directions....

We all want a good consistent agility dog to work with , who does what we ask on the course, and gets it right every time, don't we? However, watch at any agility trial and you can often pick these partnerships out as the exception rather than the rule, however. Why is this? Well of course there are many reasons,but one I observe a lot simply lack of directional commands.
If the dog is given the information where to go, the chances are he'll go that way! I recently did a lovely run, but missed a jump as I had miswalked the course. We were eliminated, but I was thrilled with the responsiveness of my dog in pulling off the offending jump at my request! She responded beautifully to a "right" command, even if I put that command in the wrong place.
For those of you who can run like the wind and keep up with your dog, then your body language may be all you need. however for the likes of most of us we do need the dog to respond to directional commands (right, left), as well as discriminatory commands (walk, seesaw, weave etc).
Obviously these have to be taught to the dog in training, but also the handler has to use the commands regularly.  Commonly, I observe handlers saying nothing ,"I couldn't remember if it was left or right!", or the immortal commands of "here", "come" , "Fido/Rover", are all that are used to get round a course on a wing and a prayer! 
So my plea for this month's blog is teach both your dog and yourself directional commands, if you want to have a consistent dog! Oh, and make sure you walk the course properly too!!!