Karen Van Hoy: Hello! I am Karen Van Hoy, Captain of the Santa Barbara Flyers and we're speaking about dog agility today. We're going to be talking about I using your dog's release word. Lin come.

So to start off, if you have got a reliable dog and you're on a quiet place. I'll probably take her a leash off. You don't have to, you can let him drag, if you want to. What I want to do is to have her sit, stay or not stay, but I wait. It is a momentary wait, because I'm going to call her to me. I have a cookie in my hand, I'll tell her to wait. Wait.

Now, right there she came to hear word, okay. I did not move, I did not move my hand. I didn't move my head. The dog needs to know what their released word is. Now if you don't have a release word, you can use the word okay, you could use bolt, you could use free. What you want to use is a very simple one syllable word, not many words strung together meaning come.

So let's go back to her, she already knows her release words. Sit. The cookie comes down, wait. Now let's say I said her release word. She didn't come. Sit. So she didn't come. I'm going to place my hand in her collar and I'm going to bring her to the cookie. Good girl! Now I just hold her that it's alright to come to the cookie. The cookie doesn't come into her mouth, she comes to the cookie.

So quick little review, if they don't know the release word and you can't again be calling her like this with body language. I want them only verbal. Wait. Let's say I said the word, she doesn't come, hand comes in the collar. This hand does not move with the cookie bring her to it and there she goes.

So we'll come over here. Lin come. Sit. This time I'm going to say it. Wait. Okay, good girl! Good girl! Everything in agility is pretty much down on both sides. Wait, okay, good girl! Good girl! There is your release word. It's pretty simple, you just need a little bit of patience. Good job.

The next segment of dog agility is teaching your dog a stay at the start line. You'll also need this in any kind of pet home, any kind of dog that needs to sit and stay and wait for just a brief second.