Mastering Direction Changes in Dog Agility Training

Changing direction is a crucial skill in dog agility, allowing you to navigate a full course with ease. This week's training will focus on the essential techniques needed to guide your dog through changes in direction confidently, whether you’re practicing at home or in class.

Why Direction Changes Matter in Dog Agility

In the first two weeks of our agility training, we worked on moving in a single direction. This week, we’re adding the final skills to your handler toolkit so that you can navigate an entire course. To change direction, handlers use various techniques, including the front cross, to smoothly guide their dog from one direction to another. These skills are essential for moving both clockwise and anticlockwise during a run.

Doggy Dictionary: Key Terms

• Round: When the dog goes behind a jump and takes off from the opposite side they were previously traveling.

Step-by-Step Breakdown: How to Change Direction in Agility

A detailed breakdown for those who want one. (Homework at the end)

Crosses look and feel great when they’ve been practised to the point that they flow, but while learning the footwork, can feel a bit tricky. This is where practice makes perfect!

Step One: Practice Direction Changes at a Walking Pace

You can see Luna practicing this step of the ‘front cross’ training in the short clip below 👇

1. Have your dog on your left.
2. Hold one reward (food or toy) in each hand.
3. Use the hand closest to your dog (left) to lure them a few steps forward.
4. To do a front cross:
   • Turn towards your left arm and dog.
   • Swap to luring them with your right arm
5. Walk a few steps back in the direction you came from

Your dog has stayed on the same line, but the arm you handle them with switches.

Step Two: Practice on a figure of 8

In class, I will show you how to develop this into some simple figures of 8 drills that practice the new skill using a combination of posts/jumps.

Finally, we will put it into practice on a jump sequence that may include a tunnel, where we will start with easy turns and progress to sharper ‘crosses’.

You will lead using one arm, get ahead of your dog and turn and swap to use your other arm so the dog switches which side they are.