Clean Run Magazine - October 2007 - 69

wasn’t careful on his approach). Other dogs knocked jump #3 or turned to the handler before taking it, mostly because the handlers turned too soon to push to the tunnel to get into position for the #5 weave poles. Some handlers also didn’t position themselves correctly here, and when they turned to direct their dogs to the #4 tunnel, they were out of position. A few dogs and handlers scrambled to ﬁnd the tunnel entrance. Handlers either did a front cross on the landing/takeoff side of the #9 double or put in a rear cross after #10 to put themselves into position to get the dogs onto the #11 A-frame. Some also did a reverse flow pivot or other maneuver to pull their dogs in tight to take the A-frame. Only a few dogs went for the off-course tunnel. After the A-frame, the rest of the course was relatively straightforward. Teams built up lots of speed on the back loop to the last set of weave poles. Some handlers layered the #9 double as they sent their dogs out to jumps #14 and #15. Overall, I felt that this course did a good job of preparing handlers for the ﬁnals on Sunday. Round 2 Shown in Figure 2, the ﬁnals course had as its major challenges: both approaches to the A-frame, and the approach to the weaves coming out of the 180° turn. As it turned out, there was also another area that created problems, particularly for the bigger dogs. This area was jump #17 to the broad jump. When I set up this portion of the course I gave a path length of about 20', because I wanted dogs to get a good view of the broad jump while approaching it. I also angled it enough that I thought dogs would come at it from pretty much straight on. As it turned out, the momentum of many of the 22" and 26" Championship dogs and 16"/22" 16 17 18 19 3 USDAA Steeplechase Round 2 All Dogs Agility Manchester, NH May 13, 2007 Judge: Trisha Stall 16 8 7 15 6 5 17 4 9 14 18 3 19 10 13 2 20 11 F 12 1 S Performance dogs carried them out well past jump #17, and the turn back to the broad jump was very wide as shown by the dog’s path in Figure 3. Several dogs took the #3 triple backward, or at least ran very close to it on the way to the broad jump. I think this happened because people were really pushing by this point on course, knowing there were only a few obstacles left. While the handlers were turning toward the broad jump and pushing forward to the tunnel beyond, they didn’t manage their dog’s turn at #17, thus allowing a wide turn. The dogs did not easily see the broad jump (the jump sits low to the ground, with only four small uprights to mark it, and most dogs do not practice often, if at all, on this obstacle) so didn’t know until the last second that this obstacle was next. Handlers were busy getting into position to push into the #19 tunnel, which required just a bit of handler hustle if they wanted to keep the dog on the left, which most people did. There were many good last-second saves, many great broad jump performances by dogs that didn’t know to take it until they were right on top of it, and several near-collisions of dog and handler after the broad jump while handlers adjusted their position on the ﬂy to both save the broad jump and then manage the subsequent turn into the tunnel. Those teams that performed a front cross before the broad jump eliminated these problems, and also had a shorter handler path to the ﬁnish line. These handlers only had to call the dog into the #19 tunnel while they ran toward the ﬁnish line. 2 October 07 | Clean Run 69

Clean Run Magazine - October 2007

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