Letters CCC stand for Connect, Commit and Cue. These three Cs are the heart of OneMind Dogs method, and the key factors of proactive handling.

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All of the three Cs are connected to each other. The handler needs to pay attention to each one of them, between every obstacle during the course.

Connect

Maintaining the connection with the dog on an agility course is the handler's number one job. The importance of the connection is very high: if there is no connection, the dog will actively start looking for it and he won't be able to fully concentrate on proceeding on the course.

The contact doesn’t always mean straight eye contact with the dog. For the dog, being in contact with the handler equals seeing the side profile of the handler's face. So to connect with the dog, the handler needs to turn her head to the side that she wants the dog to move to next. Sometimes the handler doesn’t actually see the dog, she just knows where the dog is and creates the connection by turning her head.

In some situations it is possible for the handler to see where the dog´s attention has been focused by looking at the dog's eyes, and to predict what the dog is going to do next.

Commit

Once the connection has been created, the dog can commit and proceed towards next obstacle. The earlier the commitment to next obstacle has been established, the faster and the more fluently the dog is able to advance on the course. After the dog has committed to the obstacle, the handler can move on to telling the dog what is going to happen next. We want to teach our dogs to stay committed to the obstacle despite of the handler’s actions after the commitment.

Cue

When dog has the information where to continue from the obstacle, he can do the adjustments that are needed for the upcoming situation. We use the handling techniques to give the dog as much information as we can, as early as possible. This allows the dog to perform the right obstacle with correct speed. Our goal in handling is to let the dog have the right obstacle in his sight as early as possible. The dog can proceed smoothly and fast on the course when he is landing in the right direction and doesn’t have to correct his line and speed up again to the next obstacle.