Clean Run Magazine - April 2007 - 77

0' 11 5 0' 7 6 4 12 2 1 3 8 10 T T 4 3 9 15 2 5 8 9 2 4 9 8 14 13 1 6 7 1 6 5 3 Novice Course 7 4 Novice Sequences From the tunnel, students performed a front cross from jump #4 to #5 on either the takeoff or landing side of jump #5 and handled the table with the dog on the right. Students generally kept the dog on the right to ﬁnish the sequence. The white sequence also offered an interesting lead-out exercise. Students had the most success leading out past the #2 tire and executing a lead-out pivot to the #3 tunnel. This particular opening gave students lots of insight into how well their dogs understood a lead-out position. If the student led out past the tire while indicating that the dog should come to the right side and the dog chose the dogwalk, it was clear that the dog’s understanding was not quite what the student assumed. I allowed students to try a few different options, including layering the dogwalk with the dog on the right for students wanting to practice their distance skills. This was the least successful option, but it did give students an indication of their dog’s distance skills. After handling the opening (obstacles #1-#4) from the right side of the dogwalk, students either did a front cross at the end of the dogwalk or a rear cross on the ﬂat from the dogwalk into the weave poles. Both options were successful but a few dogs went wide after the front cross and went over jump #7. All students handled the weaves with the dog on the left and ﬁnished the rest of the sequence with the dog on the left. Novice Level We used the course in Figure 3 in both of our Novice classes. Due to some Advanced/Masters teams having problems with layering the dogwalk to the tire in Figure 1, I decided to change from the USDAAwidth tire to a 5' wing jump to provide a larger target for the dogs. In handling the course, most students did a lead-out push from jumps #1 to #2, handled jump #2 to the #4 tunnel with the dog on the left, and layered the dogwalk to the #5 jump. As with the Advanced/Masters classes, students who had a hard time with layering were instructed to break the sequence down and reward the dog remotely for the lateral distance effort. Handlers continued with the dog on the left through the end of the course while negotiating the tunnel/dogwalk discrimination from jump #11 to the #12 dogwalk. From the #12 dogwalk, handlers either did a false turn or sent to jump #13 while moving laterally away from the jump to the weave poles to cue the right turn into the weaves. April 07 | Clean Run Several students did a front cross at the end of the weaves; many moved laterally away from the poles while the dog was weaving to prepare for the cross. The front cross kept the line tight to #15 and gave students extra practice on their dog’s execution of independent weave poles. The sequences shown in Figure 4 accompanied the Novice course. Most students opted to practice a lead-out push for the opening of the black sequence from jumps #1 to #3. Handlers generally kept the dog on the left from jump #3 to the #5 tunnel while executing a front cross from the tunnel to jump #6 and another front cross from jumps #6 to #7. A few handlers were able to send the dog to the tunnel and call him over jump #6 in serpentine fashion, keeping the dog on the left and pushing him through the gap to jump #7. This option worked well for handlers with dogs that they could send to the #5 tunnel. Students kept the dogs on the left for the A-frame and did a front cross at the bottom of the A-frame or a rear cross on the ﬂat to the #9 triple. The white sequence gave students another chance to work layering the dogwalk to jump #4. A few students chose to work the layer in sequence, after tunnel #3. Others chose to break it down, starting the dog in a sit from the exit of tunnel #3 and rewarding remotely for taking the jump. Handlers kept the dog on the left for jump #5 to the #7 broad jump. Many students did a front cross from the broad jump to the weave poles. Some handlers kept the dog on the left for the weaves and did a front cross at the end of the weaves; others kept the dog on the left and pushed the dog to jump #9. This month’s setup gave students the opportunity to work on layering and different lead-out options. The courses, although not as technically difﬁcult as many of our class courses, did present stimulating handling and training challenges for the students. I hope you and your students enjoy these nested courses and sequences. D Claudia Bates lives in Berryville, Virginia, with her husband, Jim, a bunch of Border Collies, a few wary cats, and a small flock of sheep. She is a former technical writer with a background in education and writing. She is currently a partner and instructor with A Click Above, LLC, a dog training facility in Leesburg, Virginia that offers everything from pet puppy classes to Masters agility handling classes. Claudia and her Border Collies compete in AKC, NADAC, and USDAA agility and in AKC, USBCHA, and AHBA herding. 77 PHOTO BY ALISSA BEHN/PET PERSONALITIES 3

Clean Run Magazine - April 2007

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