October 23 Exercise of the Month

The push-behind challenge has stolen many dogs of their ability to seek out the front of a jump, especially on angled jumps or patterns more typical of a push behind.

These drills work on alternating push-behinds with pull-throughs. There are some opportunities to practice your blind crosses as well.

These exercises are a test of how well your dog matches your path and can stay with you in tight situations.

Most of the time we ignore fundamental drills, or don't bother to just make them more difficult, before we throw our dogs into the deep end of tricky sequences.

This skeleton-like face presents some unusual challenges.

Time to test your A-frame entries and exits. These exercises have you coming and going from all directions and situations.

A large part of training involves teaching your dog to follow your signals, even though he may think he knows what is next.

These exercises give you lots of opportunities to try different moves, from basic handling to international skills, but fit in a relatively small space with only a few jumps and a tunnel.

The handling challenges of today's courses require your dog to be very responsive to your cues. These drills mix up the skills within the same sequence so your dog can't anticipate which side of the jump or tunnel entrance you will be asking for.

You can make big improvements by becoming a student of the sport. This month work on precise and decisive handling.

One of the greatest strengths our dogs have is the ability to anticipate. One of the biggest weaknesses our dogs have is the ability to anticipate. If we pattern train too much, they become like a donkey on a beach that knows it goes up the beach in the morning and goes home in the afternoon, regardless of what the handler tells it to do.

It's time to put away some of the smaller winter drills (the trees, the details) and start focusing on bigger sequences (the forest, the big picture) in preparation for some of the bigger trials.

Blend up some rear crosses, some threadles, some wide open spaces and sprinkle a few layers in between and you’ll need a concoction of skills to get through unscathed!

Like last month, these drills focus on variation... asking the dog to respond to our signals and not just run to a pattern. These are more advanced exercises.

Getting your dog to blossom in agility requires continually tweaking your skills, balancing your training, and making sure your dog gets enough rest as well as work. These drills go back to foundation skills such as 270s, 180s, wraps, pull-throughs, and straight-on approaches to balance the number of push-behinds that are being trained. It also focuses on skills as opposed to course work.

These exercises string together longer sequences and require you to execute skills we have worked on in a simulated course setting in preparation for the big trials.

These exercises are designed so that the dog is going to a different obstacle after jump #3 in each sequence. Be thoughtful about what your cues are for jump #3 so that your dog knows where he is going next prior to commitment to the jump.

These will light some fireworks under you! Tricky turns and discriminations with no time to breathe. You’d better be fast on your feet.

These sequences feature some tricky technical turns and world-class challenges, working on wraps and sliding between and behind obstacles.

May 2021 Exercise of the Month

February 2021 Exercise of the Month

February 2020 Exercise of the Month

September 2019 Exercise of the Month

July 2019 Exercise of the Month

June 2019 Exercise of the Month

May 2019 Exercise of the Month

April 2019 Exercise of the Month

March 2019 Exercise of the Month

February 2019 Exercise of the Month

January 2019 Exercise of the Month

One of the qualities that separates the mediocre handlers from the good handlers is the ability to read changing situations quickly and react, most often without thinking, and knowing what the larger picture is at all times. This is called situational awareness. These 30-second drills are designed to help handlers improve your situation awareness.