Unleashing the Velcro Dog - Training Your Agility Dog to Love Working at a Distance (Hardcover)

by Jane Simmons-modake (Author)
Key Phrases: offset starts, facing path marker, face path marker, Unleashing the Velcro Dog, Putting It All Together, Gamble Setup (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
The name Jane Simmons-Moake is virtually synonymous with agility training as is her legendary FlashPaws Training Center. A former member of the U.S. World Championship Agility Team, she possesses credentials that speak for themselves. Her latest offering is a treasure trove of tricks and techniques to perfect your dog s distance work. Most dogs love agility, and with a little training, almost any dog can manage a respectable performance. Creating a superstar is another story. As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details.

Simmons-Moake points out that distance handling is required for a few classes, but that s the exception rather than the rule. On the other hand, it can provide a decisive competitive advantage on almost any course. It alleviates the problem of handlers trying to keep pace with their dogs one of the most common reasons for slow times. It also allows far more creative ring strategy, something that isn t possible if your dog will only run or take direction when you are three inches away. She also presents some great homemade training tools. In addition to being clever, they are simple and economical to make. I immediately thought of millions of other training situations where they would prove quite handy.

Although she stresses the importance of foundation training, she has plenty of advice on revising bad habits and teaching reluctant dogs to work ahead of their handlers.

Abundant photos, diagrams, and notations accompany each chapter. Beginning with the tunnel, she gives step-by-step instructions on sending a dog to each obstacle from any angle. This material may not be easily accessible to novices, but it s an excellent reference for serious competitors. And that s precisely how the book is designed, with plenty of room in the margins for notes and a sturdy binding that will stand up to years of rereading. --Dog World Magazine, July 2008

Product Description
Do you long for a dog that will soar accurately and enthusiastically through the most challenging agility course, while working at great distances? If so, you have come to the right place. This book will show you how to train your joined-at-the-hip Velcro dog to both enjoy and excel at working away from you.

The ability to handle your dog at a distance is a tremendous asset if not a necessity in all types of agility courses. Through the methods detailed in this book you can:

- Attain a competitive advantage through the enormous flexibility you will gain in choosing a winning handling strategy.
-Take a shorter path than your dog by working at a lateral distance, thus allowing you to take full advantage of your dog s fastest speed instead of being limited by yours.
-Acquire tools to enable you to smoothly handle courses with handler restrictions, long straight-aways, and layering challenges.
-Ace courses that specifically require distance skills, such as Gamblers and FAST.
-Enjoy the exhilarating feeling of ultimate teamwork as you and your canine partner master-fully negotiate the course together, yet independently.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: FlashPaws Productions; 1st edition (November 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967492939
• ISBN-13: 978-0967492933
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,396 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for Every Training Library, February 8, 2008

By	Lab Mom "ADCH MACH Lab" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

Jane Simmons-Moake does it again! This great training guide is a must for serious competitors and weekend warriors alike. Easy to follow, easy to read with extremely detailed instructions, this book guides even the relatively unexperienced trainer from the basics of distances work right through the upper levels of competition.

The illustrations are extremely detailed and provide excellent visual additions to the written explanations. Jane not only takes you through the basics, but explains how to troubleshoot each section should things go wrong and always gives suggestions for adding difficulty once your dog has mastered the basics.

Most of the exercises Jane has devised are simple enough to fit in a moderately sized back yard and require a minimum number of obstacles. The book makes a wonderful training partner for those who train alone with a limited amount of equipment and space. The amazing number of variations of each sequence allows you to set up one exercise at the begining of the week and work for several days before having to reposition obstacles.

It's just simply a "got to have" for agility trainers every where!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars unleashing the velcro dog, November 12, 2007

By	electrox "topdog" - See all my reviews

I really love this book!
This excellent-quality, sizable work takes you from the all-important foundation skills for distance training all the way through to mastering huge distance challenges. The explanations are clear and logical throughout. I especially like that the author includes valuable advice about what to do if you encounter problems along the way. So many dog training books leave out this important information.
I also really like the format of this book. The relatively large 7-1/2" x 10" format allows for easy-to-read illustrations to be near the supporting text. Though it is a hardcover (which I greatly prefer over spiral-bound books because of their permanence), the book remains flat when opened to a page during my training sessions.
Jane Simmons-Moake has another winner with this book! If you've ever seen her dogs and her students' dogs compete, you know how successful she is at getting dogs to work very quickly and enthusiastically at a distance. Every agility enthusiast needs this book in his or her training library!

topdog;

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unleashing the Velcro Dog, June 2, 2008

By	Sharon I. Stubbs "dog lover" (Bakersfield,CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I run agility with my dog, Katy, and she is a l00 times faster than I am. I am really holding her back by trying to run with her. This book is an easy read with great directions and with a little practice, I am sure Katy will happily be running much faster "at a distance" from her pokey handler.