Clean Run - January 2016 - 52

16
15

The final challenge on this course was
the weave poles to the finish. Most handlers managed to have the poles on
their left, with a front cross, a rear cross,
or even a few blinds before the poles.
Jump #15 is a wrap jump where most
people sent their dog to the left in various ways-rear cross, front cross before
and pull, front cross and reverse spin-
and a few took their dog around to the
right. Wrap jumps are great for regular
AKC Master courses because they challenge average handlers, but are doable,
and advanced handlers can do them
better and faster. Handlers then had
to decide which way they were going
to do the finish, and either front cross
#16 to #17 or send to #16 and get down

the end of the poles, or maybe even do
a blind cross before or after the poles.
All of those options were available here,
and all of them were attempted successfully. The most common mistake here
was a late front cross at the poles. If a
handler was too late-because maybe
they were forced to do a rear cross at the
#9 jump-they weren't able to give their
dogs a good entry. That was one of the
major mistakes on this course.

Send
FC

RC
FC

Pull
FC

One of the two strategies used on this section
was to do a front cross after #14, send to #15,
front cross or give some type of collection cue
at #16, and then ran with the dog on the left.

the line. Either way they needed some
kind of reasonably tight turn on the #16
jump. See Figure 3.
This was a fun course with a reasonable, although not high, Q rate. I also
like to see dogs moving on course, and
they certainly moved from #1 to #8 and
from 16 to the finish. The course actually
ended up with four side changes, or five
if you did as most people did and did a
front cross after #16, even though the
first side change was at the #9 jump!

The other strategy used was to pull at #14 and
then either do a rear cross, dog turning to the
left (blue handling path) or do a front cross, dog
turning to the right (turquoise handling path.)

Designing great courses is definitely an
art, not a science. Some might call it a
"dark art!" You never know how good a
course will be until it is run. Truly, it is a
privilege and an honor to be asked to
judge for any club, to be a tiny part of
the agility journey that a handler and a
dog take. I hope to continue to improve
and be able to fulfill that privilege for
many years to come. D

Dale Mahoney has been an AKC Judge since May 2011, and now judges 19-21 weekends a year. He is also a newly minted USDAA Starters/Advanced Judge, and recently
completed his first assignment near Sacramento: 30 courses over three days, including his first two rounds of Steeplechase! He and his wife Jan Skurzynski-who led
the family into judging for AKC-are owned by three Border Collies and an Aussie ranging from 13 months to 13.5 years.

CRCD 4.24
Are you keeping your copy of CRCD 4 up to date?
We periodically release FREE updates for CRCD 4 users that include
ﬁxes for reported bugs, changes for new operating systems, and
sometimes new features. We just released CRCD 4.24
Start CRCD 4, select Online from the menu and then Check for
Updates to see if you have the current version.

Try it FREE for 30 days!
52

File Edit View Online Window Help
Check for Updates...
Main Course Designer page...
Contact Clean Run...
Clean Run Home...
Clean Run Store...

Available in
16 languages

www.cleanrun.com
Clean Run | January 16

http://www.cleanrun.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - January 2016