180's Out Of The Chute

It's hard to get your agility dog to do 180's out of the chute, even more so than the tunnel, due to its flexibility.  If you call them left, for example, while they're still in there, they tend to veer towards your voice and risk getting tangled in the fabric, especially the little dogs.  If you drive forward and try to scoop them up after they shoot out (pretty fast), they tend to run around you, or into you.  I've been trying to figure out how to handle this maneuver elegantly and efficiently, and I'm asking other agility bloggers to offer suggestions. 

As it happens, I can illustrate this problem with snippets from several videos I took during an Excellent Standard competition at the Kiln trial last month.  The course was designed by Judge Scott Chamberlain.  I've never encountered this layout before. While most dogs made it, much time was lost as they ran wide or even behind their handlers before committing to the next jump.  First, here's the layout:

Now, here's video I managed to snip of just that segment of the course.  (me and my papillon, Maxie, are first, then Lucky Lucy is 6th).  There were other variations and some NQ's as dogs got sucked in by the dogwalk or the jump after 3, or skipped the chute to follow the handler to H1:

Many succeeded but all lost precious seconds with the wide turns.  Does someone have a solution for this?  I'm hoping to hear back.

Upwards and onward,

Varied Handling - Back Side Jumps

A really well-trained agility team can perform any sequence in a variety of ways.  While one technique might turn out to be optimal, advanced teams should have an arsenal of moves committed to reflex.  First, it keeps the dog guessing and focused on the handler. Secondly, you never know when you might need to do something different than planned, including having someone else run your dog like I did in Monroe last weekend.

To this end, after my students have more or less mastered Handling Fundamentals, I get them handling each sequence in 2 or 3 ways.  So far, so good.  But this video, by Steve Schwarz, Agility Nerd, tops all I've ever seen.  With only 2 jumps and a tunnel, he musters 11 different ways to send his border collie over the back side of both jumps. It also demonstrates clearly the PUSH and the PULL.  It's called Double Back Side Exercise and can be practiced in a tiny space. The tunnel can be replaced with a see-saw, the bar jumps by other jumps.

I hope others will set this up and let me know how it works. WARNING: Steve makes everything look effortless. When I get around to setting it up for myself, I plan to video myself, perhaps getting a laugh or two.  I do so wish to be funny. :-)



Upwards and onward!