The opening of the course offers a sublime opportunity to practice the “Get Out!” which was the object of last week’s lesson plan. Note that the handler still takes an intrusive step into a blocking position on the A-frame. If the get out is well proofed and the handler is feeling cocky then the step need not be so intrusive nor should the handler have to overtly block the dog’s approach to the A-frame.

On the dismount of the A-frame the handler is faced with turning the dog away from his own position. This is precisely the skill that we have been practicing with the dog.

Note that the verbal cue to “Jump Turn!” is a precue to the dog. The handler will give both bits of information before the dog ever arrives at the jump so that the dog can prepare himself to be on the correct lead to make the turn.

After the turn from jumps #4 and #5 the handler might use a quick little Front Cross to draw the dog around square for the approach to the A-frame. Note that this solution again puts the handler on the side away from the turn after jump #7.

The Turn after jump #7 is complicated by the wrong course jump (#1/15) directly forward in his trajectory off of the A-frame. Furthermore, if the dog has a running contact then the A-frame becomes an accelerator firing the dog as though out of a cannon. Given all of this, the inclusion of a wrong course jump makes the Back Cross a bit of a proofing exercise. While we have been conditioning the dog to “look for work” in the turn… we hope also to have been conditioning the dog to actually turn. We’ll find out, right here.

This closing bit is quite advanced and provides a significant bit of proofing to gauge whether the dog really understands the performance when the handler Back Crosses. Note that the approach to the approach to jump #13 is at an acute angle and the approach to jump #14 on the dismount is also acute. The dog wouldn’t be wrong to go on to jump #15 (after #13) given any of our foregoing conditioning.

We would like for the Back Cross to assume an implicit property that always means a “tightened turn”. If the handler wanted a wide and sweeping turn then the Back Cross should be given on the landing side of the jump, on the flat, in a movement that we call the Tandem Turn.

Dogs That Shut Down

I’ve observed over time that a concentrated training that focuses on fast-dog handling will serve to shut certain dogs down. Fast dog handling is when the handler takes a pushing position behind the dog. Compare that to slow dog handling in which the handler takes a position forward of the dog, and pulling. Fast-dog handling doesn’t mean the dog is fast any more than slow-dog handling means the dog is slow. And yet, the slower the dog the more likely the handler will engage in slow-dog handling techniques and the faster the dog the more likely the handler will resort to fast-dog handling methods.

If a dog is getting shut down from the training it is a usually a good indication that the handler is intrusive and menacing. Look at it from the dog’s point of view. You’re coming up behind the handler, prepared to pass the handler’s position, but you can clearly see the handler coiling up and hauling back as though to give you a good “thwack”. This is a menacing posture.

In any group classes if there are certain dogs that are shutting down from the grinding regimen, then it’s a good idea to back off the lesson plan and allow them to use slow-dog handling methods.

Consider our original course map. How would this be solved by slow-dog handling? We’ll take it step-by-step.

#1-#3: In the opening the handler leads out dog-on-right. For my own purposes I’d want to arrive at the plane of the pipe tunnel at the precise instant the dog is coming over the rail at jump #2. And then, a little RFP draws the dog towards me and away from the wrong course A‑frame.

#3-#6: Note that on the dog’s exit from the pipe tunnel the path takes a subtle bend away. The handler worked in the opening to get as much advantage in real estate as possible so that when the dog makes his exit the handler can step in and push it out to the jump.

In the turn from Jump #5 to the A-frame at #6 the handler might simply want to hold it on a Post Turn. However, to tighten the turn and create a bit of energy I personally would use a Flip (Front Cross followed by a quick Blind Cross).

#6-#10: Getting the dog to the A-frame on the handler’s right side was the prerequisite to solving this sequence through the table, keeping the dog on the handler’s right side without having to resort to any kind of fancy movement whatsoever.

#10-#17: I’d leave the dog on the table showing a right lead. I’d like to be forward of the dog at jump #11 to show a subtle RFP to tighten him into the weave poles on my right side. The key movement comes on the landing side of jump #13. As the dog finishes the performance of the weave poles I need to press ahead for a Front Cross. I’ll accelerate and show brakes to cue the dog to the turn. Out of the Front Cross I need to draw the dog on a Post Turn to create an approach to jump #15. This is the biggest error that handlers make in a 270º turn, not stepping up to create the desired path for the dog.

Supplemental Notes on the Back Cross

I’ve always believed that there is no movement that NQs more teams than the Back Cross. This is observable on any weekend of agility in this country. Unfortunately is a movement that is one of the first to which the very novice handler comes to intellectual grips albeit on a primitive and clumsy level.

So I’ve ever been keen to beat the back cross out of my novice students while reserving the teaching it to my advanced and masters students. In this philosophy I may have erred over the years. It is just about as ignorant to ignore the development of the Back Cross from the foundation as it is to dismiss the Blind Cross based on similar prejudice.

It’s necessary for the handler and the dog to understand the Back Cross. In the first place, the clever and wicked course designer might actually engage a sequence that forces a Back Cross. And so the skill should be available for the emergency. With that in mind not every emergency should be of the handler’s own creation (as it is in this lesson plan).

It is likely that conditioning the dog exclusively for slow dog handling (with the handler putting his movements forward and pulling) might introduce to the dog the idea that he should be behind; and so the handler is encouraging the dog to lag. If we deliberately engage in a balance in training to require the Back Cross from the beginning, then the dog might be encouraged early to forge ahead and work. This is highly desirable.

I stick by my observation that slow-dog handling always beats fast-dog handling. If you think about it like this… if a handler has a fast-dog handling plan then he will languish behind the dog waiting for the dog to get to his marks. If he’s using a slow dog plan he has to hurry he has to push he has to win the race to get to his position forward of the dog. This gives energy and a sense of urgency to the work.

Nothing drives me more nuts than watch a handler wait for a dog or slow down, in order to use fast-dog handling. Do you see the contradiction in the statement? Waiting? Slowing down? For a fast dog? My own approach with my own dogs has ever been… prove it to me. Prove to me I have to resort to fast dog handling. My plan will be slow dog handling, winning the race. When the dog passes me up… then I’ll happily resort to a fast-dog handling methods.