Within this series of articles I have been covering the beginning
work relative to raising a competitive working dog. The goal of our foundation
work is to raise a dog that is strong and confident, active in his drives
and highly motivated.
There are two types of finishes available in Schutzhund. The "swing" or the "go around." The finish is one of those sneaky places that tick points off your score, one at a time. A crooked finish is a point loss. There are five finishes in SchH3, that's potentially 5 points, knocking you out of 'V' level right there.
The finish is often the last exercise taught leading up to trialing for the BH and SchH1. It is taught after the left about turn for a specific reason. Teaching the left about turn will tell you which finish to teach your dog. If your dog whips around you quickly and easily for the left about, then you should most likely teach him the "go around" finish. If your dog has trouble keeping a tight, fast left about then you should ideally teach him the "swing" finish.
Both finishes have their good points and their bad points. However, overall the "swing" is a more difficult for a dog to learn initially. On the good side though, once a dog learns the swing finish well they tend to add a little personal flourish, making for a flashy finish.
Teaching the "go around" Finish
A perfectly executed "go around" finish is the dog moving from front position left around the handler, ending up in a straight sit tight on the handler's left side. The dog's toes should be even with the handler's toes.
This is a fairly easy exercise to teach the dog. With the dog in front using either the toy or food the handler lures the dog around to heel position. The first couple times reward the dog for just coming around without the sit. Once we've opened up the dog's mind to a new meaning for the word fuss, ask the dog to sit once he's on your left side. Do this again with the toy or food pulling it up as the dog comes around and giving the sit command. Reward the dog when he sits.
In the beginning we don't demand the dog sit correctly. The first hurdle in the dog's mind is this concept of moving out of front position around the handler. Then the next concept is to sit once around. Only when that behavior is clear to the dog do we graduate to how the dog must sit, at which point we can cease luring the dog with their reward. This frees the handler's hands to block the dog when he comes around. We want to block the dog with one hand on his chest and one hand on the right side of his ribcage. The handler should not move their feet to achieve this but instead bend their knees.
Note those hand positions again, one hand on the chest and one hand on the RIGHT side of the dog's ribcage. The laws of dog physics state a dog will move towards pressure on his body. If you try to push a dog away they usually push back. By putting your hand on his right side, this should cause the dog to push closer to the handler's side. Feel free to experiment. Nine times out of ten, the hand on the left side of the dog causes them to push out farther left.
The dog of course should be accustomed to the handler's hands on him and not find it bothersome. You can also use the leash to block the dog, but the leash tends to cause the dog's butt to swing out away from the handler. And when the dog is rewarded the reward must come from the left side, if it comes from the right side the dog will tend to finish in front of the handler.
Your dog has moved from front position, around the handler and you have blocked him as he comes to basic in the sit position landing him in the correct position. Reward the dog more with your voice and hands than his toy or food. Because we have helped him achieve the correct position it should not be rewarded as much as if he had achieved it on his own. Quickly you should be able to wean off the block until you don't need it, at which point the dog is paid with his big reward.
Sometimes the dog only ends up in the correct position because of the block, at which point the leash does need to be used and the dog must learn to correct his position, himself.
We do that by allowing the dog to finish in whatever position he wants, which is usually too far forward. Taking the leash close to the collar the handler takes one step straight back with the left leg, bringing the dog back even with the left leg as well. Then take one step forward with the left leg returning even with the right, bringing the dog forward with the left leg also. Because we have the leash close to the collar the dog should end up in the correct position when our legs are back together. If he is not, take a bigger step back with the left leg and try again. If the dog does end up in the correct position tell the dog "that is right, that is fuss." Literally. And then step in front of the dog and repeat the finish. If he again ends up crooked, tell him "no" and again do the one step back method. This is a corrective technique but in a manner that also shows the dog what to do rather than leaving the dog to figure it out on his own using straight collar corrections.
Did I lose you on that concept? Let's back up a little, when you first teach your puppy the sit, the puppy is rewarded regardless of how he sat or how we got him to sit. We don't withhold reward from the puppy because he didn't sit fast enough or straight enough. That would be silly, he has no idea that's what we may want when he doesn't know sit to begin with. Instead as he learns we begin to ask for that straight and fast sit.
Teaching the "swing" Finish
The swing finish is more difficult for a dog to learn because they have to be aware of their whole body position. The dog must learn how to move their rear in such a manner as to end up in the correct finish position. Most dogs have no idea what their rear end is doing. It just always seems to follow along. There are training methods one can teach in heeling that assist the dog in learning where their rear end is, but even then the swing finish adds additional complications. But as mentioned at the start of this article, once the dog gets it - they get it good.
To teach the swing you use a method very similar to the one step back illustrated above. With the dog in front position using the leash and collar tell the dog "fuss" and step back with your left leg. At the same time bring the dog back and around to that left leg. The handler's body should move aside like a door leaving a space for the dog to move through. Try to keep the right foot stationary. Initially the handler may have to take several steps back especially with a large dog. But quickly move away from more than one step back as soon as the dog starts to get it.
Once the dog is back even with the left leg, step forward returning to even with the right leg. Bringing the dog with in that motion still using the leash held close to the collar. When both feet are together the dog should be straight, his toes even with the handler's toes. If that's the case reward the dog from the left side. If the dog is crooked, repeat the one step back and try again.
The biggest hang up with the swing finish is the dog not coming around far enough back to end up in a straight sit. Once the initial teaching is accomplished, to address this issue the handler should take one big step back while the dog is moving into fuss position. Thus making the dog go even farther back to achieve fuss position since the handler moved. Because the handler changes position while the dog is in motion the dog learns to adjust for such an occurrence. Getting into the habit of moving farther back allows the dog to end up in correct heel position.
It is important to tell the dog when the position is right and when it is wrong. And it is important to do it quickly and immediately. Waiting several seconds is several seconds too late.
Try not to do endless repetitions of this exercise. Teach it but don't beat it. And try not to do a finish every time your dog does a front, this is why dogs blow past the front and go immediately to the finish in trial. Front and finish are two distinctly separate commands, not one sweeping motion.
