Clean Run Magazine - September 2009 - 50

Course Analysis Tips After You Walk the Course If you’re not satisfied you know the course well enough, walk around the outside of the ring. Look at the course from all sides and angles. Rehearse your course in your head. Include all directional commands and physical cues. Imagine that you can see your dog moving with you while you practice the course in your mind. Envision that you see each part that the dog completes, each jump he takes. Know where you are relative to your dog at all times. Watch at least a few runs to see if there are any pitfalls that you missed. Generally it is not a good idea to change your plan once you leave the walk-through. Unless you realize you have made a really bad choice in how you planned to handle a sequence, stick with your plan and execute it. A well-executed plan, right or wrong, is often better than trying to execute a potentially better plan that you did not walk. Stop watching other dogs before you must go in the ring. You need to focus on your plan, not think about how someone else is running the course. Running the Course Take time to notice at least one place on the course where you got to the handling position that you planned. Give yourself an “atta girl” and keep moving through the course. You won’t always have the luxury of having a course map and enough time before a run to do as much analysis as we’ve done here before and during your walk-through. Once you feel like you don’t need to rely on the course map as much, see if you can stop using it for some classes. Spend just a couple minutes outside the ring looking at the course, then go in and do all your analysis quickly during the walk-through. You will gain confidence as you practice and you won’t get rattled when course maps are not available or you did not have time to read it. It all comes down to finding the lines, deciding on side changes, and executing your plan. » » Get to the trial early enough that you have plenty of time to dedicate to course analysis. Check your running order and estimate what time you will walk the course. You don’t want to be rushed getting to your walkthrough. Learn the course from outside the ring, and with the use of the course map, make your handling plan before you walk in to the ring. Ask someone in advance to film your runs whenever possible. Use the videos to analyze any course error that occurred and to assess whether you got to your chosen handling positions. Besides aiding you in identifying skills you need to train with your dog, the analysis will also help you to: 1. Better predict in the future where you will be relative to your dog throughout the course. 2. Analyze if the dog responded to your cues as you thought he would. 3. Examine if you chose the correct handling technique in transitions and side changes. » » D Nancy Gyes and her husband, Jim Basic, run Power Paws Agility in San Jose, California. Nancy has been the AKC World Team Coach since 2006, and has been on the AKC World Team seven times, four years with Scud and three with Riot. Nancy and Riot finished 1st in 2002 and 2nd in 2001 in Individual Agility classes at the FCI Agility World Championships. Nancy also won the USDAA Nationals four years in a row, 1998 to 2001, with three different dogs: Scud, Riot, and Wicked. In 2001 and 2002, Nancy and Riot were the 24" jump height AKC National Champions. Contact Nancy at www.powerpawsagility.com where you can also view other articles and videos. Take your training where it’s never gone before The Ready Jump is a portable, competition-quality, 4' wide jump that you can take anywhere. It opens or closes in under 15 seconds and stores easily with no loose pieces. The Ready Jump features Clip and Go jump cup strips so it has cups every 2", from 4" up to 26". It’s so easy to use, there’s no excuse not to take the show on the road. ® Available exclusively from www.cleanrun.com and www.ClipAndGoAgility.com 50 Clean Run | September 09

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Clean Run Magazine - September 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - September 2009