Monday, June 15, 2009

Sunday's Standard course 1-8


I lead out just past #2 (on my dog's right) and pushed into the tunnel and ran down the line on the right side. I wasn't fast enough and Summit saw my left arm out as he exited the tunnel and took the #2 jump. I ran Sage second so waited just on the takeoff side of the tire until I got her head, then I took off and that worked very well. Many handlers did a FC/BC at the tunnel and ran down the left side. If the dog was fast, they got too far ahead of the handler and turned before the #6 panel jump. If the handler was on the right and the dog got too far ahead, they took the unmarked wrong course jump. Some handlers tried a RC between #4 and #5. Sometimes it worked and sometimes the dog missed the panel jump. In hindsight, I would have run on the left side with Summit since he has independent contacts. With Sage, I needed to be ahead of her at the DW so being on the right worked the best. Either way, it was a very long straight line and quite challenging as the jumps were offset and depending on how fast your dog was and if your dog had independent contacts or not determined which side the handler chose to handle 1-7.

Sage ran the course in 38 seconds and would have taken 3rd place if she had not dropped the panel.

2 comments:

Greg S said...

I lead out to just before jump 2 with Skye on my right, and made a angled path toward the tunnel entry, at the same time calling his name. Once he committed, I took off on the right side of the tire and caught his head as I was on the landing side of the tire, running fast down the line. As I was far enough ahead of him, directing over 5,6 and 7 was straightforward. I needed to be at the DW contact to collect him and make sure he hit it. We ended up dropping the bar before the weaves later on though... Our time was 41, so quite a bit behind his "sister" Sage!

Morganne said...

That was the key. To get far enough ahead. I could have run on the left side with Summit (since he has independent contacts) but I had already seen some fast dogs turn off of the panel jump when the handler got too far behind. So I figured I would be safer running on his right and converging on his path to cue the panel jump. The reason it didn't work was I misjudged his speed out of the tunnel and I was not moving forward yet and my left arm cued jump #2. I did set this up at home and of course, he ran it perfectly.