The TDAA Petit Prix will feature a Jumpers run in the semi-final rounds. There’s no real way to anticipate what a judge might do in designing a challenge for jumpers. It could be anything at all.

The course below is based upon a course I saw from South African competition.

Trap #1

If there’s any redeeming virtue to this sequence… it’s found at the beginning of a course. So the handler can avail himself to whatever kind of lead-out that might help solve the opposite-side entry to the pipe tunnel at #5.

I like the idea of a lateral path lead-out in a sequence like this, because the advantage in real estate is to the dog’s left, and so a lead-out forward of the dog is a waste of space and puts the handler behind as the dog makes the initial turn. This is a very rare lead-out in the American game.

This allows the handler to be forward enough of the dog after jump #4 to show a little counter rotation, turning the dog off the wrong-course entry to the pipe tunnel. Once the dog turns off… getting him into the opposite-side entry to the pipe tunnel should be a piece of cake.

Trap #2

With the idea that lateral distance can help solve the opposite-side entry pipe tunnel challenge, the handling concept can probably be used throughout the course, even when the handler doesn’t have an opportunity to take a lead-out to sell the lateral path. The trick is, of course, that the dog must be trained to the extent that he’ll stay in obstacle focus. In this illustration the handler literally relies on the dog to finish the performance of the weave poles while he not only assumes a lateral path, but holds back behind the dog to a certain extent.

If the dog will stay out for the weave poles then the handler can use movement at a distance to demonstrate to the dog the lines of the course. Note that the dog’s movement through jump #7 and on to the tire at #8 corresponds to the handler’s path at a distance. This isn’t a big training problem… it’s a thing that most dogs already understand.

Now, from the lateral and forward position the handler can show counter-rotation after the tire… selling the opposite side entry to the pipe tunnel at #9.

Trap #3

I’m not too sure that this is going to be solved with a lateral path at all. The savvy handler will know that he needs to step down to the exit of the collapsed tunnel to push out to jump #13, and so the handler is most likely trapped in a path near to the dog for jumps #13 and #14.

What I like in a sequence like this is what I call a static Post. The handler will accelerate through the two jumps after the collapsed tunnel and then show brakes at jump #14. Indeed, after putting on the brakes the handler should Post to the left as though going to the weave poles. Only after the dog has broken the approach to the wrong-course entry to the pipe tunnel the handler can flip back in a Tandem turn to turn the dog neatly into the correct entry.

Putting Together a Course

Solving a simple sequence is usually no big deal. But if you put all of these challenges into a single course you’ll find that the action is coming at the handler in unrelenting fashion. The handler has no time to stop to admire his work… he has to pick up and move to the next bit of the course.

You’ll note that the challenges aren’t the opposite side entries to the pipe tunnel on this course. There are several very interesting moments in the course. Sometimes it’s the subtle not-so-challenging parts of the course that wreak the most havoc as the handler who walked the course mightn’t have been as thoughtful about the little details as he could have been.