Competition Courses - Spot 4-11-2009 and Junior Handler Kady & Shelbie Exc JWW

Today was another great day of trialing with some fun courses. Spot and I had a great time and I felt we were VERY successful.

Unfortunately we did not qualify in Standard due to an invisible force field around the table that prevented Spot from seeing it...yeah, that's it! But, the run was incredible and since we only need Double Q's for a MACH2, that gave me the freedom to play around in JWW - which I really enjoyed!

Back to Standard, my goal again today was to stay ahead of Spot which meant pushing myself to create efficient lines for both of us, to trust my dog & the training I've done and to RUN!

My two favorite parts on the course were:

1) #2 thru #6. I chose to keep Spot on my left from #1 thru #4 and was sure to beat him down to the end of the a-frame so he would know the direction we were heading next and I pushed up to #4 so that I could peel off and get a front cross in on the landing side of #5. I was sure to keep my arms in close to my body so as not to inadvertently signal a "get out" with flailing arms!

Because I was ahead of Spot, I was able to easily get down to the chute and was pulling toward the end so the direction I needed him to move toward was very clear. This allowed me to easily be down by the end of the chute and moving toward the tire as he came out and I continued the running/pulling motion all the way down the dog walk and into the correct side of the tunnel.

2) My second favorite part was from #14 thru #19. After watching the 4 - 20" dogs run the course, it was clear that the triple jump angle was recking havoc with the dogs.  If a handler tried to work the entire sequence with the dog on their left, they found themselves in a foot race down the last line and then had to unexpectedly push into the dog's path to get the last jump. That's usually when the triple jump would come down.

My My objective was to put Spot on my left at the weaves, push out to the #15 jump and once Spot's head turned to the right over the #15 jump (so that I knew he'd be wrapping the wing), I kept an arm out to support his path, but left so that I could get in an easy front cross before the triple. It was a fun line and my plan worked great. If we hadn't incurred a refusal, Spot would have taken 2nd place...oh well : )  At any rate, check out the video attached.was to put Spot on my left at the weaves, push out to the #15 jump and once Spot's head turned to the right over the #15 jump (so that I knew he'd be wrapping the wing), I kept an arm out to support his path, but left so that I could get in an easy front cross before the triple. It was a fun line and my plan worked great. If we hadn't incurred a refusal, Spot would have taken 2nd place...oh well : )  At any rate, check out the video attached.

Next was the Excellent JWW course. 

Since Spot only needs Double Q's for his MACH2, this run was completely for training - mainly for me! It was a great course to have some fun on and gave me another opportunity to work some distance, leave Spot (i.e. trust him to do his job) and for me to practice timely front crosses at speed.

My favorite line in this sequence was from #11 thru #19. I was able to easily get ahead on this line, more so than I thought and ended up having to slow up from #15 to #16, which actually put me behind for the way I had wanted to handle #17 to #18. I thought this would be a great opportunity to pull Spot over the #17 jump, keeping him on my left and then pushing him into the tunnel. The plan wasn't so perfect in its execution, but will make for a great training opportunity!

Check out Spot's JWW video below. I'm very happy with how he did and how I tried new things : )

OK, I wasn't the only one facing the challenging Excellent course. One of our favorite Junior handlers, Kady, was back on the competition front with Shelby the Sheltie. You may remember they had an incredible Exc JWW run yesterday and today they were back for more!