Backyard Dogs By Marquand Cheek 2 7 6 4 1 3 8 1 8 2 9 9 5 7 5 5 1 6 4 10 2 10 9 7 6 10 3 4 8 1 3 The straight tunnel is our friend, not our foe, in this month’s column. Many dogs find the tunnel rewarding so it’s great to use during training. Provide clear signals to your partner as to whether permission has been granted to engage a tunnel or not. Be wary of a dog cutting across your path or behind you to dive into what may be his favorite obstacle. Maintain eye contact and ensure the rewards for following your guidance are as “rewarding” to your dog as a romp through a tunnel! Figure 1: Practice a lead-out to the end of the tunnel to set up for the pinwheel. Do a landing-side front cross after #4 to block the tunnel. The tunnel exit to #7 provides an opportunity to work a rear cross into a pinwheel. 8 2 Figure 2: Here’s another tunnel start exercise with some figure-eight patterns near the tunnel exit. Figure 3: Keep the dog on the left through #4 and experiment with a send cue to the #5 tunnel opening. Turning right after #6 sets a smoother line to #7-#8. Figure 4: This exercise provides an opportunity to conduct a serpentine maneuver with the tunnel as the middle obstacle. Give physical and verbal deceleration cues at the #7 tunnel entrance and do a front cross at the exit to pull the dog back to #8. Figure 5: The mirror image of jumps #2#5 in Figure 1 is shown in this opening sequence. Experiment with a front cross 3 or rear cross on the approach to the #7 tunnel. Keep the dog on the left through #11. Figure 6: Another pinwheel is included in the opening. If it is followed by a welltimed front cross, then your dog should easily bypass the tunnel. If you can send to #5, you should have time to change sides to work the #6-#8 sequence. A front cross or rear cross leading to #10 will set up the closing. Figures 7-10: These exercises offer Masters- and international-level handling options for you to investigate with backside jump approaches and various changes of side before, after, or near the central tunnel openings. Clean Run | September 13