Tuesday's class

I did GREAT in today's class! We started off with a deceleration dogwalk drill - Jenn had our treat and acted as a target and each dog ran the DW to her when it was their turn. We did it about four times, and each time the handler was supposed to stop running farther back from the end of the DW (you know so that eventually the handler can decel and move into position for the next obstacle and the dog would continue and finish the DW on their own). Well, I could've cared less what mom was doing once I knew that my treat was waiting at the end of the DW! I love my targets! I could hardly wait for my turn and kept wanting to take off when the dog before me in line was told to "Walk it!" Mom had to laugh!

After that we practiced some 270 recalls to heel with one jump because the theme of the class was 270s. We were once again glad we had been reviewing recalls to heel - mom knew what to do and how to set me up, etc.

Then we started doing sequences with 270s. First we did the 270 with a pull (no side change). This does not use the recall to heel position. There are 3 parts to the handling of a 270 - first is a forward send to the first jump. The handler should decelerate to indicate a turn but should not move laterally and should not move past the plane of the jumps (see the photo below - the jump bars on the ground indicate the plane the handler should not cross). Dog sends over the first jump then second the handler turns and runs (walks) towards the second jump and this motion pushes the dog around to the back of the second jump, and third - the handler pulls the dog over. Make sense?

The other way to do a 270 is with a front cross (when a side change is necessary) and with a front cross, the handler does use the recall to heel. Everything is the same as above but as the dog comes around the back of the second jump, the handler gets her outside arm up and begins rotating for the FC. When doing a 270 with FC, the handler should not move past the middle of the second jump when she sends her dog to the first jump or she will be out of position for the FC.

Ok, we tried to show you with this video. First we do a couple 270 recalls to heel with one jump. Mom does not like her footwork and wishes she were making her inside leg more obvious to me and making sure she was at a 90 degree angle to the jump. After that, 2 tries at the 270 with a pull - I am such a good demo dog - I do things slowly enough so that you all can see! LOL! And finally we do a couple tries of the 270 with a front cross. Hope we did well enough for you to get and idea. We should've put a jump in at the beginning to possibly increase my speed though.

Mom wasn't sure I would be able to do the 270s with the jumps so far apart but I surprised her and did them all! I got every 270 today and did great dogwalks and aframes and weaves! I jumped 12" and I did the double a few times just for practice and had no trouble with it. Mom is keeping her fingers crossed that I am feeling better finally!!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky