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Teaching Big Concepts in Small Spaces
There is one front in Novice obedience, four in Open and six in Utility. While not a principal feature of an exercise, those half point deductions for less than perfect fronts can add up.
APDT Rally has 17 fronts and AKC Rally has 6. Regardless of the sport, fronts are important.
It's easy to teach picture perfect fronts in small spaces, such as your living room, dining room, etc by backchaining. Backchaining means taking the last 'piece' of the behavior; in this case, sitting squarely in front position and teaching it first. Have your dog sit an arms' length away from you and facing you. Make sure your dog is lined up to the middle of your body. Using a treat, bring your dog in to the middle of your body, keeping her head up. When your dog is sitting squarely in front you and nice and close, reward with the treat that showed her where front is. Gradually work up to rewarding with a treat from your mouth - after all, your mouth is in the center of your face and that is where we want the dog to look.
Once your dog has a nice straight and close front, teach her to FIND front. A round or rectangular table works well for this. With a round table, sit your dog at 12 o'clock with the table on her right. You stand at 6 o'clock. Call your dog to front and be ready to show her how to come around and FIND front. With a rectangular table, 12 o'clock should be the short side of the table and you should be at 5 o'clock on the long side. No tables? Use chairs!
The secret to a straight front is rear end awareness. Check out Janice Gunn's "On the Pot" video for teaching rear end awareness.
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