Follow the Yellow Brick Road Being able to identify the dog’s best path and where the turns are in course work is another skill that takes practice but is totally necessary for successful front crosses. I have two suggestions for you if you think you might not be so good at path and turn placement identification. One is to seek out someone who is good at it and ask that person to teach you. You need to know that this person may not be a great dog trainer. There is even a chance that she may not be a good handler. This skill is based on an understanding of geometry and I have worked with beginner students who are brilliant at seeing the dog’s path and seasoned veterans of the sport who struggle with it. The second suggestion is to draw the dog’s path on the printed course maps. Then video a bunch of dogs in your jump height doing that course and see how close your drawing is to what actually happened. Remember, there will be places where you will need to change the path (like on the approach to the dogwalk for safety reasons) and you might discover that the chosen path is determined by a weakness in your training program (like shaping the entry to the weave poles for a dog with weak entry skills). Susan Salo Jumping DVDs Just because a dog CAN jump... Teaching the Front Cross Groundwork The groundwork can be done with puppies and can be done anywhere, anytime. Don’t overdo it and bore your dog. You want snappy responses with enthusiasm when you turn. Simply walk with your dog on either side of you and rotate into the dog. Your in-place turn will put you on the other side of the dog. The dog does nothing but come with you. Reward when the dog gets excited about not missing the turn. Have fun and make a game of it. The timing of when to start the turn cue is critical. Good timing is directly related to good observation skills. Add One Jump I’m going to suggest that you teach your front cross as a physical cue rather than a verbal cue. That means in training you won’t be calling your dog before or after the jump (if you do, you are just practicing verbal recalls). I train two physical cues separately and then I use them both together when needed later. I also add the verbal recall in competition and sequence work whenever needed. April 10 | Clean Run doesn’t mean that he knows HOW to jump. www.cleanrun.com 69http://www.cleanrun.com