A new course map - new analysis! Watch the video where Janita goes through the course map, explaining how she makes her handling plan.

Tips for handling

• Just like you need to be proactive in your handling when you use your body language, give your verbal cues at least one stride before your dog takes off for the previous obstacle. This way your dog can prepare for what’s happening next, and can for example jump in extension and face forward when you say “go forward”. If you give your verbal cue after landing, he’ll first turn towards you, which makes going forward more difficult.
• When there is an obstacle discrimination on the course, such as a contact-tunnel combination, help your dog on the line that takes him to the correct obstacle by giving him a turning cue before the previous obstacle, if he cannot go where the natural line takes him.
• Recognise what happens automatically. Ask yourself, “if I don’t do anything, where will my dog go?”
  • When you use a verbal for a backside, learn to recognise whether your dog’s natural line leads him to the backside of the jump, or if he needs to do a lead change away from you to get there. When a lead change is needed, asking a dog to do that just with a verbal cue, without any help from the handler, makes it really hard for the dog. Whenever a lead change is needed, be the best possible teammate for your dog and help him with your handling.

Find printable version of the course map here:

• Course map in meters
• Course map in feet

In the next lesson you will see Janita and her students practicing this course!