# Agility Right From the Start (Need Info...)



## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

*reaches 1 foot away and picks up the book. Hugs the book before opening.*

The table of contents does not list anything specific on "distance." EVERYTHING is broken down into very small pieces to the point of handler-only activities in almost everything. VERY beginner-reader-friendly....except fr the size. So for those with it, I'll just assign homework of the pages I realllllly want read. On occasion I will part with my copy for the week.

Yet....there are a lot of activities conductive to getting distance work, but in some ways this might be an easier thing with a beginner group of students using this type of curriculum.

Parts that relate to distance work and come together for great distance work:
- Section on how to throw toys/food well
- Aim for It (a shaping exercise for dog to go ahead)
- Race to reward (almost a lure... but this has REALLY helped create obstacle independence early on, so that students DON'T get stuck on having to 'help' the dogs. 
- The starts and stays chapter...specifically teaching the dog to do that initial fast-go-away-from-handler behavior. 

I have found that with my own dog...and especially that chapter I last mentioned... my dog has WAY more distance than I would expect for his level of training. Because he has very independent obstacle performance we're also able to do more than I would expect for his level of training.

As far as a complete resource for distance training...it's not quite that. Bud Houston recently worked on/finished? an ebook on distance training and handling and he's done quite a few blog posts about it over the last year.

There are a few other books/dvd's on CleanRun about distance. I think the only one I read was the Jane Simmons Moake one It wasn't horrible, but also not something I've opened since I read it.

A few other comments:
- The people that have the most trouble with this in class are people who did NOT start with me and have a history of doing a lot of luring. 
- Independent obstacle performance is key key key!
- As is placement of reinforcer.
- Distance exercises are great for a foundation curriculum. My beginners start this very early on, most are getting ~10' of lateral distance with a few individual obstacles within the first 6 weeks. 
- Lateral distance and "go ahead" distance are two different skills. We do more wtih lateral distance.
- The more speed the dog has, the easier it is to get distance....so we do a lot of things to try and build speed too.


And if you're really stuck... get lines on the floor and a star where the reinforcer should appear. "Each time stop one one sooner." Same sorta thing for lateral distance.


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