Clean Run - November 2012 - 55

What Is a Ketschker Turn?
By Dawn Weaver, photos by Graham Bryant Ketschker Turns originated in mainland Europe (some say Germany), and they were invented by Jürgen Ketschker. Ketschker Turns have been used in mainland Europe and at the FCI Agility World Championships for many years and are now becoming more popular in Great Britain. As with every handling manoeuvre, there are appropriate and inappropriate places to utilise them on courses. Once again, the turn in itself is not a bad thing, only the choice of where you employ one. Handlers use them in a variety of places on course for two reasons:
© WENDI PENCILLE/HORSEFEATHERS PHOTOGRAPHY

and even some very “drivey” smaller dogs, these turns can be of huge benefit in cases where both a tight wrap around a wing and a change of side are required for the handler. There are many poorly executed Ketschker Turns, with handlers rotating but not using any arm signals, and often with the handler totally out of position. Your location, timing, and arm positions need to be very precise to successfully cue what you want for the dog. For this reason alone Ketschker Turns are not be suitable for all handlers.

· To help with obstacle discrimination · To the give the dog earlier information about where he is going next; thereby
creating tighter turns than can be achieved with, for example, a pivot Note: The definition of Ketschker Turn has recently been debated, with some turns now seemingly called “The Change.” The difference between the two is somewhat confusing, but The Change means that the handler turns toward the dog to make him slow down and then the handler changes from one hand to the other behind her.With a Ketschker Turn, the handler turns against the direction of her dog, but picks the dog up again with the same hand, so it’s not a real cross. Although this explanation doesn’t seem conclusive, in order not to confuse people, for the purposes of this article all of these turns are called Ketschker Turns.

Suitability of Ketschker Turns
I believe that Ketschker Turns work best in situations where a very tight turn is required around a jump wing, better still when there is also a sharp angle on the approach to the jump. However, because the handler will be using maximum “brakes” to cue these turns, they are not always suitable for all dogs. For example, in the case of more careful dogs (dogs that already naturally turn sharply on a short stride and some very small dogs), you may slow down your dog too much on the approach to the turn and will actually lose more time than you gain. But for larger striding dogs or dogs that find it physically difficult to turn so, therefore, launch themselves at jumps,
November 12 | Clean Run

I believe that Ketschker Turns work best in situations where a very tight turn is required around a jump wing, better still when there is also a sharp angle on the approach to the jump. However, because the handler will be using maximum “brakes” to cue these turns, they are not always suitable for all dogs.

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Clean Run - November 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - November 2012
