UPDATE: handling thoughts posted

In recent weeks I've run some practice courses with interesting subsequences in them and I thought I'd start blogging them as little handling challenges I'm calling "How Would You Handle It?" I'll post the course diagram and then a couple days later I'll update the article and post the handling method(s) that were most viable.

This opening sequence of a longer course was devised by Nancy Reyes at For Your Canine in Schiller Park, IL. I've put a red barrier at the right edge of the course to let you know that there is a wall that makes up that edge of the ring. So your handling possibilities to the right of the jumps are restricted (there are about 4 feet from jump 3 to the wall and about 3 feet from jump 4 to the wall. Jump 4 is a winged jump and jump 5 is a winged double jump.

If you like please post your solutions in the comments and check back for some solutions in a couple days.

Handling Solutions

There are two "sticky" areas on this sequence where the handler has to decide what they are going to do. Getting from jump 3 to jump 4 and from jump 5 to jump 6.

One question on this sequence is "which way to turn your dog at jump 3?" A lot of handlers initially turned their dog to the dog's right over jump three as shown by the red dog path. As you can see by the dog's path once the dog completes the Jump Wrap they see jump 4 but have no idea jump 5 is next; due to the wings on the jumps all the dog sees is the wall after jump 4. As faster handlers moved toward jump 5 they could save this by calling the dogs to take jump 5. But the dogs tended to have a trajectory that took them to the left over jump 5, away from jump 6.

Turning the dog toward the wall actually gives the dog the best path for jumps 4 and 5. There is plenty of room for the dog to get through the gap between the jump and the wall (about 4 feet). I found that a Rear Cross [RearCross, LearningRearCross] at the "X" on the course allowed me to be closer to jump 4 while still turning Meeker to his left over the jump. A Front Cross [FrontCross, LearningFrontCross] could also work there too. Either way it is critical that you don't get caught behind the wing of the jump. Once the dog is committed to jump 3 it is a sprint down the left side of jumps 4 and 5.

An option that we all would like to have done is shown by the blue handler path. A Front Cross (or a Blind Cross) at the "X" turns the dog to their left over jump 3 and then crossing the dog's path again (Front or Blind) at about the 12-15 foot mark. Unfortunately, the distance between the wing jump at the wall made it so it wasn't really possible to get through such a small space while running full speed. Another option along the blue path would have been to cross at the "X" and then Post Turn [PostTurn, LearningPostTurn] with the dog on your right and let the dog pass and Rear Cross on the take off side of jump 4. Unfortunately that handling puts you behind your dog at the start of a 40 foot straight line sprint.

The key to getting from jump 5 to jump 6 was being with or ahead of your dog at the landing side of jump 5 so you could push your dog to the right. Fast dogs/slow handlers were punished by this sequence as the dog turned toward their left and the handler (along the red line) after jump 5. So it was critical to have been ahead of your dog at jump 3 and run fast down the line of jumps.

It would have been nice if you were slower than your dog to Rear Cross from jump 4 to jump 5 but the wings of the jumps, the proximity of the wall, and the minimum jump spacing made it difficult in practice.

Once handlers got the push to jump 6, as long as they didn't give too strong of forward motion cues most dogs wrapped to jump 7 without difficulty. Handlers that kept moving forward without decellerating pushed their dogs wide to the off course jump.

I hope you enjoyed this little mental exercise!

After writing up my definitions of On and Off Side Weave Entries I started to think about what might make a really difficult weave entry and handling challenge. I came up with four approaches to work on and sequences for working on these challenges.

The Challenges

It seems to me the most challenging weave entrances occur when the handler and dog are moving along the axis of the weave poles from the middle of the weaves toward the weave entrance. These can be made more difficult by having the handler switch to the opposite side of the weaves after the dog enters the weaves. Since the dog can be on either side of the handler for both On Side and Off Side entrances there are four possible entrances:

Obviously you can work on these entrances with only your dog and some weaves. I tried them with Meeker and he did quite well on most of them. The Off Side entrance with him on my left was the hardest for him (shown on the left in green above). Similarly, the On Side entrance with him on my left (shown on the right in green above). In both cases he was fine with the beginning of the Rear Cross [RearCross, LearningRearCross] and got into the poles, but when he saw me move behind him to complete the cross he would either pop out or turn in the weaves and back weave to the entrance. He is fine with the Rear Cross on the entry with a less sharp angle to the weaves. So we have work to do...

I should mention you don't need to use a full set of 12 poles to do these drills. A set of 6, or even better an odd number, are also good to practice with. As with all tricky sequences like these you don't want to drill them over and over. Also once you are successful working with only the weaves you might want to add some obstacles into the mix.

