Course from Agility Nerd

AgilityNerd Article

This course caught my eye. On paper it had some challenges that I thought would be really good for Split and myself--forward sends and independent weaves. Those were the challenges, but there was more (of course).

The only difference between my course and Steve's, I exchanged the chute for a tunnel (I don't have a chute) and I had another jump beyond #4 so I would know if I wasn't queuing correctly.

Steve mentions that you should start with your dog so that you can appreciate the challenge of the course. I did start with the dogs as well as lead out (same side as the dog) to the second jump. I wanted to practice non-traditional starts.

In working with Split the first challenge was sending to #4. Since I was so far behind, he came out of the tunnel looking for me and I had trouble getting him out to the jump (Tip, no problem there).

At the weaves I tried front crossing the entry side, but ended up really liking running 4-5-6 like a serpentine. Both dogs could get their entry when I was at the end of the weaves, actually they collected better after 4 with me at the end of the weaves.

#6 is not that clear to the dog. Great thing to practice! Rarely do we see a jump placed like that and both dogs tried out the back side of the jump if I did not clearly bring them into me. Another reason why the serp worked better.

The next challenge was getting the dog to turn toward me after the straight tunnel. Again, I ended up sending to #7 and being at the end of the tunnel to get a better turn for 9-10.

That is as far as we got today. I might comment again tomorrow when, hopefully I can finish the full course.

Great course Steve, thanks!!!

Tangle worked on jumping, weaves (2 sets of six!!!), table, and the dog walk today. He was really motivated and into it. I tried using his favorite squeaky ball. Lovely surprise that he worked really well for it, but could still think well enough to execute things nicely.