Clean Run - February 2018 - 38

*	 Wrap turns: This mostly applies to
backside wraps. What this break made
me realize is how much better he is
when I turn my shoulders more to
confirm the jump. I have been working on verbals to improve the skill as
well, but I need to be more aware of
my mechanics. So when working on
wraps, I will be more conscious to turn
my shoulders those few inches more to
help confirm the jump. These exercises
will mostly be done with low jumps to
save wear and tear on Rich.
*	 Pulls/Rear crosses: Great rear crosses
start with great pulls. So I will put my
initial focus on the pulls and then add
the rear crosses. More on those shortly.
*	 Weave entries/exits: Six poles to work
our entries and better sends to poles
when I am running on the outside of
the line to them. Exits are pretty specific for Rich. He doesn't pop out at 10,
but four times in the last year he has
popped out in the first half of the poles

1A

10

20

when I pulled hard laterally as he was
entering. So we need to practice more
distracting handling when he is entering the poles and lots of rewarding for
staying in.

all four of the poles that indicate the
broad jump."
*	 Tunnel exits: In my final Backyard
Dogs column I mentioned tunnel exits being a challenge for us. I'm not
sure when it happened, but now that
I am aware of it, we will be working
more on it.

*	 Threadles: I would like more direct returns when I indicate a line change. So
lots of rewards from my hand for coming in to me, then I still have him take the
next obstacle and throw the toy for that.

In the coming months, I will share the setups I use for training many of these skills
I am looking to improve. My hope is to
be able to fit them in the dimensions used
for Backyard Dogs so people who aren't as
lucky as me to have space to practice in
can still use the drills, but I imagine that I
will often be training with larger spacing
than I will show in the setups.

*	 Tighter returns on serps: Rich will
drift across my body and then return
for the obstacle, creating an s-curve instead of the diagonal line I would like.
We will be doing lots of rewards across
the jump bar for him driving straight to
me, using straight tunnels and pinwheel
setups to best replicate the problem.

The exercises this month are for working
on pulls. Figure 1a shows the setup I used
and Figure 1b shows a compressed version for small spaces. Note that all of the
exercises should start with a front cross at
#1 in order to get motion into the setup.

*	 Broad Jump: I know he doesn't understand this obstacle as well as he should.
I just haven't put in the time. So we will
be doing tempting toy locations and
odd approaches to make sure he really
understands "you must jump through

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The exercises this month are for
working on pulls. Figure 1a shows
the setup I used and Figure 1b shows
a compressed version for small
spaces. Note that all of the exercises
should start with a front cross at #1 in
order to get motion into the setup.

Clean Run | February 18
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - February 2018