Short Obstacle Sequences

I created some sequences using a few jumps around the weaves to show these skills "in action". The red circles are for handling with the dog on the handler's right at the approach to the weaves (red for right) and the green circles are for handling with the dog on the left at the approach to the weaves.

Here's what I was thinking when planning these courses to make them challenging:

• By varying the jump locations the dog's approach to the weaves can be changed all the way to a very shallow angle; eventually so the dog makes a nearly 180 degree turn to the first pole.
• The handler is required to cross the weave entry to get to the other side for the next obstacle.
• Some dogs won't finish the weaves unless the handler is with them to the end.
• The rest of the course is very difficult if the handler tries to follow the dog down the weaves. If you can get to the end of the weaves with your dog I'd encourage you to imagine that this is part of some evil gamble and you aren't allowed to go to the end of the weaves.

I haven't put any dimensions on the obstacles since I don't want to make the setups overly tight; adjust the distances according to you and your dog's abilities. The challenges should be based on the dog's approach and handler location, not on putting dogs into short jump to weave distances. Some of the challenge of these setups is to be able to handle them from both ahead and behind your dog. So to keep from getting too far ahead of your dog I'd practice these all without a Lead Out.

I think a judge would be in mortal peril if they tried to put something like these in a course. But I thought it was a fun training challenge. Let me know what you think.

I'm still working Meeker on contacts and obstacle discriminations and after this earlier setup I came up with this setup and some sequences to play with. These sequences "double" the discriminations by wrapping the A Frame and Dog Walk in tunnels and setting paths drawing past multiple obstacles. Also, based on an Anne Riba class course, I put in a "teeter to nowhere" which turned out to be a skill our team is lacking.

This sequence opens with a straightforward three jump Pin Wheel to a teeter facing away from the flow of the course. It would be advantageous to cross on the take off of the teeter and leave the dog to complete the teeter without you for the run over jump 5 and into the tunnel. I handled the A Frame with the dog on my left all the way through to the Dog Walk. It maybe advantageous to layer jump 16 on the long fast run from the chute to the weaves.

The dog walk can be handled on either side, with dog on left it is a push out to the table. (BTW - if you're venue doesn't use a table just go from 12 right to 14 - that's fun too!) If handled with a Front Cross on the approach to the Dog Walk then a Front Cross [FrontCross, LearningFrontCross] between the Dog Walk and jump 12 works nicely.

Coming from the table you have some choices to avoid all the off course obstacles. You can Lead Out and bring the dog Across The Feet to the tunnel or just Post Turn [PostTurn, LearningPostTurn] keeping your dog's attention from jump 12.

Then it is just a straightforward Pin Wheel again. It can be helpful to leave your dog once they have committed to jump 17 so you can get moving to jump 18. Depending on your dog's speed you can pull your dog over jump 19 and Rear Cross [RearCross, LearningRearCross] between 19 and 20 or if you are ahead a Front Cross works nicely there.

This sequence opens with a 180 and then takes the dog across a Box [JumpBoxDrillGenerator, DIYBoxSequences, BoxDrills, BoxInCourses, Box] with a 270 [270JumpHandling, 270Jumps]. I handled 1-3 with Meeker on my right and Rear Crossed 3-4 and Front Crossed 5 to 6 (putting him on my right on the way into the tunnel). Then you can Post Turn-Rear Cross or Front Cross to 7 to get "into the pocket" of the Pin Wheel. I think the only sensible handling is to take the Dog Walk with the dog on your right.

Then it is a chance to run. I liked sending Meeker over the Broad Jump and cutting to the center of the Pin Wheel so I could Front Cross over 14 and take him on my left over 14 and 15 on the way to the A Frame. For the close it is another running opportunity. The only difficulty is getting your dog to turn tight and come back to you coming out of the chute; they take a good look at the off course jump and broad jump. An RFP might be necessary to get your dog to turn back to you.

This turned out to be a trickier sequence than I had planned. It opens with a Pin Wheel, I Lead Out on the Handler Line [UsingHandlerLine, HandlerLine] between jump 2 and 3. Then it is a Wrap over 3 and take the dog past the Dog Walk to the weaves. Another layering opportunity over the Broad Jump. Which side of the Dog Walk works best for you? This was a good run requiring the handler to get to the end of the Dog Walk with the dog. I liked it best with the dog on my right and then pushing over 8 and pulling back over 9 with a Rear Cross on the take off side of jump 9 to turn Meeker to the teeter.

