I’ve been in a bit of a blue funk. Call it disappointment in some people. The politics in the Ohio dog world is quite horrible. Posturing and preening, lying and scheming. I try to stay out of it pretty much; but find myself a cheap and easy target for the malicious.

This kind of thing exists all over the country. I know because I do seminars all over the country. And I am regaled with horror stories of local politics. It’s the nature of the game, I suppose.

Tonight I find my heart lifted by my Tuesday evening students. They’re a fun bunch and they’re coming along so nicely. I’m quite proud of them all. The contrast between these decent people and others out in the world is fairly staggering. We can’t lose faith in all people because some are bad. There is so much inherent good in so many people in the “dog world”. It reminds me that these are the one that deserve our attention. Not those others.

Okay… on with lesson planning.

More Pinwheels #1

I suppose the tough part of this sequence is the narrow approach to jump #4 with the teeter so close and vying for the dog’s attention after jump #3. While I like a Blind Cross between jump #2 and #3; I like a Front Cross to a greater extent after jumps #3. One of my rules of the Blind Cross is that it should be avoided in the presence of an option, which is a course that makes more sense to the dog than the one the judge actually numbered.

More Pinwheels #2

Four jumps in the four jump pinwheel. Note that the handler probably should get position to turn the dog to the left at jump #4, rather than to the right.

Coming back from the pipe tunnel the handler needs to step up to help create the approach to jump #7. Also, here, it’s a good idea to get dog on left to create as direct a line as possible between jumps #7 and #8.

More Pinwheels #3

Again I’ve included a long transition giving a skip to the dummy-jump labeled #6 after jump #2. This appears to call for a long Post turn to jump #3 so that the handler can be in blocking position; and probably calls for a Tandem on the flat after jump #5.