It’s kind of funny… I’ve got a bunch of 4H students these days. These kids are absolutely charming and a joy to teach. And, I find, they are more apt to actually check up on my web log than any of their parents being that most of them are more technologically savvy than their parents. As a consequence I find myself carefully watching my language and eschewing many of those grumpy not-very-politically-correct things for which I have a (mostly undeserved) reputation.

The kids in this part of the world are very polite and precocious. I don’t remember being so well behaved when I was that age. They are a delight to work with.

We are actually planning an agility training camp for 4H kids this summer. They’ll actually stay for several days on our property; girls bunking in one of the cottages and boys in the other. The really good news is that chaperone duties will be done by 4H parents. I just know that the fun part of it for the kids will be staying over in a rustic cottage; cooking wieners and marshmallows over a camp fire; and generally being kids away from home.

The 4H leaders out here are hard working folk who invest a lot of themselves in activities with these kids. What I do is train and facilitate. What they do… is heroic.

Curing the Bends

 

Clearly the interesting part of this sequence will be how the handler actually creates the turn to the right entry to the pipe tunnel at #6 after the dismount of the teeter with the dog coming over the spread hurdle. What we really want to cure our students from doing is bending the dog into the pipe tunnel.

 

Bending, when it is used incorrectly is actually a danger to the dog. Indeed, the handler relies on the dog’s sense of self-preservation to turn away into the correct entry to the pipe tunnel.

 

We would much prefer to see our students find a way not to step in front of the working dog. In this sequence the rational thing to do would be to Cross on the dismount of the teeter and be on the side of the turn to the pipe tunnel. One of the Laws of a Dog in Motion is that the dog turns most naturally in the direction of his handler.

Just being on the dog’s right side doesn’t really completely and surely solve the puzzle. After the spread hurdle at #5 the handler might do a static Post, a Post & Tandem, a Front Cross, a Flip, an RFP, heck even a shoulder roll… almost anything. And anything from this side would be better handling than the bending solution.

Bending Has a Place

 

The very opening of the original sequence is a wonderful opportunity to bend. What the handler would like to do here is draw the dog out just a bit to improve the square of the approach to the tire. So the Bend back towards the dog is a subtle thing without a terrible or dangerous encroachment on the dog’s path. It’s just information and not likely to make any dog flinch.

Note too that a Front Cross is probably a bit of over-kill for the subtle turn to the tire. One of the reasons we use a Front Cross is because the counter-rotation of the handler’s body is compelling to the dog. All that extra drama is unnecessary.