Are you familiar with the seven handling elements? Do you know how they work and how they affect your dog?

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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. In every handling technique we try to get all the elements to support the same thing. The handler should be consistent with the training and never give mixed signals to the dog.

Movement is the most important element of handling. Without teaching the dog anything, movement overrides the other elements. This means that if your other handling elements tell your dog to turn, but your movement tells him to go straight, the dog will go straight.

You can test the power of movement: when you accelerate, your dog will accelerate. When you decelerate or stop, your dog will do the same.

Besides your running speed, there are several other aspects of movement you need to consider. The other important factors are the direction and timing of your movement.

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.