Fred Hassen's Sit Means Sit - Revolutionizing the World of Dog Training - www.SitMeansSit.com

This video shows Fred Hassen’s dog ‘Rex’, in 3 different examples, getting prepared for a dock dogs (http://www.dockdogs.com) “Big Air” competition. Fred calls this preparation ’spread ‘em’, as in when a police officer has someone that is being prepared to be frisked :-). The purpose of starting the dog in this position on the back of the dock for the dock dogs competition, is that he is always sure that the dog is always in the exact same position, which leaves very little, if any margin for error in his starting point, and that he will get down the strides in time. ‘Rex is only 14 1/2 months old during the shooting of this video, so he will mature and get better in time. This position prevents any creeping, and makes it clearer so that he is consistently starting from the same spot. Fred actually sends ‘Rex’ away from the end of the dock, and all the way back to the back barrier. On some of the docks, the back banner runs all the way to the top, and in those instances, Rex is trained to put his front feet all the way to the top of the banner. The banner in this particular banner only goes half way up the back. It is difficult for a dog to just place up there on the banner because of the ‘give’ to the banners, and he ends up on top of wherever the rail is, which coincides with the top of the banner. Fred can actually twirl the bumper or whatever with him in that position on the back without him breaking. Consistency in the starting point will help ‘Rex’ establish longer jumps in time from being in the same starting position. Rex is a Belgian Malinois. For more information on the Las Vegas Dock Dogs Club see http://www.lasvegasdockdogs.com

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