Anatomy of a Gamble

A FaceBook friend posted this gamble from a recent ASCA trial.  She and her dog were the only team to successfully complete the gamble.  When I looked at it, I thought getting the correct end of the tunnel had to be next to impossible.  However, she answered that several dogs got the correct end of the tunnel, but then either took the AF or failed to take the #4 jump.


I decided to set up the gamble and see how close we would come.  The big question is whether to approach the gamble DOR or DOL.  There are two major problems involved with starting DOR.  First, the handler will in all probability end up fairly close to the gamble line when she sends her dog over #1 to the tunnel.  Because the tunnel is only 15' and quite curved, there will be no opportunity for the handler to step back from the line since her dog will see her doing so and be drawn to the AF.  This means that the handler has no way to apply physical pressure to her dog's line when he exits the tunnel.  Additionally, because the handler is already so far down course, the AF will block her from her dog's view when she starts to move toward the finish.

By entering the gamble DOL these problems are neatly avoided.  The handler will be behind the tunnel exit and have the opportunity to move away from the gamble line without her dog seeing her.  When the dog exits the tunnel, she will be in a perfect spot to apply pressure on the dog's line so that he will move away from the AF and take the #3 jump.  Additionally, because the handler is behind, she can maintain pressure on her dog's line until he has taken #4.

So, did it work for us?  Willie carried it off beautifully.  His speed and stride took him to the correct tunnel entrance and he didn't have much trouble understanding what I wanted him to do after the tunnel.  Belle, on the other hand, ducked into the wrong end of the tunnel.  However, she had no difficulty with the last two jumps.

 

P.S.  An important aspect of the gamble is being in a good spot to begin the gamble when the horn sounds.  I didn't set up the entire course, but if I were running this at a trial, I would finish up my closing with the teeter, the jump at (68,40), and the weave poles back to back.  Hopefully, the horn would sound when we were doing the weaves for the second time.

Gamble Analysis

Yesterday evening, I set up this USDAA Masters/PIII Gamblers course designed by Peggy Hammond.

Since the principles of distance handling are the same no matter what the venue, I decided to film the gamble portion of the course.  When I analyzed this course last night, I thought the only way to be successful was to begin the gamble with the dog on my left.  Then I would move up field and signal the turn into the correct end of the tunnel.  Next, I had to scurry back down field to the landing side of the jump, making sure to back away from the line so I had room to move back in and place pressure on the dog's line from c to d.  This worked every time with Belle, and it worked two out of three times with Dusty.

Then I decided to show what happened if you began this gamble with the dog on your right.  I really didn't expect it to work.  However, much to my surprise neither Belle nor Dusty had any trouble understanding what I wanted.  As they committed to a, I did a rear cross to pull them away from the incorrect tunnel entrance, and then I signaled a turn away from me to the correct entrance.  Because I was behind the dog at this point instead of even with him, I was able to get back into position for the push to d with less effort.  Although I got to the line too soon with Dusty when I did the push, it wasn't nearly as soon as I got there on my second effort with him.

Some Thoughts on Planning a Gamblers Run

1.  What is your goal for this Gamblers run?  Do you want to practice contacts?  Weaves?  A sequence that may be coming up in another class?  Do you just want to gather as many points as possible?  With your goal in mind, plan your course accordingly.  No matter what your goal is for the run, one thing that makes it easier on you and your dog is to plot a course that has as much flow as possible.

2. The course map will specify how much time there is in the opening.  How many obstacles can your dog do in that amount of time?  You can get a rough estimate by looking at your times in various Standard or Regular runs and dividing your dog's time by the number of obstacles on the course.  I figure it takes 2+ seconds an obstacle for Belle.  For the weaves and dogwalk, I add another second.

3.  Where does the gamble begin?  What angle you want to start it from?  Remember where you want to start from when the whistle blows.  Chances are pretty good you will have plenty of time for the gamble even if it takes you two or three seconds to get to the spot you wanted to start from.

4.  It is best not to use the weaves or the dogwalk as one of your last obstacles since they take extra time to complete.  An exception to that would be if when your dog finishes either obstacle, she is in a perfect position to start the gamble.

5.  Don't run out of obstacles.  Try to plan for two or three obstacles more just in case your dog is really flying today.  The course I plan is almost invariably too long.  With the course I set up today, I was spot on, but that was cutting it too close since there were no obstacles close by to finish out the opening if they had been needed.)  

I set up this course designed by Frank Holik:
 

My first instinct was to open on the left, but then I realized that opening on the right was much faster and it earned 9 points vs. 8 for the left side opening. (There are no spreads in Performance.)  I knew Belle would be really running by the time she got to the dogwalk.  (With a faster, more intense dog, the handler might want to open the same way and test her dog's ability to hit the DW contacts.  On the other hand, she might decide to start on the left side so that her dog wouldn't be in warp drive when it got to the DW.)

I debated whether or not to include a jump between the DW and teeter to eat up a second or two, and decided against it.  (In hindsight, I should have added one on the second loop.)  I sent Belle into the tunnel and did the DW and teeter again and then sent her over the jump at (28,72).  I was beginning to think my timer had gone to sleep on me when he finally called the start of the Gamble.  (He was about two seconds late.)  I didn't think Belle took the AF that well, but when I looked at the video it was better than I thought.  Rear crossing contacts is just something that Belle has never been trained to accept.

I considered sending Belle over the jump at (28,72) on my right side to begin the gamble, but decided it would give her too much momentum going over the AF and make the closer end of the tunnel just too logical an option.  I knew the rear cross would make her pause and wonder where I was going next.  (Don't get me wrong.  I wish this weren't the case.  But since it is, I decided to use it to my advantage.)