Sequences and Dylan
Dylan worked really well at training this week, and I feel like we’re seeing some improvement now. The boy can really move when he wants to, just need to get the handler sorted now. I have to be early with my cues and verbals to get the tight lines, otherwise he just picks a jump or a line to take and goes for it. Whilst I’m happy that he’s confident enough to take obstacles as he feels like it, it’s not going to get us any places!
Because he was working so nicely we played with this sequence a bit, because the first time we ran the course everybody thought it should be done in a different way. My first attempt was the blue path, but I wasn’t strong enough with my left command and Dylan just carried straight on to 9 and skipped 8 entirely. I was no where near quick enough for the red path, and Dylan isn’t very sure about jumping towards me at the moment so I skipped that one. We finished off with the black path being the best for us, it was further for me to run but Dylan got a much nicer, tighter line around 6-7-8. One person also tried handling the whole thing on the left, pushing over 5 and the pushing out again for 8 after 7. I might have been tempted to give that a go with Kim but not with Dylan, we’d have gone off-course over the un-numbered jump.
Hopefully this weekend at EMDAC he’ll be working as well as he did at training. He’s going to be my focus for Saturday, Kim is really only there on the off-chance she can pick up some points (more on that in a later post, I think!). Waldridge Fell is Kim’s priority this weekend. I’m really looking forward to going up North again and seeing Cat again, and Kim is doing Pairs with Bailey again too which should be fun!
3 Comments
Vicki aka Giruff
I’ve actually found it quite hard handling two completely different dogs. Inca, like Dylan, will see a jump and take it, whereas Pip really needs me to be there or send her on. I have to walk courses once for Pip, and once for Inca, lol.
We’ll be there at EMDAC. Are you there both days?
Leanne
We’re just there on Saturday this time, sadly. Looking forward to the Stinger class, haven’t a clue what it is but it sounds interesting!
My main issue is that Kim just has bags of experience which bails me out of any handling errors. I don’t have that with Dylan so I have to get it right! They also have very different styles of jumping — Kim can wrap and turn tightly even if I’m late with my cue, whereas Dylan has a huge jump and if I’m not early with the cue he’ll just jump extended, by which time he’s gone past the obstacle I had in mind!
Vicki aka Giruff
Yeah, I know what you mean. A lot of it is learning how to handle them in the ring.
Pip is so responsive and she really understands my (awful) body language before I put a verbal command in. However, Inca really needs help still and needs much commands earlier than pip. Occasionally I give her an early cue and she’ll react instantly though. I think you saw her HS run at EMDAC last time. I gave her the ‘back’ command before a jump and she put the brakes on and went round it, lol.