Agility Practice Journal Entry
15 Aug 2004
Went to my first course run through at Dana Pike’s in Wilmington, IL. She had both a Jumpers and Standard course setup. The weather was sunny in the upper 70’s, just beautiful. There weren’t too many people there so there was no real waiting to run either course. A nice supportive group to run courses with.
The Jumpers course let me work on a lead out with an immediate front cross, a couple front crosses over a jump, and most interestingly a long cross course jumping sequence. This sequence had four jumps across the middle ending with a left turn to two more jumps into a tunnel. I found if I handled it as a post turn; both Milo and Mr. Peabody would take the turn and the next jump but their line would put them facing the tunnel entrance. Of course Milo would take the tunnel and Mr. Peabody would just run past the jump. Of course this was the point of the sequence!
I ended up running like crazy to get in a front cross after the jump before the turn; that put the dogs on a much better line for the next two lines. Then I rear crossed the last jump and they both turned right into the tunnel. I guarantee a variation of this sequence will show up in a practice course design in the near future.
The Standard course had an interesting sequence with two jumps following the A Frame setting up a 90 degree turn to the Teeter. The spacing of the jumps together with an intervening off course jump made the sequence trickier than I expected. For Mr. Peabody I could get ahead of him and use a rear cross to get his turn to the teeter. Milo’s speed made it impossible to get in position for the front cross (I also didn’t want to leave him staying on the down contact waiting for me). So I stayed on the inside of the turn, supported his line, layered the off course jump, and pulled him with a post turn to the teeter.
Lessons Learned - Practice Items
- Mr. Peabody
- Again - give him more room before weave poles to find the entry
- Don't rush him on long sequences; let him judge his jump take-off
- Milo
- Couldn't buy a weave entry later in the afternoon - he was just not focusing. Too hot?
- Better teeter contacts
- Get to front cross positions earlier
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