This is a JWW run taken by Laurie Moe and Cleo.
She started the run with an awesome dead-away send down a straight line of jumps into a pipe tunnel. This was right out of the homework we did for a distance seminar a few months ago.
Laurie’s solution for #9 to #12 was to do a layered Front Cross on the landing side of jump #10. Unfortunately, Cleo didn’t “feel” the line, and curled back to the handler’s position after jump #11, surely earning a refusal at jump #12.
Indeed, Cleo ran past the true turning point for a square approach to jump #10, and somewhat spoiled the straight-line send.
Sometimes the shape of the dog’s path suggested by the set of equipment is a complete illusion. #10 to #12 looks very much like a straight line. Right? Well, that’s the illusion. Consider the next picture.
Given the trajectory of the dog’s approach to jump #10, after the dismount of #9, the dog’s path is more logically a “Z” shape, or certainly serpentine. Rather than fighting against the true shape, you should use it to advantage.
You probably could have done the Front Cross after jump #10, as planned. To find the corners and lines of the “Z” the corner of the turn should have drawn the dog more to the left. But the evil judge as plunked a completely gratuitous dummy jump in that bit of space, surely offering a wrong course option to the dog.
So, let’s try it as “Fast Dog Handling”.
Rather than a Front Cross the handler will keep the dog on Post from jump #9 to #11. The threat of the wrong course option at the gratuitous dummy jump remains.
But the crafty handler will allow the corner after jump #10 to be a bit shallow. And then, after jump #11 will draw the dog more to the right and cross behind the dog after that jump (a Tandem Turn). The cross should be timed and placed to set a corner that will neatly line up jumps #12 and #13.
You should practice this in your training center, so that you own it in competition.
A Name for your Next Dog
Laurie, your next dog should be named “Curly Joe”, so that when you step up to the line the announcer will say; “This is Laurie Moe and Curly Joe!”
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