A Three-Jump Exercise

I expanded on the two jump exercise I used yesterday to teach Belle to take the back side of a jump even when I was at quite a lateral distance from her.  I tried it out with all three of the Aussies this morning to see if they would get the idea.  I was absolutely astounded when Dusty and Libby were able to do the opening of the South African course after just a little work on this training exercise :-)

Step One:  Lead out.  Release dog to jump #1.  Step toward the wing of #2 and direct dog to the back side of the jump.  Once your dog understands what you are indicating with your motion, add a verbal.  (I use "ausen.")  Finally, alternate wrapping #2 in both directions and sending to the backside of #2.

Step Two:  Gradually increase the lateral distance of your lead out.  Be sure to work both directions.










Step Three:  Now it's time to start angling the first jump.  Since you are increasing the difficulty of the exercise, lead out as close to the wing of #2 as necessary for your dog to be successful.  Then work on increasing the lateral distance of your lead out.  Remember to lead out as close as necessary to the wing of #2 each time you increase the angle of the first jump.  Once your dog is comfortable with the new angle of #1, it is a good idea to occasionally direct him to jump and wrap as in Step One.

How Not to Handle a Course

I wanted to work a little distance with Belle, so I set up this course designed by Stefan Elvstad of Whatcom Agility Team.  Stefan did an excellent job incorporating tunnel challenges in this course that have given us trouble at actual trials.

Unfortunately, after setting up the course, I was too tired to give it the effort it deserved and we lots of off-courses and various other faults.  For example:

• Turned my shoulders and pulled Belle away from the weave entry;

• Turned my shoulders and pulled Belle out of the weaves;

• Was late indicating the turn from #4 to the tunnel.  First time, Belle continued on to the #12 jump.  The second time, she ended up on the backside of the tunnel.

• More than once, I turned too soon and sent Belle up the A-frame instead of into the #7 tunnel.

• Failed to give Belle (and Dusty) enough information before they entered the #15 tunnel so that they didn't make a beeline for the off-course #2 tunnel. 

• Lost track of the course at #16 and sent Belle into the #11 tunnel instead of over the #17 jump.

• Missed the A-frame contact.

• Lastly, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Dusty jumping over the #4 tunnel.

I went out later in the afternoon and ran it again with both dogs, giving the course the effort it deserved.  Belle nailed it (although I didn't try any extreme distance handling with her this time), and Dusty and I made it through with just one bobble.

IHC Standard

I stumbled across this IHC Standard course on the USDAA website in January, and decided it was a fitting follow-up to the European jumpers course we tackled last week.  (For information on USDAA'S IHC classes, see Brenda Fender's article on the USDAA site.)

Unfortunately, the first time we tackled this one, I over-looked the fact that there is a threadle before the #11 tunnel.  I only realized my error because I found three videos of teams actually running this course at the Good Dog trial last year.  (I included the videos below mine.)

The two problematic areas of this course for Belle and me are going from the #11 tunnel to the #12 jump and turning left out of the #16 tunnel.  Because there is a threadle involved at 9/10, the handler is forced to position herself somewhere in the vicinity of the gap between the two jumps.  To be able to get to the landing side of #9 is preferable since you can face your dog and cue collection.  As it was, both times I tried this, I should have moved back toward the tunnel another foot or two.

Unfortunately, being so close to the #11 tunnel makes it impossible for me to get ahead of Belle and in position to do a front cross on the take-off side of #15 to set up the left turn out of the #16 tunnel, which was my initial plan.  As I discovered, if I moved too soon, I risked sending Belle off-course over the #9 jump.  When I held my ground until Belle was committed to #12, my only recourse was to do a rear cross before the chute and another before the #16 tunnel and hope she would turn left upon exiting the tunnel.

European Course Challenges

Last week I set up an exercise I found in the the 2012 WAO USA Team book available at Clean Run.  The exercise set-up was adaptable to working many skills, but the skill the designer was emphasizing was sending the dog to the back of the jump, time after time after time.  I found the exercise quite frustrating since eventually I was too out of position on each exercise to handle the next obstacle.  I finally decided this was silly, so I looked for a real European course to set up.  This course is an actual course and in her video, Cik, Cak, Silvia Trkman shows how she ran the course at trial.

If memory serves correctly, I've only set up one other European course to try.  Like that European standard course, this jumpers course is actually pretty straightforward -- the only "tricky" maneuver is the threadle at 11/12.  However, like the standard course I set up last summer there are long runs involved in getting from one section to another.  Basically, if you have a dog with any kind of speed, you have to be able to employ some distance techniques unless you are an Olympic class sprinter.

1-3 will allow for a long lead out for those who need to conserve their breath for the rest of the course.  3-7 can be handled from a relatively small area by anyone who doesn't normally run stride for stride with their dog.  (However, this proved to be a bad handling choice for yours truly.)  The first running challenge for the handler is having to get from 8 to 11 in time to handle the threadle, a distance of about 60 feet if you have to go most of the way to 8.  You could manage the run from 8 to 11 and still direct your dog over 12 if 11/12 were a 180.  Unfortunately, it is a threadle, and most of us will have to be at least on the landing side of 10 to handle it.  Additionally, we have to get there before our dog does so that we can show some deceleration to help cue the wrap at 11.  (Any forward motion at this point will cue a 180.)

It took me a while to figure out how to best run this section of course.  Silvia Trkman simply remains near the (65,5) point and uses a verbal to send her dog on to wrap 8 on his/her own while she turns and runs to get into position for the threadle.  Unfortunately, Belle doesn't have a verbal that will allow me to do that.  I finally realized that if I moved back toward the exit of the #6 tunnel exit and paced myself moving toward 8, I could cut 10-15 feet off my path and have enough time to get into position for the threadle.  (It took me quite a while to figure this out since I was firmly wedded to the idea that I didn't want to move very far from (68,3) while Belle was performing 4-8.)

Another problem I had was my insistence on using "wrap" to send Belle to 8.  Her grasp of "wrap" ("take the jump before you and wrap around the standard toward me") is way less than perfect.  Additionally, 8 is not directly ahead of the dog; it is at a right angle to their path.  When I changed my command to "over," Belle had no problem figuring out what I wanted, and my hasty retreat up field created the wrap I wanted with no extra verbal.

In an effort to solve my difficulties with this section, I first tried running along the backside of the #6 tunnel, thinking that I could handle the threadle with lateral distance and be in a better position to get back down field for the closing.  However, there were problems with this tactic.  First, I had a difficult time remembering to get to the backside of the tunnel.  Next, I found myself moving up field before Belle took #8 and this was pulling her off the jump.  Lastly, the one time it worked, it did nothing to tighten up the threadle.  Running between the two tunnels gave me the best chance of getting where I had to be since it was the shorter path for me.

The next distance challenge for the handler is getting from the weave pole entrance to a spot between 15/16 in order to handle the closing.  This is a distance of about 65 feet.  I thought it might be problematic for me since it was coming toward the end of the run, but I left Belle in the weaves, supported the #14 jump with a verbal and an out-stretched arm and managed to do a blind cross between 15/16--yeehaw!