People always lose points on the figure 8s in the Leash Sensitivity section of the SR test.
After seeing almost everyone at the last trial in Chicago lose points on it…. I thought, I gotta say something!!!
The problem everyone is having….. The criteria in the excercise. And, maybe trial nerves.
Criteria-
In the Leash section…. The “ideal” picture of Loose Leash is the dog at liberty inside the perimeter of the leash that’s given to them. They are responsible for being calm, yielding to any tension in the leash, and not letting things split the line (tangles). They are NOT responsible for being in a certain position relative to the handler like in Heeling.
This is because MOST people don’t give a shit about actual heeling. They just get stuck in a conundrum of dog training. Not showing the dog what you ACTUALLY want….. But showing them a behavior that prevents mistakes. That’s not semantic. That’s actually important.
If you teach a dog to heel, you will prevent them from venting drive into targets. But you won’t teach them to let go of drive. You will avoid leash tension. But you won’t teach sensitivity to the leash. You can teach them to stay so close that nothing can split the line. But, you won’t teach them the concept of keeping the line untangled.
And THAT’S why most people teach heel. People think it’s easier avoid dealing with the leash via the heel position than teaching the dog how to think about the leash. Truth is…. It’s not easier. By a long shot. Teaching a real attention heel is super time consuming. Once you know how…. Teaching leash sensitivity is actually pretty easy.
But…. This isn’t a “how to” article. This is a “watch out for” articles.
Watch out for losing 15 points by “heeling” your way through the Loose Leash 8s just to avoid learning how to teach a new set of criteria.
Trial Nerves-
The other way people lose a lot of points is by getting discombobulated and forgetting what the criteria for what the exercise actually is. People sometimes DO train the right criteria. But….. At the moment of truth… just plain lose themselves. The dog will start to speed up and they start popping the leash to slow them down and KEEP THEM IN POSITION. They lose points. But…. that’s just panic. The dog can totally forge ahead as long as there’s no tension. They forget….. It’s not a position!
Or when it goes really bad…… as the rounding a corner…. the dog tries to speed up and cross over. Now…. this is totally allowed in the criteria of Loose Leash. But…. People forget that and pop the leash which stops does stop the dog….. DEAD IN FRONT OF THEM. And then they stumble. Or they do the super common “speed up, high step goose walk/soccer kick” combo to keep the dog from crossing and negatively reinforce them BACK INTO HEEL. Best case (happens literally in almost every test) there’s points lost for the pop and the acceleration/stumble. Worst case (seen a couple of times) they totally freak out the dog or fall down and completely NQ at that moment. All because they just straight forgot the criteria in the haze of ring fog.
So……
Determine what your criteria is and train to that standard. Hopefully….. that’s chasing the exercise’s ideal picture of Loose Leash Sensitivity. And if so…… Just remember what it is so you don’t go off script in the trial.
Obviously some people will need to, or just prefer to, teach heel instead. And it’s allowable. But will cost points as it’s not the sport’s standard. But, It’s allowable. So, if you, or your dog don’t do well with the standard….. You do you! Heel away. Hell… It’ll cost you less points in the long run than doing LL badly, and pop, stomp, stumblefucking the dog around the corners.
Just decide what your criteria is. Train to that standard. Practice till it’s natural. And keep your head in the game during the moment of truth.
But…. That’s not just GRC. That’s all of dog training.
Actually….. That’s life.