I m p r o v e Yo u r Handling Skills at Home Backyard Dogs By Karen Holik This month’s exercises include some fun jump work for you and your dog. In Figure 1 try starting the exercise first with your dog on your left and not taking a lead-out. Does your dog enter the #4 tunnel as fast as he can? Does he check back to make sure that you really meant for him to Go On? If he doesn’t drive ahead to the tunnel without you, repeat the exercise until he does. Can you make your dog turn tightly from jump #7 to jump #8 without looking at the tunnel? If not, again, repeat the exercise until he does. Your dog should always know if he is driving ahead to an obstacle in enough time for him to jump appropriately and really drive ahead without you. He should also know from your body cues whether he is turning and going the other way. You can also try starting with your dog on your right (without a lead-out) and executing a rear cross at jump #3. This maneuver may make it harder for your dog to drive to the tunnel. Also try to do a rear cross at jump #7. Try all the above techniques for the exercise in Figure 2, which is just a mirror image of the exercise in Figure 1. For the exercises in Figures 3 and 4 try starting both on the left and right of your dog at the start similar to the first two exercises. You will need to do a rear cross at jump #3 one of those times. The sequences are set up so that you can do a serpentine on the left and right of your dog in the respective sequences. Practice the one that is the hardest for you until they both feel the same. You will also get an opportunity to try to send the dog both to the right and to the left of jump #8 on your way to #9. 8 1 4 2 4 8 3 7 5 5 7 3 8 9 2 1 6 6 9 2 1 3 4 4 7 7 4 8 3 6 6 3 8 9 2 10 1 5 5 9 2 1 10 Clean Run | May 07