August 8, 2008 - Doodling

No, I don't mean scribbling on paper. Doodling is a series of exercises done to teach a dog to return to perfect halt position. This is an important thing to master for obedience competitions.

In AKC competition, the dog should always end up in a sitting position on the left side of the handler, with the dog completely parallel to the handler.

When you doodle, you put the dog in a sit or stand position and move away from the dog. You can move to the left of the dog, to the right of the dog, turn at an angle toward the dog, turn away from the dog, get behind the dog, etc. From whatever place you chose to stand, you then guide the dog back into halt position. Dogs learn to scoot backwards, swing their butts around, and make turns to get back into place. At first you have to lure them with food while physically pushing their butts into position. After a series of repetitions they get the hang of it and learn to move their body back into halt position on command.

In class we've begun doodling exercises with our dogs. Right now they need quite a bit of physical guidance but soon they will be swinging their butts left and right all on their own!