Do you know how the different elements in your handling affect your dog?
All OneMind Dogs handling techniques include elements of seven key factors to support the dog’s movement on an agility course and make it as easy and effective as possible.
The dogs have taught us that some of the elements are more meaningful for them than others. That is why we always talk about the handling elements in certain order: the most important elements are listed first.
Learn more about each individual element:
- The handler’s movement
- Her position in relation to the dog
- Her contact with the dog
- The direction of the handler’s chest (“the laser point”)
- The direction of her feet
- Her hand signals
- Her verbal commands.
In every handling technique we try to get all the elements to support the same thing. The core rule is that the handler should be consistent with the training and never give mixed signals to the dog. Our handlers practice a lot without the dog to learn the technique first by themselves and to save the dogs from confusion. After the handler has learned the technique well enough, we bring the dog along.
Understanding the influence of different elements has enabled us to demonstrate what is, from the dog´s point of view, a good way to execute the techniques. On the OneMind Dogs handling technique videos the use and the influence of all seven elements are always presented individually. We also introduce the most common mistakes in execution of the techniques shown in the videos. The goal is to give the viewer a complete understanding of how each element works, and to demonstrate what impact variations have on the dog´s performance.
