Left and Right Introduction – Bad Dog Agility Academy

Left and Right Introduction

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  • Sarah Scott says:
    July 20, 2021 at 1:08 pm

    I taught Annie Turn a Circle snd she mainly goes right. I’ve also worked using a cone and do left and right before I saw this series. Should I rename Turn a Circle Left and Right? Somehow that seems rather cumbersome. Thoughts?

    • Sarah Fernandezlopez says:
      July 21, 2021 at 12:34 pm

      I think it’s totally acceptable to use left and right both with and without a cone or wing. In fact, we often see people start with spins in both directions and then taking that and adding a wing or a jump.

  • Angela.sarra@yahoo.com says:
    September 22, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    Wondering if what arm you are using for left and right makes a difference?

  • Pam says:
    July 11, 2019 at 12:41 am

    I have never taught left and right. Can you explain the verbals and do you suggest then using on course for a dog that’s already earned elite titles in nadac without uses such verbals. My biggest challenge I’m facing with AKC is lack of verbal cues.

    • Sarah Fernandezlopez says:
      July 11, 2019 at 9:35 pm

      I’m taking part of this from my response below:

      The use of verbals and to what extent is a personal choice. Esteban and I tend to be on the less verbal side. I use handling for the most part rather than directionals.

      In my opinion, the vast majority of handlers with verbals do not really have verbals. The verbal SHOULD override the handling, but for most people it can not, but it still can be useful when SUPPORTED by handling, giving the dog just an extra bit of confidence that they are correct. I think verbals ARE needed at the highest levels of the sport internationally.

      https://baddogagility.com/episode-76-verbal-cues-in-dog-agility/

      Left and Right specifically can be useful when your dog has to turn away from you off of a contact like a DW into a tunnel. It also can be helpful when you run into sequences where the dog might be confused about which way to turn after a jump (rear cross vs wrap confusion). But you can also practice your handling to make those things different, and work hard to put yourself in positions on course that clarify what you want.

      https://baddogagilityacademy.com/course/problem-solver/module-4/why-does-my-dog-confuse-wraps-and-rear-crosses/

      So I think whether or not you want to teach them is totally up to you.

      I personally have not found much need for it to succeed in agility in the US. And it sounds like you haven’t either in Nadac. But then you close your comment by saying that you’re struggling in AKC because of a lack of verbal cues.

      So it’s really up to you. It certainly doesn’t hurt to go through the training. You just have to decide whether that’s where you want to spend your training time.

  • KS.Kim says:
    July 4, 2019 at 3:38 am

    This practice leads to tight turns and multiple wraps, and I’m confused about the verbal cues. Here, the handler is using ‘left’ and ‘right’ as verbal cues. But in module 6 and 9 the cue used for tight turn/multiple wraps is something different(like ‘check’ or ‘seek’). This is the thing that has confused me for months… I also have practiced ‘Flick’ and saw people use the word ‘flick’ for a 360 degree tight turn.. I don’t want to confuse my dog with unnecessarily many verbal cues, but also I don’t know which cues I’ll get to use in the future in what circumstances. Do I get to use these left/right cues later on in sequences? If so, in what circumstances? Does my dog have to be able to turn to the certain direction only with my verbal cues?

    • Sarah Fernandezlopez says:
      July 4, 2019 at 9:18 am

      The use of verbals and to what extent is a personal choice. Esteban and I tend to be on the less verbal side. It sounds like that’s your natural inclination, so I would go with that and introduce verbals as you find a need. My dog’s “here” verbal (threadle) is very very strong, and his push “backside” is quite helpful as well. I use handling for the most part rather than directionals.

      In my opinion, the vast majority of handlers with verbals do not really have verbals. The verbal SHOULD override the handling, but for most people it can not, but it still can be useful when SUPPORTED by handling, giving the dog just an extra bit of confidence that they are correct. I think verbals ARE needed at the highest levels of the sport internationally.

      https://baddogagility.com/episode-76-verbal-cues-in-dog-agility/

      Left and Right specifically can be useful when your dog has to turn away from you off of a contact like a DW into a tunnel. It also can be helpful when you run into sequences where the dog might be confused about which way to turn after a jump (rear cross vs wrap confusion). But you can also practice your handling to make those things different, and work hard to put yourself in positions on course that clarify what you want.

      https://baddogagilityacademy.com/course/problem-solver/module-4/why-does-my-dog-confuse-wraps-and-rear-crosses/

      So I think whether or not you want to teach them is totally up to you. And if you skip it for now, and then later decide those particular verbals would be useful to YOU and YOUR handling in xyz situation, then you know you can come back to this foundation and start working it.

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