No title

By definition, the weight of the lead causes too much slack, delaying and softening any correction. This often leads to overcorrecting as the trainer tries to compensate for the delay and absorption of a part of the correction by the slack lead. It can also lead to undercorrecting if the trainer doesn't make this adjustment.

A leather lead stretches some when a correction is given. The lighter the lead, the more the stretch. Again, this can lead to over or under corrections.

If you correct with the right hand, the correction often causes the dog to come across or into the handler's body, making the correction inexact. The real problems start when, while training, you need to use your left hand. If you are holding a toy or food in your left hand, the lead must be held in the right. It is difficult enough to coordinate both hands without complicating things by giving poor corrections.

There are some things a lead doesn't do very well, again because of the slack issue. Correcting or motivating downs and about turns is the best example of this problem.




Excerpt from USINGTHE OB *STICK* Gary Patterson Introduction Using sticks in dog training is nothing new. In the 1930's, German trainers would tie a piece of cord to a broom stick for tracking. As far as I know, the first American use of a stick in obedience was started in the 1960's by Jack Godsil, the well known trainer. But his was a crude affair, using a heavy, long wooden dowel rod with some clothesline attached. While this device worked, it was awkward and the corrections were often unpredictable. So why this drive to find something to replace the well accepted leather lead? While a leather lead works pretty well, especially if it is a light obedience lead, there are some built in issues, especially for a trainer who is highly competitive and demands the greatest precision. It should be remembered that in obedience a lead is for communication with a dog, not to restrain or pull it. Therefore a lead should be able to transfer, on one hand, the most subtle of corrections or, at the other, bring real force to a dog that is uncontrollable. Even in the hands of a master trainer, leads have limitations. By definition, the weight of the lead causes too much slack, delaying and softening any correction. This often leads to overcorrecting as the trainer tries to compensate for the delay and absorption of a part of the correction by the slack lead. It can also lead to undercorrecting if the trainer doesn't make this adjustment. A leather lead stretches some when a correction is given. The lighter the lead, the more the stretch. Again, this can lead to over or under corrections. If you correct with the right hand, the correction often causes the dog to come across or into the handler's body, making the correction inexact. The real problems start when, while training, you need to use your left hand. If you are holding a toy or food in your left hand, the lead must be held in the right. It is difficult enough to coordinate both hands without complicating things by giving poor corrections. There are some things a lead doesn't do very well, again because of the slack issue. Correcting or motivating downs and about turns is the best example of this problem. Nylon leads have been around for several years and they still have the same problems. While they are lighter and have less give, they still stretch and are very heavy when wet. In addition, only the material is different, the same problems of right versus left hand and slack still exist. The OB Stick Concept In 1993, I started playing with the concept of a stick with a string on it. My goal was simple. I wanted as quick and accurate communication with a lead as I could get with my voice. I did away with wood because it wasn't strong or rigid enough. I then shortened the length of the stick as a stronger material didn't need the length. Lastly, I eliminated the cotton cord and replaced it with steel aircraft cable, connecting it directly to the training collar with a snap bolt. The result was a very lightweight training device that gave me proper corrections every time with either hand. It took some adjustment, as I had to learn to stop giving overly powerful corrections to compensate for slack and stretch and substitute only hand and wrist movements. Moving my hand only a few inches got the same result as a full arm movement with a lead, only quicker. The right hand could give an identical correction to the left; it made no difference. The OB Stick is not designed to replace a lead entirely. Rather it is intended to supplement it. But, I have found, as a dog progresses, The OB Stick becomes my primary training connection to the dog, not the lead. This is particularly true in problem solving. When you are using a lead, the stick can be slipped into a pocket vertically. The Basic Position The basic position with The OB Stick is holding it across the body, roughly parallel to the ground. With smaller dogs, the tip can be lowered to keep slack in the cable. The tip of the stick is over the dog's neck with 1 to 1½ inches slack in the cable. At all times, when working, this slack must be maintained so that a correction becomes a quick “pop”, taking up the short slack. Do not ever pull the dog with a stick. This is always an improper correction with either a lead or stick. When working the dog, the tip of the stick needs only to be moved a few inches to the right, left, up, down, forward or backwards to get a proper correction. The trainer can use either or both hands, particularly where a strong correction is needed. Remember, the stick acts as a lever, a rigid rod that, effectively, multiplies the movement and force of the rod, bringing it to the tip. Because the cable cannot stretch, the movement at the tip of the stick is directly communicated to the training collar. It takes some adjustment after using a lead, but, in the beginning, try to see how little movement you can get away with as an experiment. After only one training session, you will start to get a feel for the difference. The Training Collar I must digress to talk about training collars. If the stick, cable and skill of the trainer combine to give absolutely well timed and proper corrections, all can go wrong if the training collar doesn't carry through with this same correction. While obedience trainers in this country have traditionally used choke or chain collars for training (the Germans are the opposite, using these collars only for competition or patrol work), the best choice is the pinch or prong collar. While it does have a draconian appearance and is often described as a “spike collar”, it is much simpler and more benign than any choke collar. At rest, the prongs lie parallel to the dogs neck. When a correction is given, the prongs rise up to pinch the skin on the dog's neck, only to be quickly released. By contrast, a choke collar is designed to circle the dogs neck by the chain sliding around and being pulled tight through the collar ring. How benign is a choke collar when I have demonstrated that it can actually slice a melon with only a few back and forth movements. You can image what it must do to the dog's trachea! In addition, because the collar must be put on over the dog's head, there are always several inches of slack in the chain. This slack causes a delayed correction and the ring, to which the lead is attached, always slipping down under the dog's neck. In short, a pinch collar is not designed to give a harder or more brutal correction, but a proper one. Many trainers describe the pinch collar as “power steering” and, if that it so, it is even more the case when connected to The OB Stick.