Dancing the Minuet - Two Jump Drill
28 Dec 2007
Agility pioneer Bud Houston posted some simple setups as part of a game idea with several interesting handling possibilities. He describes an agility game called the Minuet which is a timed game where the handler and dog repeat the sequence as many times as possible within a fixed time limit and get points for each complete sequence.
I had some time at ring rental when I recalled Bud’s simplest sequence and thought I’d give it a quick try:
Bud's Two Jump Minuet
How would you handle this?
I came up with two handling approaches:
- All Post Turns Learning the Post TurnPost Turn/Shoulder Pull/Pivot Turn
- All Across the Feet
I’m sure there are other solutions. I should mention the Post Turn approach can cause dizziness! Here’s a video I shot of both handlings
- you can see where I got lackadaisical in the ATF handling and caused Meeker to back jump.
Bud originally intended this sequence as a stamina building exercise for one of his dogs. I’d agree with his assessment that it is probably more of a stamina building exercise for the handler and especially for your mental stamina.
Other Approaches
After posting this article I video taped four more handling approaches here.
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