Once you’ve taught your furry companion how to use most pieces of dog agility equipment, you probably are ready to set up a full or partial course in your yard and start really working on course preparation. While your dog might be an ace at walking on the teeter or zooming through dog agility tunnels, correctly moving from one obstacle to another can be difficult, even for seasoned competitors.
Often, you’ll find some pretty tight spots on the agility course, and you and your pooch need to be prepared for the moments. Practicing a variety of different turns, over and over again, can improve your accuracy and timing at agility competitions. If you find that your dog has trouble moving from obstacle to obstacle, simply practice this over and over until the movement is more fluid.
Dogs turn left and right on the course throughout their run, but when we talk about agility turns, this has more to do with the position of the handler in relation to the dog than with the position of a jump, a dog agility tunnel or another piece of dog agility equipment. Take a look at the following turns, as they provide you with multiple options to keep a handler in the dog’s line of sight. For these turns, it is you, the handler, that will be turning, in order to stay in your dog’s line of sight or to quickly change your position.
The Front Cross
For this turn, you cross in front of your dog (as the name suggests), and pivot around to end up parallel to the dog but on the opposite side. You basically just alter your handling side in front of the dog.
The Lap Turn
With this turn, the dog heads toward its handler and the handler uses an arm single to turn the dog so that the lines of both animal and human are heading in a parallel direction. This turn is an excellent option if you are a handler that cannot always dash up ahead of your dog.
The Double Lap Turn
As you might have guessed, this turn includes two lap turns, one right after the other. It’s actually a combination of the regular lap turn and the front cross, and it allows you to help the dog navigate a tight turn, including a 360-degree turn. Again, this type of turn is very beneficial for handlers with limited mobility.
The Blind Cross
With a front cross, you are facing your dog, but with a blind cross you end up changing sides but your back is facing the dog. This turn can be handy; however, it is best used with a dog that doesn’t need to be facing the handler constantly.
The Ketschker Turn
This two-part turn begins with a front cross and ends with a blind cross. This turn can be useful whenever you have a very tight turn immediately following a jump. For instance, perhaps your dog must jump and execute a turn to a dog agility tunnel behind the jump. You can use the front cross to lead them through the jump and blind cross to quickly turn and be in position to move toward the dog agility tunnel.
These are just a few of the many handling turns you should consider learning. You also might study up on turns such as the Jaakko Turn, the German Turn and the Tandem Turn to name a few. As you practice these maneuvers over and over, they will become ingrained in your memory, providing you with options to handle any agility course, no matter how complicated it might be.
While we can describe the methods here, seeing them in action can be highly beneficial. There are many helpful videos online that showcase these turns, and it also can help to actually attend some agility events and watch how handlers help their dogs turn and navigate through all of the dog agility equipment, from dog agility tunnels to the pause table and the many jumps that one finds on a typical agility course. Additionally, it can be wise to practice turns and running through the course without your dog. Mastering turns before you practice them with your dog can make your movements much easier to follow and more fluid.
If you need any type of dog agility equipment, including jumps, contact equipment, dog agility tunnels or training tools, we have everything you might need at Carlson Agility. You can purchase equipment piece by piece or consider purchasing one of our handy starter kits to get your feet (and paws) wet in agility.
Brad Carlson enjoys dog agility training. To find K9 training equipment or to find more about training equipment for K9 training, please check out the Carlson-Agility.com website, or if you have any questions, send us an email today.
