Clean Run Magazine - January 2007 - 24

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Troubleshooting Tired of lugging and lifting your A-frame or having to mow
around it? • Freestanding wings can be angled slightly to help keep the
dog on the appropriate path and not allow the dog to cut to the inside of
the arc, thus eliminating frustration for both handler and dog. • A dog
that is allowed to set up on a slice between jumps #1 and #2 will be
unable to bend his body in such a tight space and return to the
appropriate line to take jump #3; he will thus go wide and around that
jump. If this happens, make sure that you are not stepping into the
dog’s space and pushing him off the tight line. This push can also
result if the dog carries more speed into the exercise than his body can
handle and is then forced to exit to the outside of the arc. • When
going across the back of the grid, the handler’s position is also
important since many fast dogs will take the last two jumps as one.
Simply, this option becomes easier for the dog than to interact with the
space. To assure the dog’s understanding, you need to slow everything
down and perhaps simply walk with your dog and reward him for stepping
into each space until he can handle it at speed. 10 MOVE IT! Move It! is a
revolutionary device that allows one person to move an A-frame without any
lifting. Move It! works on all diﬀerent surfaces, both indoors and out.
And, nothing needs to be permanently attached to the A-frame. Move It!
takes seconds to use and is so easy that a child could do it. Designed to
ﬁt a standard 36 wide A-frame. Custom sizes available. Understanding
before Speed Be sure to note that speed is not the point of this exercise.
The task is really quite difficult and the dog should be allowed to work on
the function rather than just encouraging the end result, which is
ultimately speed. Remember that speed is the by-product of understanding
and confidence. A closer look at the set point place at which the dog
organizes his body to leave the ground in Figure 10 is a good example of
just how difficult the task actually is. If you look closely at the hind
legs, you will see that the dog’s weight is carried on the left hind leg
as the right hind has just completed the push forward. This photo shows why
the dogs so want straight lines because here you can see that the balance
is not equally distributed and now the dog must perform a jump regardless.
Once this process is taught and allowed to develop, the dog’s
understanding of how to use this skill set is truly amazing. At a recent
trial I watched Susan Garrett’s young dog, Encore, perform these skills
to perfection. Encore read the tightest possible line while Susan handled
her from at least 30' away enabling Encore to win a Steeplechase class by
a wide margin. It simply took my breath away to see her work and manage to
hold onto the tightest possible line and still jump cleanly while allowing
her body to work in a relaxed manner. That is the goal for all
well-schooled athletes. Training the smallest details produces the biggest
payoffs, and bend work is an important task for the dog to learn in
agility—a sport where tenths of a second can be the difference between
winning and losing and there are so few straight lines to be found. D A
lifelong horsewoman, Susan Salo has offered her insights into jumping for
the Agility Dog in seminars around the country, including Power Paws and
Clean Run Camps and is proud to be a part of the Say Yes Team for Susan
Garrett’s Graduate Skills Camp in Toronto, Ontario. She currently
resides in Woodland, California and can be reached at Jumpdogs@aol.com.
Clean Run | January 07 Visit our website to see a video of the Move It! in
action. ® www.cleanrun.com 24 Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid
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Clean Run Magazine - January 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - January 2007