Clean Run - February 2018 - 7

Photos © lEslEy mattUchio

The

Solution for Fine Tuning Teamwork
By John Reid and Rebecca Thrift

Having experienced several years
of unprecedented rainfall and the
resultant tremendous number of
class and private lesson cancellations at our outdoor training center,
we decided to erect a 60 x 40 foot
pavilion. Even though it only provided 25% of the area normally found
on a full agility ﬁeld, it was the largest that our zoning laws would permit so we had to make it work! The
majority of our training partners
compete regularly so when inclement weather forces the use of this
Plan B venue, we have to devise
setups that allow the testing and
reﬁnement of as many agility skills
as possible.
Before I had a facility of my own
to use, I found that having a teeter
and a set of weave poles to practice
with daily afforded my dog the opportunity to better develop two of the
most difﬁcult agility skills to master:
consistent contact performance and
weaving. The teeter's size coupled
with the tremendous disparities in
construction and operation of its
variations encountered while trialing
make it the perfect piece of contact
equipment on which to focus in our
limited space. Proﬁciency in negotiating six weave poles usually transfers to twelve relatively easily so using only six to better accommodate
our space works as well.
February 18 | Clean Run

We incorporate these two obstacles
into every pavilion course, along
with tunnels and 4-foot winged and
wingless jumps, giving our classmates the opportunity to work on all
their agility obstacle skills along with
their handling.
We typically nest three courses in
each weekly setup with speciﬁc emphasis on a certain combination of
obstacles. We encourage class participants to come up with alternative
solutions to the challenges that are
presented and then utilize them to
determine which works best for their
team. As examples we will identify
a speciﬁc challenge for each of this
month's setups and offer some solutions for you to try.

270s
The drills in Figures 1-3 focus on
270s. Here are three options to try
for the challenge from #3 to #5 in
Figure 1:

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·
·

Can you ﬁnd alternative solutions?
What works best for your team?

Serpentines
The drills in Figures 4-6 focus on
serpentines. Here are two options to
try for the challenge from #3 to #8 in
Figure 4:

·
·

Option 3: Dog on left for #3,
front cross on landing side of
#4, dog on right for #4 to #5.

Option 2: Dog on right for #4 to
#5, tandem turn at #6, false turn
after #7 to go to #8.

Threadles
The drills in Figures 7-9 focus on
threadles. Here are two options to
try for the challenge from #5 to #9 in
Figure 7.

Option 1: Dog on left #3 to #4,
serpentine #4, and then tandem
turn to #5.
Option 2: Dog on left #3 to #4,
blind cross on takeoff side of #4,
ﬁnish with dog on right to #5.

Option 1: Gain distance from
poles at #3, dog on right to #4,
front cross at #4, dog on left for
#5 to #6, post turn at #6, false
turn after #7 to go to #8.

Option 1: Dog on right for #5
and #6, front cross from #6 to
#7 to put dog on left, send to
backside and serpentine #7,
forward send to #8 with dog on
left, post turn to #9.
Option #2: Dog on right for #5
and #6, false turn at #6, threadle
between #6 and #7, send to #7
with dog on right, rear cross #8,
post turn, dog on left for #9. D

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