Perhaps this will help those with questions
- judisedwards
- Oct 26
- 2 min read
Several people have approached me asking about how to manage line length when the handler laid the track and the dog hits a challenge (planned or not). Please watch this video before reading on!
At 7 seconds he enthusiastically looking for the track: to my eye, he’s clearly saying “I can solve this!” At 17 seconds he shakes off—and doesn’t immediately indicate the track. That’s my cue to start making the correct option more available, and the wrong options less available. Notice I step up towards the wood chips and continuously shorten my line—but I do NOT steer or chatter (I’m silent—I want the information to come from the track, not me). At 43 seconds he finds it, and his enthusiasm returns immediately. He gets 2 “good boys” from me. And then he finds an article, placed so that he’s reinforced for making the decision, but not positioned to pull him into the wood chips.
This is clearly a situation we will revisit in the future, not next session of course. I see so many options to train here—I will visit this site many, many times this season, and never repeat the precise way we addressed this challenge today.
Edited to add: why shorten and not give him more line? Because I want him to solve the problem of hopping up onto the wood chips and finding the track. More line potentially would allow frustration—it would be harder to find with more line—& more line risks him incidentally finding the article, which is rarely what I want to happen. And that’s the question handlers should ask themselves—what precisely is the problem I want the dog to solve?
Love this. What a good boy. That shake is so educational if people are looking for it.
I like how you helped him work through this just by limiting the options.