OneMind Dogs customer service receives many agility related questions on daily basis. We picked a couple of the most popular questions from the last month and answered them.

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Question

"I often see in your videos or hear people talking about ‘slow down cues’ when handling, what is a slow down cue exactly?"

Answer

When we talk about a slow down cue at OneMind Dogs, we mean a cue that helps your dog know that he should decelerate, because a turn is coming up for example. What actually makes up the slow down cue varies and is dependent on the dog and handler team.

As a OneMind Dogs premium member you can read an article written by Janita on the various types of slow down cues and how they can be used to help your dog decelerate.

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Question

"What is the difference between a Jaakko Turn and a Reverse Spin?"

Answer

Jaakko Turn and Reverse Spin are used for different purposes and in different kinds of situations. A Jaakko Turn is useful when you need your dog to do a really tight turn whereas the Reverse Spin is used when you need to just make an adjustment to your dog's line, or to eliminate off-course obstacles from his direct view.

There is also a difference in how you prepare the dog for the turn: a slow down cue is always required for a Jaakko Turn, whereas in the Reverse Spin no rhythm change is needed.

Learn more by reading this article by Janita and by watching this Q&A video from an OMD pack member.

Have a go at this Sequence Training course to feel the differences for yourself!

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Question

"My dog drops bars or runs around obstacles when I get ahead too far, how can I prevent that?"

Answer

A common problem that you might face in agility is that your dog chases you on the course. If you run fast in front of your dog and he is chasing you, he is more likely to knock bars, run under jumps or pass around jumps. With these dogs, you may notice that, as long as you stay behind your dog, his jumping is ok, but if you get ahead of him then things go wrong.

Janita offers a solution to this issue with a basic training exercise: “We have added a “do not chase the handler” exercise to our foundation work.”

You can learn more about this exercise and many other important foundation exercises by following our Agility for Puppies online program.

How do you know if your dog is chasing you? Take a test introduced in our Next Level online program and find out!

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Question

"I have an injury and can’t run at the moment, can I still do any OneMind Dogs training?"

Answer

When you are injured and not able to run, you can still train and compete, as long as you teach yourself and your dog some good distance handling skills. We have just finished developing the first in a series of distance handling courses that is a perfect starting point for those who are not able to run as much.

Sometimes members of our coaching team injure themselves and can't run well, so they handle while walking even in competitions, because they have trained great distance handling skills.

You can challenge yourself to try handling your dog in a completely different way too, so that if you are ever injured, you have a variety of skills in your toolbox to continue playing agility with your dog. Read more about this topic in Janita’s article “I run by choice” and get inspired to get back to the training field today!