One of the training exercises Steve introduced us to at the clinic is what he calls The Circle Game.  It’s what he likes to start a lot of his working sessions with.  I’ve actually done a variation of this game with my dogs and have had my students do it with theirs.  However, lacking the solid foundation mentioned in yesterday’s post, it wasn’t quite the same nor quite as effective in the long run.  I used it mainly to solidify verbal and visual flanking cues as well as get my dog comfortable dropping anywhere on the circle.  Which, with Quinn, meant a lot of pushing out and arguing about downing.  The pushing out that I thought was him giving to me but was really avoidance.

Steve’s version of the circle game assumes your dog has a down, a get back, and an understanding of what moving off your pressure is all about.  The Foundation.  The dog starts in a down, is given a get back (Steve uses “go” but since my dogs are already somewhat accustomed to “get back” I’ll continue to use that), there, down, and then a flank.  At any point in the game if the dog starts pushing, you push back.  Just remember to keep praising your dog when they are right and use the opportunity to repeat the verbal flanking cue as your dog is circling.  In the beginning you’ll use verbal, visual, and body language to cue your dog.  As the dog starts to get it, you start dropping one cue at a time until the dog is working only on verbal.  If the dog is wrong, tell them no, lie them down, start it again.

From this exercise you can then start working on fetching and the basics of driving.  The real benefit of The Circle Game as I see it is that you are solidifying some very basic commands that will be the basis of everything you do going forward.  The down, get back, and your flanks, combined with a steady or easy gives you just about every command you’ll need while working.  If your dog knows to give to your pressure, getting them to steady up as they approach the stock becomes a much simpler process.  Especially when they have firmly grasped the visual cue for the get back.  If they know that cue is a raised stick and you’ve proofed them on it, as you drop into a fetch and feel the dog pushing a bit you can simply raise your stick to get him to slow down.

This will be the next step in my re-training of Quinn.  As we progress from the alleyway we’ll start playing The Circle Game to solidify our foundation.