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SEMINAR INFORMATION CONTINUED One of the greatest compliments that a writer can receive is an email from readers, not only saying they actually read your article, but would like to hear more! I received several emails from readers asking me to expand on the information I have learned from the seminar presenters I listed in the last Everything Golden Obedience Article. That should be good fodder for the next several months.
THE FLIP FINISH Since I get to pick, I decided to pick one of my very favorite exercises – the finish. I have always loved the flip finish. Not for its accuracy but more for the style that it shows. Contrasted with the around, where the dog will go to the right of the handler and circle around the back, the flip finish requires the dog to move to the left of the handler in an animated way and come to the heel position.
Last year I had the pleasure of judging Gary Platt and his Golden
Retriever OTCH Chartine’s Field of Dreams UDX.
There is incredible accuracy in all of the obedience exercises with this
pair, but one of the most amazing feats is a dog who will jump up in the air,
spin and land in heel position perfectly. Of
course, I had to ask First you need a dog who is agile and likes to jump. Next you use a treat in your left hand and tell the dog to finish using your word. The word can be anything you want. Commonly the word is swing. With the treat between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand, encourage the dog to jump upward and to your left, using your finish word each time and giving the treat as the dog jumps up. Gradually use your left hand, which always has a treat in it to shape the jump up farther to your left and parallel to your body. Eventually shape this behavior to go to the back of your left side, and finally to heel position. Essential to this flip finish is keeping the dog in an upward jumping position during the shaping.
My own dog likes to use her front feet to repel off my body so I have had
to incorporate the word off into my shaping of her front finish.
Sometimes off is not enough so a knee up in her way will also do the
trick. Although my own dog does not
quite jump as high in the air as One of the clear advantages of the flip finish over the around is that it is so action oriented that the dog does not have the time to gaze around as is seen in many dogs who do the around type finish.
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