I let Meeker pass me on the way to the teeter and Rear Crossed again. After that 11-12-13 was easy with him on my right the whole way. I kept him on my left all the way to jump 19 and since he was ahead of me I Rear Crossed on the take off of 19. I Front Crossed over jump 20 so I could handle 21 and 22 with him on my right.

Meeker and I played around on this course for the past week and found a lot of interesting subsequences to play with. I hope you enjoy it.

Meeker and I have been working on contacts and I thought it was time to start introducing obstacle discriminations into the mix. I came up with four sequences that I really liked. I also set up the tunnels to force distance between the handler and the sides of the contact obstacles. In addition to tunnel/contact discriminations the sequences include Serpentines [Serpentine, SerpentineHandling], Pin Wheels, and Jump Wraps with numerous handling options.

Read more ...

I threw together some Rear Cross [RearCross, LearningRearCross] exercises using only four jumps and a tunnel in response to a request to the AgileX Email List. I can also use these because Milo has taken to woofing at me if I push hard on his path during a Rear Cross; so we need the practice too.

The dimensions shown in the diagrams really aren't important just setup the jumps at a comfortable spacing. In the diagrams I've only shown the handler path and the Rear Crosses handle the rest of the sequence as you see fit.

Read more ...

For the first backyard course of the year I wanted to setup a course that I could run as a whole and that I could leave set up for a while to work on some specific skills. Those skills include:

• Weave entries from multiple approach angles with the handler on both sides (shown in blue below)
• Serpentines [Serpentine, SerpentineHandling] (shown in green below)
• Threadles [SingleSidedThreadleHandling, MEBThreadleHandling, ThreadleHandling, Threadle] (shown in yellow below)
• Fast, straight approaches to the Dog Walk, Teeter and A Frame for working on contact behaviors at speed (shown in red below). (I've just started proofing Meeker's contact 2o2o behavior over the full obstacles)

There aren't any significant discriminations in the sequences I've created because I just wanted to work on proper execution of skills without adding off courses into the mix. I came up with four sequences emphasizing some of these skills but there are many more you can easily think up if you want to repeat various sequences or obstacles. Of course you should play around with distances, changing obstacles, and you could put out some other obstacles as off courses too.

Read more ...

Now that I finally have all my contact equipment and Meeker is confident running over all of it at full height I decided to set up some "courses" to work on longer sequences and to give me a feeling for where our training is lacking. The course layout below may look a little strange, since I'm still working Meeker on various JumpChutes I left those jumps in place and built the course around the five jumps of the chute. I came up with four sequences for this equipment setup.

I'm not a judge and I can't say that these sequences are legal under any organizing body, but I though others might want to take a look at them.

Read more ...

I was fooling around with a tunnel and three jumps in the backyard with Meeker and came up with this obvious setup that I found was useful for training a number of skills. Since each time the dog comes out of the tunnel they are given three jump choices (only one of which is the right one) it made me think of the old TV game show Let's Make a Deal©, where the contestant chooses one of three doors only one of which contains a valuable prize. So that is what I've named this setup. Give them a try and let me know what you think.

I just realized I've drawn the obstacles closer together than I actually practiced with. The line of jumps was more like 15 feet from the tunnel ends. Of course adjust them for your needs, sometimes more space between the obstacles provides different challenges than less space.

Read more ...

I've been asked by fellow agility enthusiasts for handling drills that don't need a whole backyard of agility equipment. So I put together the following 24 exercises requiring only a single jump. They are in rough order of increasing difficulty; but every team has different challenges. I think I've covered the majority of possible drills but let me know if you think of any others. The handling for each maneuver is only briefly described, I'll add links to definition and "Learning" articles for these maneuvers as I write them in the future.

There are four things you will want to vary in all of these drills:

1. Work with the dog on your left and on your right.
2. Vary the approach angle as widely as possible.
3. Vary the handler and dog distance from the jump.
4. Vary the distance from the handler and the dog.

If you are just starting in agility I'd use a wingless jump initially, you can use a winged jump and then other types of jumps (double, triple, broad) as you and your dog become more proficient. Lastly, don't over do it, you are better off picking a couple of these drills each day and working them for only a few minutes than trying to work through many of them in a single session. You always want to stop on a success and with the dog eager to play some more.

In the diagrams below one or more starting locations are shown to give you an idea of the range of starting locations and how they can affect your handling. However, don't let these locations limit your practice. Practice each drills from as many different dog and handler locations as possible.

Read more ...

I decided to write a web page for generating custom Jump Box drills [JumpBoxDrillGenerator, DIYBoxSequences, BoxDrills, BoxInCourses, Box] to wrap up this subject. This article describes my approach. If you just want to generate some exercises you can skip the discussion and Click Here.

Read more ...