I am now at the point of teaching my GSD the finish. In the past I have taught my dogs the traditional finish in which the go around the handler. I now have an oppertunity to teach the military (or flip) finish. Over the years the military finish is becoming more common in Schutzhund, at least it appears that way to me. What are the pro and cons of the military finish? I do know that the dog has to have an understanding of exactly where the heal position is and that it is more difficult to teach. So if any of you guys and gals have any pointers or suggestions, I would greatly appreaciate it. Normally I would be able to rely on the schutzhund club for this but the club has now disbanded and I am back to being on my own.

traditional finish will usually end with the dog in the straight sit beside the handler. Sometimes the flip can end up sloppy and it needs to be all in one fluid motion.

Ok we have just been working on the finish. I think it is going to take a little while for him to comprehend the military finish. I tried the method outlined in advanced schutzhund, but we were both confused and made little progress. I then tried the method outlined in Schutzhund by Susan Barwig and made much better prgress. Using a toy worked much better than trying to guide him into position. After a few minutes of training he now smartly jumps into the heel position.

I agree with Schnauzergirl- The traditional finish usually does end up in a more consistant and straight finish. I train the military finish even though.. The other area I see a problem with the flip finish is in the call back out of the blind. When you force the dog to go around you, the dog actually has to look where he's going, and this is not always the case with the flip. All ends up on what you like best.

If your dog is quick then the military finish is flashier.

Originally posted by Hadley:
I train the military finish even though... How do you train the military finish?

I recently began teaching it by stepping back with my left leg and quickly moving the ball to the outside of my left shoulder... so that the dog jumps to my side... then I step back into the heel position and give the reward.

It seems to be a balancing act because if you don't reward the initial jump forward... the dog will begin to lose energy when learning the exercise.

Anyone have comments or use a different approach?

the way I taught mine is putting him in a sit at about a 45 degree angle to my left. I show him the toy and tease him with it. as he jumps for the toy I guide him into the heel position at the same time I am giving him the heel command. At first he did not sit so when he was in position from jumping and flipping I gave him the sitz command. As he became more proficient I stopped telling him the sitz command since he did it on his own. Once he was reliable from the 45 degree angle, I started putting everything together. I started putting him a sitz directly in from of me as he he would end up from a recall. After a few sessions of this, I put the recall and the fuss together, as in I recalled, he sits in front of me and give him the fuss command. The second he is at the heel position and sitting he gets rewarded with the toy. I was curious to see what he would do without the toy and surprisingly he did an almost perfect military finish. As soon as he was in position I gave him treates. Now I alternate between toy and treats. This is my first time teaching the military finish and I was not expecting such quick results in my GSD completing the excercise. He is also becoming more accurate in his flip. Early on he would at times miscalculate and hit hard into my left leg or would step or would land with his front paws on top of my foot. Now however he is making fewer mistakes in his landing of his rear. I hope I have taught him correctly. I no longer have a schutzhund club to go to , so I am on my own as far as training goes.