FLATWORK - FOUNDATION FOR AGILITY
by Barb Levenson (See other books by author)

Summary: Flatwork is the agility foundation, teaching you how to handle and how to make all your body language clear, consistent, coherent, and timely while teaching your dog how to take direction and stay on course!

Price: $15.95

Flatwork is about what happens between the obstacles. Your dog spends more time between the obstacles running with you on the flat than he does performing the obstacles. It's on the flat that you set up your dog's approach to the next obstacle, where you as handler do most of your job guiding the dog. Performing flatwork successfully requires excellent communication between dog and handler. Learn to develop a communication system with your dog as you teach him each maneuver with the distraction of obstacles. As you follow this training program, you will develop a set of cues and movements that indicate specific behaviors to the dog, and you will become aware of exactly what your body is really saying to your dog!

What reviewers are saying...

DOG WORLD
“Flatwork: Foundation for Agility does a lot in 78 pages. Levenson provides detailed exercises for training handling “on the flat” (i.e., without obstacles) including straight-line heeling, circle work, front and rear crosses, and collection and extension of stride. A real bonus of this book is the author clearly understands clicker training and how to break very complex behaviors into simple steps. The writing is clear and easy to follow and the photos that accompany the instructions are very clear. Unfortunately, some of them inadvertently depict the rather common mistake of presenting two hands at the same time to the dog. My only other quibble with this book is the method used to teach rear crosses. Many handlers have found this to cause “flick-aways,” where dogs misread that flipping arm signal at other times, shooting off to take an obstacle unintended by the handler. My favorite chapter was the third, “Teaching Movement of the Hindquarters,” which describes why teaching rear-end awareness can increase a dog’s response to a handler’s body cues and its ability to physically position its body in relationship to the handler. This book is definitely going on my recommended reading list for my own agility students!” Terry Long

Dig In

Back Cover

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1, Page 1

• ADVANCED JUMPING DVD

• BRINGING LIGHT TO SHADOW - A DOG TRAINER'S DIARY
• CONTROL UNLEASHED - CREATING A FOCUSED AND CONFIDENT DOG
• WHEN PIGS FLY - TRAINING SUCCESS WITH IMPOSSIBLE DOGS
• CRATE GAMES - FOR SELF CONTROL AND MOTIVATION DVD
• ON TALKING TERMS WITH DOGS - CALMING SIGNALS, 2ND EDITION