Rising Stars Challenges for By Stuart Mah The setup consists strictly of jumps. We can call this jumping setup the “Ferris Wheel.” In the middle is a five-jump circle as shown in Figure 1. Each of these five “spokes” starts a different jumping pattern. Pattern 1 is a traditional three-jump pinwheel. Pattern 2 is a 270° turn. Pattern 3 a 180° turn. Pattern 4 is a depressed-angle pinwheel (where the middle jump is pushed out or “depressed” 1 5 1 Ever watched a dog and handler team that seemed to do a particular jumping sequence flawlessly? It almost looks like the dog already knew exactly what to do, even before the handler started handling the sequence? Chances are the dog probably did “know” what the jumping sequence was. In all likelihood the dog figured out what a particular pattern might be during his initial training. Dogs are extremely good at figuring out patterns and behaviors so this isn’t as farfetched as it might seem. Our objective as a trainer is to allow the dog to learn certain patterns so that we can “handle” more effectively by allowing the dog to help us. from the other two jumps). Pattern 5 is a four-jump pinwheel sometimes known as a “quad.” The first thing to do in this training is to show the dog the pattern. If, for example, we wanted to train the three-jump pinwheel we would show the dog this pattern as illustrated in Figure 2. Remember to do the pattern in both directions! 2 5 1 b a b a c d 4 e c d 2 e 4 2 3 3 18 Clean Run | June 12