The About Turn:
The about turn is an issue for most dogs and handlers.
Frequently, what a judge sees in the obedience ring is a dog who looses
focus and lags, or swings wide. Both
faults costing the dog/handler team points.
The amount of points obviously depending on the severity of the fault.
To avoid these deductions the handler must be able to perfect the
footwork that will assist the dog in being able to perform this part of heeling
easily. Footwork that is wide will
cause the dog to lag. If the
handler's body leans while doing the about turn, the dog will go wide.
In this article, I will attempt to put into words the body action
necessary by the handler to execute a tight about turn.
As I tell my students, this body movement on their part must become
second nature before we can expect our dog to do the movement with us.
That means that you must practice these moves until they are second
nature to you. And, practice without
the dog. If your dog lags or goes
wide, you have not developed the skill in yourself, and it is necessary to get
comfortable with the movement. You
should NEVER have to jerk your dog around as you do an about turn.
For the purpose of a visual aide, I have drawn the steps to an about
turn. I am not an artist, so the
drawing is crude, but you will get the picture, as I also describe the movements
in words. See below;
As you are heeling
at a brisk pace, you will step out on your right foot, and put your left foot in
a T as in figure 1. Then you will
put your right foot at the heel of your left foot as in figure 2.
Finally, you will step out a half step with your left foot and continue
forward. Practice these steps
to the count of four, until you can put your feet in these positions without
thinking. You should be able to move
your feet in these positions with the same speed that you are able to heel.
In other words, do not slow down as you are doing the about turn
footwork. Doing so will give your
dog plenty of time to look at what might be around him/her as you are moving in
a different direction. If you can
not do the footwork at the same speed as you are heeling, then you need to
practice alone, without the dog again, until you can.
The other essential
piece to performing the about turn is to keep your shoulders and body
perpendicular to the gound. Any
leaning on your part will cause the dog to go wide.
Also, any swinging of your right foot will also cause the wide about
turn. In order to test yourself to
see if you have mastered keepign your body straight, put a book on your head.
If you can keep the book on top of your head while doing the about turn,
your body will also be straight. I
tell my students to think of the word "spin" while doing the footwork.
Spinning is a fast action and putting this word in your mind will make
your body react quicker.
A final note on the
last part of the footwork, leading out again on your left foot to go in the
other direction. You read that I
said to take a half step forward with your left foot.
The reason for this is that it allows your dog an extra second to catch
up to you. Your dog is having to
take several steps as you are pivoting. Taking
this half step will give your dog enough time to execute those couple of steps
to keep up with the left leg that your dog is cuing on to heel.
This technique will avoid the common lag seen by many dogs, and will
result in you not having to jerk the dog forward around the turn.
If you are working
with a dog who has problematic about turns, try taking a treat, holding it in
your left hand and put the treat at the dog's nose as you are executing the
steps for figure 3. Give the treat
to the dog after they have taken a step or two in the new direction.