The Lead Out Edge

There are some courses that I never could begin to tackle without a lead out.  Then there are times when having the ability to lead out isn't really necessary, but it does give me an edge.  This course is one of those.
 
I was really struck by how widely spaced the jumps in the 3,4,5 serpentine are, and the awkwardness of the approach to #6.  I tried running on the right side of the serpentine, but that made for some very clunky rear crosses.  Additionally, I discovered that for Dusty, I couldn't slow down and send him to #6 very easily.  He just has too much handler focus and it made for a very crummy approach to #6.  Additionally, if I showed the rear cross too soon, Dusty missed #6 entirely.

I finally decided to try handling the serpentine from the left.  On my first attempt, I only lead out to about (45,60) and when I turned to do my front cross, I discovered I was in the gap between 3 and 4 and Dusty went sailing by me.  The next time, I lead out to about (50,55) so that I could more easily get to my spot on the takeoff side of #4.  It worked like a charm.  Plus, without any conscious thought on my part, I kept moving with Dusty toward #6 and didn't do my rear cross until he was committed to the jump.

Belle and I spent most of our time working on the bonus line, which didn't go all that well for us.  Since I wanted to end on a successful note with her, I decided to run with her.  Since she was tired from all her running, I decided to more or less start with her, which meant I had to handle the serpentine from the right side.  In the video, you can see that Belle loses ground to Dusty in the serpentine and doesn't quite manage to make it up by the end of the course.  (Since she doesn't suffer from excessive handler focus, the rear cross at #6 was basically a non-factor for her.)

A JWW Course from Bud Houston's Blog

Bud Houston posted an interesting JWW course designed by Lisa Selthofer on his blog yesterday.  I was curious to see if Belle and I could do this one, and she performed like a trooper.

Bud's thinking was that a very big lead out would be necessary to handle the jump after the tunnel for anyone whose dog normally runs faster than the handler.  Once I set up the course and walked it, I had to agree.  No way I would get a decent turn over that jump without the benefit of distance handling for the opening.  Additionally, without the benefit of cutting the yardage I had to run, Ed would have been calling for the rescue squad by the time we finished the weaves.

I lead out to about (0,50) on Bud's course map.  My position was just a little off when I turned Belle to the double, so I used an off-arm to keep her on course to the jump.  After that everything else went exceptionally well.

Since the jump after the tunnel is taken from the back side, I used the transferring of hands that I used yesterday and this morning on Dana Pike's course.  Dusty didn't care for it here any more than he did on the Standard course.  Additionally, we had several off-courses just getting to that jump.  Interestingly, once we got beyond that point, Dusty was a happy camper and the rest of the course went as well as it did for Belle.

Bud talked about the gratuitous dummy jumps.  For Belle they were a complete non-issue.  For my wild child, Dusty, they were definitely an option.  If it is warm enough tomorrow, I will break this course down into small chunks for Dusty and see if I can teach an old dog some new tricks.

New Year's Day Chances Strategy - Lead Out Required

The QCDC New Year's Day Chances course was a very difficult (if not nearly impossible) course to run successfully at any level if you were unable to lead out.  I believe there were three elite Q's, two open, and one novice.  There were two possible lead out options, but if you and your dog couldn't do one or the other, it was game over.  
 
With no lead out, the handler is forced to run toward the off-course jump along the path indicated by the dashed red line.  Two or three dogs were able to get to #4 with a verbal "get out" as their handler ran along this path.  HOWEVER, those dogs all went into the tunnel under the A-frame.

I have trained a little bit with Dana Pike and have been strongly influenced by Linda Mecklenberg's writings in Clean Run and by Jane Simmons-Moake writings on unleashing the velcro dog.  I don't want my dog to ignore my body language.  It's one thing to slide laterally while facing your dog and keeping pressure on his line.  It's quite another to have him do one thing while you do another simply on a verbal.  I think the dogs who took #4 only because of a verbal demonstrate the downside of diluting the importance of your body cues.

Of course, the problem is there are a lot of fast dogs who don't have a start line stay.  However, with a solid start line stay, there are two options.

First, you can just lead out to anywhere along or behind the red line.  Release your dog and support his line to #4.  Notice that the handler has enough room to move toward the dog's line if necessary.  This is how I chose to run this course.

The second option is to take enough of a lateral lead out to allow you to be angling toward #4 as you run.  I liked this idea a lot, and there were a few teams that used it.  I chickened out because I felt this option was a little riskier in that there was always a possibility of Belle misunderstanding what I wanted and going from opening hoop to the #11 jump.

A Lead Out Gone Wrong

I'm always happy when I have someone to video my trial runs since I don't have access to formal training anymore.  Making mistakes is a part of the learning process; but it's impossible to learn from your mistakes unless you have a good instructor or observer who can tell you what went wrong AND how to put it right.

