The Finish

The Finish

The Finish is the only exercise in Obedience where the handler may make a choice as to how the exercise is performed. In the traditional, right-hand Finish the dog must circle around and behind the handler to sit at Heel. In recent years more Schutzhund dogs have been taught the military or left-hand Finish, in which the dog must pivot to the left of the handler to finish at Heel.

The military finish is much more difficult to teach because the dog must learn exactly where heel is and then it must also learn the totally unnatural swivel movement required to get it there. In the traditional finish the dog, by virtue of the fact that it goes around, winds up at heel basically parallel to its handler. All that is needed is to stop its forward movement and get it to “Sit.”

A problem that arises repeatedly during training is that the dog, anticipates the Finish exercise that follows the Present and veers either to the left- or right-hand in his approach to the handler which results in a skew sit. Another problem I had was that Juno, my GSD bitch, would slow down and growl at the dogs in the next ring as she passed behind my back and often earned a demerit from the judge.

To overcome the above problems it is a good idea to teach both Finishes so that later you can command the dog either way so that he does not know which command, left or right will be coming.

It is important to use different commands for these two Finishes. For the left-hand Finish I use “Fuss” (Foos) and for the right-hand Finish I use “Heel”. Handlers can choose their own words like “Close” etc. Remember that the judge will command you to, “Finish.”

Teaching the formal Finish should always be done as a separate exercise, never combined with a recall or a Present as it would be in the obedience ring. I usually advise handlers not to do many Finishes the week before a trial and to concentrate on a correct Present during that time or to simply turn left or right and let the dog do a right or left finish.

Right-hand Finish “Heel”

Place the dog on leash in the Sit position and place yourself in the Present. Take the leash loosely in your right hand near the dog’s head. Command “Heel” and simultaneously take a fairly big backward step with your right leg as you tug/pull the dog past your right side and around your back. The moment the dog is in motion move your left hand to your back to take over the leash from your right hand and to continue to guide the dog into the heel position and place him in the Sit. When the leash is controlled by the left hand you must move your right leg back to its original position to complete the Finish.

Beginner trainers can, as a start, take a small step to the left of the Present so that the dog is sitting just to the right of their right leg in an off-cantered Present. This will help in the beginning not to have to pull the dog around the right leg.

Left-hand Finish “Fuss” (Foos)

With the dog sitting in the present position, take the leash in your left hand near the dog’s head. Command “Fuss” and in the same motion turn at the waist as you step as far back as possible with your left leg dragging the dog past your left side then step forward again to the original position bringing the dog forward into the heel position. As the dog turns and comes into the Heel position, repeat the “Fuss” or “Close” command and sit him in the Heel position. Praise the dog for a close sit, treat and release.

Practice

It is strongly recommended to teach one kind of finish e.g. the left-hand finish for a week until the dog can perform an error free exercise before attempting the opposite finish.

The Flip Finish

I teach the flip finish to all my dogs. I love the way it looks when executed properly and you hear applause from the stands. Because of the speed of the exercise the dog can’t get distracted and get into trouble, such as while going around, behind you.

With Quanto, after he could do a very smart left-hand (“Fuss”) finish, off leash I started training the Flip finish. I put him on leash again and now, as I commanded “Fuss” I pushed my left knee forward into him while at the same time tugging upwards and slightly to the left on the leash to help him, to jump up over my forward moving knee, to avoid a collision.

It must be done quickly so that the dog is somewhat surprised by the maneuver and does not have a chance of going into the wrong direction. Don’t let him go far to your left; it should be more of a flipping around motion to end up close to you in the heel position.

Another way is to teach it as part of the heeling exercise. While working a normal heel routine give a heel command and after a few steps you suddenly reverse direction- taking 2 or 3 steps backwards and guide the dog to come sit in front of you. After a brief pause, give a heel command and abruptly thrust the left knee “into” the dog and then continue forward in a normal heel.

Help the dog to jump upwards over your knee and swivel into the heel position again. It must be done quickly so that the dog is somewhat surprised by the maneuver and does not have a chance to turn in the wrong direction or make a slow evasive turn. 

Once you have done this for several sessions, the dog will begin to understand to “get out of the way quickly” and again get into the heel position next to your left leg. Make sure to praise well after each successful complete heel maneuver.

Gradually your backward step becomes shorter and soon you can begin off-lead finishes but you can still be helping your dog by using a large swing of the arm as if you still had him on leash.

With Quanto and Memphis, although looking straight ahead, I can see in my peripheral vision that their heel position was slightly skew or not close enough to my leg. I then repeat “No fuss” repeatedly with a tap on my side until they produce perfect close sits.

If you think that the “flip” finish is a somewhat unfair expectation to get your dog to flip around on command then watch how quickly your dog can flip around during play.