The best way your dog can help you on an agility course, is to perform the obstacles independently and reliably. This way, you will be able to concentrate on your job, which is to handle the dog on the line that leads him to the next obstacle.

---

Independent obstacle performance makes it easier for the handler to get in to the best possible position for handling the next sequence. This is extremely important especially when the handler's speed is much slower than the dog's. When your dog is able to perform the obstacles independently, you are even allowed to make some minor mistakes.

The higher the obstacle focus, the stronger cues are needed to keep the dog from going to every obstacle he sees in front of him. The higher the handler focus, the more support the dog will need in committing to an obstacle.

When building the foundation, we at OneMind Dogs pay a lot of attention to rewarding our dogs for focusing on obstacles. To keep the obstacle - handler focus balanced, we teach the dogs to follow the handling to a reward. The balance between obstacle focus and handler focus may vary for different reasons: it is a result of teaching and rewarding, but also the dog's character might set some limits. However, there is no dog breed that cannot be trained to work independently, when the basic training is done properly. See examples of different breed of dogs' working distance.

Some handlers want their dogs to work more independently, while others prefer to handle their dogs by escorting them to all obstacles. It is important that you keep your individual preferences and needs in mind when training your dog.

In the 14th episode of Next Level, the online seminar video series, the seminar participants are doing the basic exercises of OneMind Dogs Method, with the leading OneMind Dogs Coach Janita Leinonen. Janita is going through the basic exercise for building a higher obstacle focus called “offering a jump” with her students. The group is also teaching the dogs to follow the handling, and testing the dogs’ reactions to rhythm change etc. in this episode.