I try to be my own observer/instructor, and I depend on video to help me out.  Sunday's tunneler run was such an unexpected fiasco.  Belle has proven herself to be capable of performing some pretty tricky sequences even when I had to take a fairly substantial lead out for one reason or another.  I watched the opening of Sunday's tunneler's run several times to find out why it went to badly wrong and what I could have done differently while still taking the long lead out that I wanted.  Here's what I discovered:

• The lead out probably would have been more likely to have been successful if I had placed Belle closer to the first tunnel. (I purposely left her further back so that she would build up speed before crossing the start line.) 
• I failed to notice where Belle was looking when I released her--she was looking a me, not at the entrance of the first tunnel.
• I ran away from Belle at the start line giving a fairly wide berth to the first two tunnels.  This gave Belle really bad information about the path I wanted her to take when released.  I should have run closer to the right side of the first two tunnels and crossed Belle's intended path in the gap between the second and third tunnels.  This would have given Belle a head's up about where she was supposed to go when released. 
• When we play snooker, my release word is "come." (I also whisper to her that we're going to play snooker while we're waiting for our turn.)  After leading out, I stand with my hands down and in front of my body inviting Belle to come to me.  I'm also careful to set her up so that she has a direct line to me.  Sometimes there is a red jump along that line; sometimes there isn't.  But the idea I've tried to convey to her is that she is to come to me on the straightest line possible, which is what Belle did on this tunnelers run.  Even though I did none of these things, running away from her on the path that I took was enough to convince her that snooker was the name of the game.  (This I feel is a training issue, but hey, I'm also the trainer.)
• In this run, I released her with "okay."  "Tunnel" might have been a better choice.  But given all the strong body signals I gave Belle and the training we've done for Snooker, I don't think that would have saved the day. 
• Lastly, from the standpoint of trying to be a good handler/trainer, I could really kick myself that I didn't just go with the flow and direct Belle into the third tunnel instead of running back to the first tunnel and trying to salvage the course.  In the split second I had to change my plan, I decided this was Belle's mistake and not mine, so I tried to start over.  After watching the tape, I can see that about 10% of the failure in communication was Belle's and a whopping 90% was mine.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not beating myself up over my mistakes.  I am thrilled to have this opportunity to analyze what went wrong and how I could have handled it differently.  And I look forward to being able to set up sequences where we can work on honing our "extreme" lead out skills.

Strategy: The Lead Out - Part Two

I feel that Belle runs her fastest when I only take a short lead out or a lateral lead out.  However, we also compete in USDAA and AKC, and sometimes the end of a course can be particularly complex.  If it will save me enough energy that I will be able to do a better job with the complex finish, I will take a longer than needed lead out.  Perhaps Belle won't run the course as fast as she might if I took a shorter lead out, but at least I will still be able to breathe at the end when I'm going to really need it.

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Sometimes a lead out be the easiest way to avoid a tricky off-course trap.  This is the opening from a Grand Prix course we ran last year.  I lead out making sure Belle and I could see each other.  I called and as she committed to #2, I began rotating so I could move toward the tunnel opening.

Many of the handlers who tried to run with their dog on their left ended up sending them to the wrong end of the tunnel, especially if they tried to get in a front cross between #3 and #4.  Those who trusted their dog and did a post turn fared better since they weren't driving to get into position for the front cross.

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This weekend, I experimented with doing a moving lead out.  I leave Belle at the start line and jog away, releasing her as get far enough ahead.  If you watched the video from Sunday, I am releasing her with a verbal "Okay" while I'm moving.  She seems to find it pretty motivating.

Strategy: The Lead Out - Part One

Belle is a pretty quick little dog, and although I am capable of bursts of speed, I am not capable of running fast enough to keep up with her over the entire length of a course.  Lateral distance cuts down the yardage I have to cover considerably, but still in order for me to handle a course most effectively, I usually need to take some sort of lead out.  How far I lead out depends upon the course at hand.  

If the course has a fast opening, I have to take a long lead out so that my dog does not leave me in the dust.  For example, if we were running the Tunnelers course below, I would lead out to at least the exit of the second tunnel with Belle.  That way, I know I can beat her to the exit of the third tunnel and be in a position to direct her to the correct fourth tunnel (my prime consideration if I want to prevent an off-course).  Additionally, I'm not so far ahead that I can't run and thus encourage her to run as fast as she can to catch me (my prime consideration if I'm interested in achieving getting the fastest run we can possible get).

Dusty needs no encouragement to run fast--it's part of who he is.  If I were running this same course with Dusty, I would lead out to the exit of the third tunnel, face him and release him to the tunnels.  My distance from him is cuing extension; facing him is my signal that he will be changing directions when he gets to me.  (Sometimes this works; sometimes not so such.)

In my theoretical examples, my handling yardage for Belle is about 71 yards, and for Dusty it is about 10 yards less.  Without the luxury of a lengthy lead out, my yardage would be increased by 10 yards for Belle and 20 yards for Dusty.  More importantly in Dusty's case, I doubt very seriously I could get to a spot between the exit of #3 and the entrance of #4 in time to prevent the off-course because the faster you run, the faster your dog will run.