Practicing - Options

Meet paper Dolly and her little dog Trinket.

Dolly is wearing her blue shirt and red pants, to show support for the World Team. 

She would've worn an official USA Agility Team T-shirt, but it takes too long to draw. 

She is, however, wearing her favorite green shoes.

You'll notice that Trinket has a thing about always looking to the left. 

He likes to crouch, too.  What can I say?  He's a border collie. 

Dolly  is getting ready to practice a Derrett-style front cross,

and bring Trinket over two jumps. 

She holds her arm out, so Trinket will know she wants that lateral jump.

Because Dolly has a back problem, she needs to keep her body straight.  She needs to turn just her head, to look at her dog.  She used to turn at the waist and open her shoulder to look back.  Many agility handlers look at their dogs that way.  But it's difficult for her.  She's an index card. 

While turning into Jump 1, Dolly leads with her feet (instead of her shoulder),

 just as Trinket is ready to take off.  She keeps her eye on her dog.

As Trinket jumps, Dolly is facing him.  It would be nice if she were further along in her turn.

She lifts her other arm up to give him more information about where he's going next.

She turns into Jump 2.  Trinket gives her a long look, because she's turning too slowly for him.

As Trinket jumps, Dolly is leading with her feet to tell him where to go next. 

She keeps an eye on her dog.

(Dolly's feet are a bit stiff, so you can't actually see them turning. 

Her shoes are really big, though, so it's easy to imagine it.) 

Two clean jumps!  Happiness!  Now Dolly will try Mecklenburg-style handling.

Ultimately, Dolly will decide which kind of handling to use based on the demands of whatever course they are on.  For now, she just wants to practice a bit of each. 

She wants Trinket to be ready to respond to different handling techniques. 

This time she faces Trinket, who is crouching at the startline.  Dolly prefers it when he sits,

but paper dolls always let plastic pups do "whatever" at the startline,

because plastic pups have great stays.

She has her arm out to help Trinket understand which jump to take.

As Trinket is about to take off, Dolly is on the move. 

Leading with her feet.  Letting her arm come down.

And VOILA!  Two clean jumps!  

YAY!!