At the trial last weekend, I tried to handle this course from the 15-point bonus line:
On the course map it looked very intimidating. When I walked it, it looked possible. We pretty much made a total mess out of the attempt.
Analysis of Course Challenges: For Belle and me there are three major challenges on this course. First is the right turn from #4 to #5. Momentum is carrying the dog left over #4, plus the #5 jump is not an obvious choice to the dog while she is jumping. Second is the left turn over #11. Unless you have a dog that really is willing to drive away from you through the weave polls, just getting to #11 can be a challenge. Without a good response to a verbal command to turn left, achieving the left turn is problematic. Lastly, getting from the #16 tunnel to the #17 jump was a problem. Belle headed for the off-course #11 jump upon exiting the tunnel. (However, I may need to tweak the tunnel exit a little to conform with how it appears on the course map.
Challenge One: After I watched the video of Saturday's run, I thought perhaps if I had lead out further to the left (closer to the weave poles), I would have been able to do a more dramatic rear cross and Belle would have realized I wanted her to turn right after jumping #4. For Belle and me, that turned out to be a less than perfect solution. Mostly, I was too late with my rear cross. Additionally, when I watched the first batch of video from this morning, I realized my lead out to the left was probably giving Belle the impression that she would be going in that direction.
This afternoon, I changed my plan and lead out to closer to the dogwalk so that I would be able to move forward and to the left to support the drive to #4, but still have room to perform a rear cross. As I discovered after watching everything over and over in slow motion, being timely with the rear cross cue was much more important than the position I chose to lead out to. However, I think I would favor leading out closer to the dogwalk to hedge my bets. No point in having Belle watch me walk out in a direction that I don't want her to go in.
Please don't be shy. If you see something else in the videos that I can do to improve our chances of handling at a distance, please let me know.
One last post for today. After our unexpected success with the 15-point bonus line in jumpers on Sunday, I decided to try for the bonus in Chances also. It really was a much simpler challenge, but I underestimated the speed and momentum Belle would have after coming over the straight tunnel alongside the A-frame. I think I could have been a tad quicker in issuing my "come" command. Using "Belle" instead of "come" would probably been a more effective verbal, but I don't know if it would have gotten me the turn I wanted.
I think my major mistake was failing to do a shoulder pull as Belle comes over the jump #4. I am walking backwards, but at such a great distance, I think it was just too subtle a signal. I look forward to warmer weather when I can set this one up in the yard.
The only other thing about this run that I wish I could have changed was to have really reinforced Belle's drive while she was out there running. It was spectacular, and to me it's the kind of drive your dog needs to have in order to go out these extreme distances and perform. It is also something that Belle was not naturally blessed with. She is bright, biddable, fairly confident, and a great companion, but extremely driven she is not. Once we left the ring though, I made an enormous fuss over how well she did.
The first run of the day was jumpers and there was a 15-point bonus line. It looked like it might be doable, so I decided to go for it. I didn't know if Belle could get the turn from 3 to 4, but I felt I would be close enough to possibly salvage the run if she was not sure about what I wanted. Turning back to take the line of jumps heading away from me was made easier by the fact that I wasn't under any bonus line constraints for the turn away. Once Belle was headed away, I knew she'd build up a real head of steam and I was concerned about the possibility of her taking the off-course 14 after 10. If I managed to get her to make the turn to 11 by using "wrap," then the last tricky bit was getting her to turn away from me again and not take the off-course jump (3). It ended up being a beautiful run with a wide turn from 12 to 13 being the only bit that was not perfect.
I apologize for my exuberant display at the end of this run, but it was such a rush to finally reach our goal of a 15-point bonus line Q. And the fact that it was so unexpected to be able to attempt it after not doing any agility for almost a month, made it that much more exciting for me. Thank you, Buster for giving me such a wonderful partner and companion.
Chances also had a 15-point bonus line that I felt we could do. Belle took off like a heat-seeking missile. Unfortunately, her guidance system, i.e., me, was not up to the task.
We ended up going 4 for 6 on Sunday. We failed to Q in tunnelers when Belle mistook by lead out to mean we were playing snooker and made a bee-line for me when I released her.
