I m p r o v e Yo u r Handling Skills at Home Backyard Dogs By Karen Holik 6 3 1 9 6 10 2 3 1 2 7 4 8 This month’s exercises focus on weave poles, obstacle discrimination with the weave poles, and various jump sequences. Figure 1 has obstacle discrimination at the #4 tunnel and also the #6 weave poles. You can run the entire sequence with your dog on your left if you do a rear cross at the #3 tunnel entrance and a front cross at the exit. Try to get your dog to take the shortest possible path to the entrance of the weave poles and also the exit. Figure 2 has an obstacle discrimination between the tunnel and weave poles at #4. You can handle the opening with your dog on your left with a lead-out or try handling your dog on the right from the beginning without a lead-out and executing a rear cross at #3. Figure 3 has yet another discrimination at #3 and #7. You can try to serpentine obstacles #4, #5, and #6 with your dog on your left. Don’t forget to try to get the best possible path for your dog from the exit of the #7 poles to jump #8. Figure 4 has an obstacle discrimination at the #3 weave poles and also at the #6 tunnel. It also includes a very difficult entry to the #10 weave poles if you trust your dog and try to get the best possible path for your dog to the poles. 5 4 7 8 5 1 2 9 1 2 4 5 2 7 3 3 10 6 5 1 4 7 9 10 8 3 4 6 9 8 8 Clean Run | March 08