I’m on the airplane bound for home as I write this. I’ve spent two days judging and a day of seminar with the nice folks in Charleston, SC. I’ll get home, have about an hour to repack my bags then it’s on the road, driving for Vermont and the TDAA Petit Prix.

This is going to be quite a lot of fun. I have a day of workshops prior to the event, and then a two day distance seminar after. But in the midst of it all I get to play with my own young dogs, Hazard in Blue, in a competition that is gradually becoming a showcase for some of the finest tiny canine athletes in America. It doesn’t get much better than this!

Marsha and I actually get to travel together on this trip. Though it’s a bit of a working vacation it will be our first in four or five years.

Round One Steeplechase

This opening to the Steeplechase (round one) turned out to be quite problematic for the field. Predictably a large percentage of handlers led out for a precue to the turn on the opening line. The fail rate was awesome and that too, predictable. Let’s break it down.

The handler taking the direct long lead-out to the position labeled “Precue Post”—and then coming to a stop and facing back into the dog—will elevate risk without much measurable benefit on this course.

More effective might be a modest lead-out in which the handler accelerates to jump #3 putting on the brake to precue the initial turn; and showing brakes again at jump #4 to draw the dog into a neat turn to the weave poles. Of course the handler must take into account the direction of the turn on the dismount of the weave poles; in this case the course calls for a sharp left turn on the exit. So the handler will either have to rear cross the dog on the entry and then bend or commit a fanciful twizzle on the dismount.

The interesting thing about distance work is that it’s not just about Gamblers. There might be a variety of reasons to actually work at a distance from the dog. One of the most important reasons is for the handler to achieve a difficult control position.

If you really think about it, on this course, the control position is on the landing side of jump #4. Taking the long lead-out forward of the dog at the beginning of the course… and then waiting on the dog before effecting the turn prevents the handler from getting to the control position.

What I’ve drawn here is the lateral distance lead-out. A dog tends to work in a path parallel to the handler’s path. This simple dynamic can be used to direct the dog on a straight line from a considerable lateral distance.

 

Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston: dogwoodbud1@earthlink.net. And Check out my new publication the Idea Book – Agility Training for a Small Universe available at www.dogagility.org/store.