Clean Run Magazine -May 2010 - 40

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Real-estate use is not just about covering big distances and space. Micro real-estate use (the direction and distance you cover with a single step) can be highly pertinent.

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Handler obstructions raise the bar on using real estate wisely.
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Handler obstructions are fantastic for messing with your acceleration and deceleration cues and testing how well you use available real estate. Look at the opening of the course in Figure 9. For handlers who can lead out to position A, this is a trivial puzzle. If you can’t, then you have to plan your available real estate wisely. You can hustle up to position A in time to cue your dog to jump #3 toward #4 instead of toward the off-course jump. But if you are late and still accelerating to get to the inside of the wing jump, you are cueing a launch over jump #3. Conversely, you can find yourself having to decelerate as the dog commits to jump #3 and end up layering the dummy wing jump. That creates an additional real-estate problem if you end up giving a landing-side front-cross cue that pulls the dog in over the off-course wing jump.

Notice how different the information is for the dog when the dog needs to make a decision about turning, even though the handlers end up in the same place.

tunnel; therefore, a wise use of the tiny amount of real estate associated with the first step might be to use the blue path handler’s cue because of the difference in that first step. Coming out of the tunnel in Figure 11, the turquoise path shows the handler doing a front cross by stepping across the dog’s path and then pulling to #4. The handler on the blue path first steps down the front-cross line toward #4. Notice how different the information is for the dog when the dog needs to make a decision about turning, even though the handlers end up in the same place. Again, it is the micro real estate covered with the very first step that conveys important information to the dog.

Micro Real Estate
The previous examples are mostly illustrations of thinking about real estate in terms of the entire ring, macro real estate if you will. However micro real estate is also very interesting to use strategically and wisely. For example, dogs don’t wait for you to cover 10' in your front cross to determine where they are going. They act on the first step as a predictor of the direction you are setting (more accurately, they can make a decision that quickly if you are consistent with your use of real estate/footwork). In Figure 10, let’s say the handler on the blue path steps a little sideways away from the dog with the right foot first, and then sends with the left arm and leg. Whereas the handler on the turquoise path steps toward #3 using a closed shoulder or rotation and left arm and leg to send to the tunnel. The arrows exaggerate the difference, but you get the idea. If the course dictated that the dog was going to the opposite side of the tunnel, the handler would also use the left arm and leg to push to the left side of the

Wrapping Up
Using real estate wisely starts with being aware of how valuable real estate can be to your handling strategy. Often that strategy is enabled via a thoughtful lead-out that influences not just the beginning of the run but the handling options you have throughout the run. Choosing among those options is often a matter of where you can get to and making wise choices about where to take shortcuts and where not to. But just getting to these positions isn’t what is important. How you move in the space between the positions and whether you are accelerating or decelerating is equally important. Finally, remember the localized micro real estate associated with single steps can be highly pertinent as predictors of a change of pace or direction to your dog. D

Andrea is a professional trainer, consultant, and coach who takes great pleasure in helping her students, both in Seattle and elsewhere, enjoy their dog, training, agility, and success, probably in that order. Contact her via www.agilityflix.net, where you can check out her training products and services and brags about her own dogs.

Clean Run | May 10

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Clean Run Magazine -May 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine -May 2010