Right, left, go on, plus close angle turns.
After training the first stages of running contact, a need soon arises to find away to train accurate turns after the contact.
Many courses today are being designed as not "friendly" to running contacts, or to phrase this more positively, to test the thoroughness of the training.
The biggest challenge I've confronted lately is close angle turns after the dogwalk. These are almost devilish for a young dog as they demand a very steep transition from extension across the contact to engagement of the hindquarters and collection for the turn.
The other part of the equation is being able to cue the dog to stay in extension when the course proceeds straight ahead of the contact.
I know these are items I've only begun to address with Samurai, so I was very excited to see that British trainer, Dawn Weaver, has very nicely outlined the basic skill set that needs to be addressed for training turns of contacts and a view into how she trains them.
Thanks Dawn for this video which is yet another example of how information sharing regarding dog agility training is becoming ever more enriched by social media and video on the web.
It's almost a miracle to be able to view the style and methods of trainers in distant places from nearly anywhere on the globe. Thanks to all who are contributing to this ongoing conversation.
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