Clean Run - June 2013 - 29

Nancy Gyes’
© MARCY MANTELL

Training the
Serpentine
Photos by Clean Run except where noted

How to recognize where
to execute a serp

1

When to give the serp
change-of-arms cue

2

3

N
1

FC
1

2
3

3
2
FC

1

2

3

As soon as you have moved to the front of
jump #2 AND you can see your dog's eyes
through the wings, give your serp cue. In this
case that means switching from left hand to
right hand and creating the right turn toward
#2. If you feel that you need a verbal cue, use
it just as your dog lands jump #1 (N=name) to
get him to look at you. If your dog isn't looking
at you, he will not see your serp cue.

SRP
1

On this pattern you could "hypothetically" do a
front cross before and after #2. This means
you could use serpentine handling instead,
replacing the front crosses with just one
serpentine cue.

Serpentines can be time savers
and can help you cut corners as
well as tighten up lines. There are
some basic foundation steps you
should take both on the ground
and on a single jump before you
put together this three-obstacle
maneuver. I use changes of arm
on my serpentine cues and you
may find that you can tighten your
serpentines (and be able to gain
more independence if you do so),
no matter what system of handling you use. If you specifically
do not use arm changes for serpentines, you can still improve
your serpentine skills by following
the steps outlined; you will just be
skipping the change-of-arm cue
before the jump. But first, what
is a serpentine and where do you
use one? See Figures 1 and 2.
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June 13 |

2

3

As soon as I see that my dog is moving
toward me and has committed to the jump, I
change arms again back to my left side. This
should complete the serpentine turn.

Groundwork Skills
Before you start serp training with
a jump, you need your dog to understand how to come directly to
your front if you are facing him and
to line up on both your right and
left side. He also needs to be able
to move his rear end to swing into
heel position at your side. As your
dog is taking the middle jump of
the serpentine, you will be in position to show him the line to the
next jump, with both your feet and
shoulders facing the new direction.
The dog will bend over the bar so
that he can get into position at
your side. But to achieve this skill
over a jump, you first need to get
your dog to happily line up at your
side for the serp completion position without a jump. See Figure 3.

skills

The dog must be able to swing to heel on both
your left and right before you start serp training.

As your dog executes a serp he should swing to
line up with you on completion of the serp jump.
This skill should be taught separately before
you begin serp training. The dog's rear end
should move to line up with your side. When
done correctly over a jump the dog will bend
over the bar to get into position at your side.

4

After you have taught your dog on
the flat to come directly to your
front if you are facing him, you can
add a jump as shown in Figure 4.
Stand within a few feet of the jump
and call your dog straight to you.
He should land facing straight to
your front. You may need to start
with a very low bar so that your
dog gains confidence jumping
29
Clean Run - June 2013

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