1 Running Your Dog Like a 1 2 3 Master Driver How do your run your dog like a master race car driver? Pay attention to each turn on course. Agility is not a connect-thedots game of running from one obstacle to the next, it's about guiding your dog as fast as possible along a given path that has obstacles scattered throughout it. Steer proactively, letting your dog know well ahead of time what to expect. It may not seem that important, but it makes a big difference. Let's look at a test I did. In the setup in Figure 1, the dog approached jump #1 straight on, coming from full extension, and had to turn 180°. Jump #2 was cued three different ways: The effect on the dog's turn when giving a cue at different times: 1) Cue given as dog lands; 2) Cue given as dog lifts off for jump; and 3) Cue given 2 strides before dog reaches liftoff point 1. In Figure 2, the handler cued the turn as the dog landed from the jump. The dog jumps heading straight and her momentum carries her forward several yards before she can slow down enough to turn. The dog's time from jump #1 to jump #2 was 2.20 seconds 2 3 August 15 | Clean Run 43