Many students can come to class and execute a sequence when the instructor gives them ideas on how to handle it. But often in class we only have time to execute a sequence in one particular way. In reality, there is usually more than one way that sequence can be efficiently and effectively executed. To be the best competitor you can be, rather than fret about how to get through a sequence you see in competition, you should have several different ways to do it in your toolbox. Then, you can choose the one that best fits the situation or your dog’s best skills. ’s in What Your Toolbox? By Mary Ellen Barry To decide which skill is your dog’s best, it is important to learn how he reacts to your different cues. This allows us to better plan our training and competition handling choices. I expect to be able to run my dog in any of the manners presented below; but I am usually better able to predict my dog’s reactions to various strategies based on our having rehearsed several different strategies. In training, I try to plan to increase our skills on any weaknesses; while in competition, I tend to choose strategies that I know we are stronger on when I need a clean run. 1 Sequences The following sequences are meant to be done with all of the handling strategies presented. The only way to increase the skills in your toolbox is to try all of the options, even if some of them are outside of your comfort zone. I recognize that some of the choices presented may be for options that you currently do not want in your toolbox (such as blind crosses). However, I do highly encourage working through all the options presented and feel free to try some others that I haven’t presented. 3 5 6 Exercise 1 Choices from #1 to #2 • Start with you dog on your left and pull from #2 to #3 2 4 • Start with your dog on your right and do a rear cross at #2 • Start with your dog on your right and do a rear cross on the flat from #2 to #3 1 7 July 12 | Clean Run 63