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needs to go to cross that refusal line, the more challenging the 270. See Figure 2. Figure 3 shows a drill to help teach the dog that once he has crossed the refusal line he should take jump #2. It also helps you realize that you are actually cueing the dog to “take” the refusal line of jump #2 more than the jump itself. I look at the refusal line as an obstacle; your dog can learn to be sent to that refusal line, so that you do not have travel all the way to it. Set the dog up with just his nose over the refusal line in a sit- or stand-stay. Lead out to the landing side of jump #2 and release him to take jump #2. If he has trouble, just set up him a tad closer to jump #2. When he understands to take the jump, you can move him back. As you train, try not to bore your dog. Some handlers can bore some dogs a lot faster than others (the dog gets
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to make the call on that one). Having said that, I like to teach the concept to the dog in a few days. It is easier for the dog to grasp the concept if he sees it a few times a day for four or five days consecutively than it is if he sees it twice a week. Dogs that are asked to understand the 270 when they only see it twice a month often never really do.

A Pull

The Six Ways
Some of these six handling drills can be done without the proper 270 training completed beforehand; others, not so much. Do the required training before handling the few drills that require the dog to truly understand the 270. When the jumps of the 270 are embedded within the sequence, we’ll show jump #1 in red and #2 in blue for clarity (with a thank-you to Dr. Seuss, for the idea and rhyme in One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish).

There is no side change when you do this drill as shown in Figure 4. The dog jumps #2 on the same side of your body as he jumped #1. You simply rotate your shoulders and then get out of town. Try to move in and out of the pocket between the two jumps smoothly. You do not want to have to go all the way into the pocket every time. How far you go into the pocket is determined by the sequence and where you are going next. For example you might go farther into the pocket if jump #2 is on the way to an obstacle where you need to do a rear cross, and you are using the space of the pocket to set the line. But if you need to get down a row of jumps quickly, you do not want to waste the time or precious steps to go into the pocket. You want to cut the corner oﬀ and have the dog pick up jump #2 without an escort.
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Seeing the Refusal Line of Jump #2 Your dog must travel to the refusal line of jump #2 after he takes jump #1 to get to the takeoff side of jump #2. Notice on this 270 that the distance the dog travels to the refusal line is twice as far for the black circle numbers as it is for the white circles.

Teaching the Dog to Understand How to Take Jump #2 This is a lead-out. The dog is left in a stay at the refusal line of jump #2. His nose should be just over the refusal line. Release the dog to take jump #2 and move forward along the blue path.

A Pull How far you travel into the pocket depends on where you are going next.

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Clean Run - October 2011

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