Purpose: Ipsilateral Foot Target is an important body awareness skill that teaches simultaneously lifting of same side limbs (ipsi: same ; lateral: side). Along with strengthening important musculature, Ipsilateral Foot Target introduces a key concept of lead leg change, so the dog learns how to adjust their foot fall pattern. Intentional and coordinated lead leg change is an important component in many sports including agility, disc, bite sports, conformation, and many others.
Equipment: 2 Cato Boards or other platform(s) with the appropriate surface area.
Primary Training Goal: The first goal is to teach the dog to lift ipsilateral limbs simultaneously from a static Stand, and target the platform. Then we integrate motion into the behavior (side stepping), with a heavy focus on marking & rewarding for the ipsilateral leg lift (suspension phase).
NOTE: If using 1 or 2 Cato Boards, or a homemade platform, it is important the platform is tall enough, and long enough that the dog is easily able to target the platform surface. We do NOT want the dog targeting the edges of the platform, or gripping the edges of the platform with the toes, as this will cause problems with later progressions.
Targets: The hip abductors, epaxials, and abdominals (obliques), and teaches the concept of “lead leg change”, to intentionally adjust foot fall pattern. Indirectly strengthens the hypaxials (iliopsoas) and mobilizes the hip and shoulder adductors (mid-range).
Watchpoints:
- Prop Setup is important. The platform surface should be tall enough, and long enough that the dog is easily able to target the platform’s surface, not the edges. We want to discourage “gripping the edges” with the toes, as this will unintentionally teach the wrong behavior.
- To build understanding, it’s important to start from a Static Stand. We want to discourage the dog from targeting the platform while walking forward into position.
- The specific movement we are (ultimately) marking & rewarding is ipsilateral limbs lifting simultaneously. So even if the limbs touch down “out of sync”, if there was a suspension phase, the repetition still counts. This is detailed in the video tutorial.
- At the Foundation level, we are not overly concerned about limb or spine alignment. We will refine this in future progressions.
