, but the one that I want to talk about today is, in my opinion a very important one. This is telling your dog what you want him to do early enough! Now you can cue your dog verbally, physically, or a combination of both. The key thing is to do it early enough.

Handlers in general often cue an obstacle far too late. They react to the obstacle as the dog arrives at it. Now this is fine in the handler's view, as they have walked the course, and know what is coming next. The dog doesn't. He has to listen, or look, at your cue, register it in his brain, and then react. He has to do all this while running flat out.

So, imagine you are driving along on an open road at 60mph. Mrs SatNav tells you that in say half a mile you will be turning left, and then usually again , a few hundred yards out, and lastly again at the actual junction. This allows you to prepare and look for the junction, indicate,  regulate your speed,  and take the turn  successfully and safely.

What if instead Mrs SatNav decided to let you get right up to the turn, still at 60mph, and then screamed "Turn here"! You would panic, brake suddenly and probably would miss the turn altogether, maybe even cause an accident! If this was how my satnav worked I'd be a nervous wreck. I would be slowing down for each junction , just in case, taking the wrong turn because I couldn't make the right one, and cause consternation for any car following me, because my behaviour was erratic and unpredictable!

This is exactly what happens to your dog when cues are not given in time. If you do this to him, guess what? At best the dog turns wide, or knocks a pole, or takes the wrong obstacle. At worst, if you do this repeatedly, he slows right up, switches off, sniffs the floor or goes off and does something else. The poor dog has no time to anticipate what you want him to do. He can't get it right, so he gives up.  

So imagine how much better things would be if you thought ahead and gave him plenty of warning? He could listen, look, react, change his stride if necessary, and take the right turn! Celebrations all round. He wants to please you, just give him a chance to do so.

 YOU are Mrs SatNav for your dog, give him a chance to get it right, and both of you can celebrate when he does!l