Last weeks training.

Sorry im a bit behind with posting last weeks club training plan. I loved this course, a great opportunity to test certain elements, sending the dog on, difficult weave entry, finding the best line. Last week we were joined by the international handlers that were competing at Crufts. Sergio from Portugal and Daisy from the USA, both their dogs had amazing running contacts and it was really interesting to see what training techniques they used. Sergio used the funny turn quite alot and made it look so easy, I must say I think I have finally mastered it and it feels quite good now, im going to use it more often.

Anyway, Sequence 1:

Quite straight forward, some dogs were taking a pole at the spread (jump 6) I think probably due to not driving the dog over it enough as they were trying to get a tight turn into the tunnel. The right end of the tunnel was actually facing the DW so if the handler waited too long for the dog to take the tunnel they didn't make it in time to get a nice line onto jump 8 and the dog either jumped too long or they missed the pull through. The right end of the tunnel also made a nice trap for those running contacts !!! 

Sequence 2:

Loved this part of the course, Zippy was ace at getting his weave entries, I took the tightest line from Jump 3 straight into the weaves, I then ran ahead and put in a blind cross so I could be on the right hand side of the long jump, that way Zippy chased me and sent on ahead to do Jump 6 and 7 on his own. This then gave him a tight turn onto the see-saw where I was waiting for him and then a long dash home with another opportunity to send him on.

Problems on this sequence: Missed weave entries or either a really long line into it. Some handlers also had to go to jump 7 with their dog which then made the run home slow as the handler was always playing catch up, a couple of dogs even tried to go back into the weaves after the flat tunnel.