Why do "ABC" owners say this?

[MrSnappy]

ZOMG. I point, he goes ... wherever the f*ck he wants to go! It's hard running a really fast dog.

 

Running Tweed has always been awesome - he is fast, but not Dexter "warp speed, Captain" fast, but he's also accurate and wastes no motion on the course. Throughout his lifetime he has beaten much faster dogs consistently because he works the course tight, wraps obstacles closely and can read a line. We often joke that Tweed has read the course map before he steps into the ring.

 

Dexter is like running the Tasmanian Devil from the cartoons. One ill timed twitch and he's gone the wrong way and taken 4 or 5 off course obstacles in the process. No room for handler error, and unfortunately for him this handler is slow on the uptake ;-)

 

Cheerleading Spring through the course is different too - as she gains confidence, this is less of an issue, but it's still hard work because I'm with her all the way, so more running for me!

 

RDM

[Kelleybean]

My girl runs like a rocket, and handling a rocket isn't easy! She's young and this is my first agility dog, so we're both learning. I dread front crosses cause I often just can't get there in time--the rear cross is my friend. I also find it difficult to remember the course as I don't have the luxury of taking a second to look around and see what comes next. We're both getting better at having some distance between us, and she's getting much better with the "go on" verbal. In another year, I think most of our issues will be at least partially resolved, in the mean time--I still look with envy at those Basset hound handlers.

[SecretBC]

I went two years never doing a front cross at a trial and would fight like hell when my agility trainer pushed me to do them in class. I swore it couldn't be done. Luke was a big fast dog and I didn't know what I was doing.

 

Then time passes and you learn to handle better. You figure out how to stay ahead of your dog and cue properly. Now I handle almost exclusively with front and blind crosses.

 

It's all part of learning the game.

[SS Cressa]

I am still envious of those who can perform blind crosses. For me they would be way easier then fronts they seem. My problem is timing. Which also translates over to rear crosses also. My timing also sucks for rears too (am starting to get better at cueing).

[Rave]

I can't stand blind crosses. I used to do them, and then at one trial my dog was on the teeter and I turned my head (away from her) as she was doing the teeter and she took that movement to mean a blind cross and she was off behind me before I even realized what happened. Yeah not a fan. Do them if you want (obviously), but I've seen too many dogs cutting behind handlers to go off course for my tastes.

[SecretBC]

I don't use them on Kaiser because he's a sneaky little turd that will take off to grab obstacles if I take my eyes off him. I use them sparingly on Luke, although with him I use more distance handling than anything.

 

Secret is not the type to deviate off course in the flash of an eye and they seem to work quite well for keeping up her drive and motivation. I don't tend to use them in areas where an off course is highly probable, but simply as a way to give my knees a break if a front cross feels a little tight.

[Root Beer]

I love blind crosses. Tessa is officially my blind cross dog. They feel very natural to me (maybe from teaching cut behind me as a Freestyle transition), and she reads them very nicely. I put them in anywhere I can get away with it.

 

Rear crosses are, and probably always will be, my biggest difficulty. I simply can't get the feel for them. Fronts I do well, blinds I do well, but I couldn't time a rear cross well if my life depended on it. Sometimes I get them right with Dean (who reads them on the rare occasions when I execute them correctly) and it feels awesome, but I can't ever do what I did right twice!

[Beach BCs]

Texi and I love rear crosses. Front crosses not so much. He hates it when I get in front of him. He'll even yell at me. He's pretty fast, so my goal is to just get out of the way and not get run over. Running him has been a challenge (first dog I've done agility with) but so much fun.

 

My female Georgia hates a rear cross (What are you doing back there?) and likes front crosses. She's not so speedy that I can't keep up. Running her is opposite of Texi but still alot of fun.

[PSmitty]

I like rear crosses and front crosses. Alex reads fronts better, of course, but I think both work pretty well for us. I was taught to NEVER do a blind cross, unfortunately, so that is not really in our bag of tricks. I would like to get up my nerve to try them, but I'm usually skeered.

[Root Beer]

I was taught to NEVER do a blind cross, unfortunately, so that is not really in our bag of tricks. I would like to get up my nerve to try them, but I'm usually skeered.

 

So was I!! For years - almost Maddie's entire career - I learned to never, ever, ever blind cross! Ever!! Then, suddenly, we were doing them!!

 

I did find them awkward at first, and I was concerned that the dog was going to crash into me! But once I did them a few times, I was hooked!!

[Pam Wolf]

The fun of working ABC-well when I did obedience I choose my Lassie collie (actually not mine at the time but asked for a co ownership so I could compete-not that that was necessary). Why-the challenge. Not only did I have that fascinating 'collie' way of learning, but it offered great challenges in building her up to be atheletic to hold up to obed and agility training at the same time.

 

I learned MUCH more from working with her than I probably would have with the BC'sand I did not want to register/run the BC's in AKC (which is the most common around here).

 

I heard lots about how 'wonderful' the BC's were (and suprised quite a few that I didn't run a BC) and saw a lot of dogs way better than their handlers. Yes, many in dogs sports dispise the BC's-but I think a big reason is the snobbish nature of the owners who often get a BC just to feed their egos by winning over any other dog.

[gcv-border]

I am glad to hear that I am in good company. I am also a first-time agility handler with a super speedy dog who thinks he knows where the course goes (sometimes he does, and sometimes not!). I know well the inability to get in a front cross and have learned to value and use the rear cross (and also layered rear crosses); the immediate reaction by my dog to my mis-timed twitch (oops, another off course, but it is my fault), the refusals due to the fact that I did not take that one extra half step to send him over a jump, instead he 'reads' that I am going to turn so he pulls off the jump. All of this is so frustrating, but also so wonderfully challenging.

 

OTOH, I love the distance handling. When I am walking a course at a trial, I watch people practice runninng ALLL the way to the tunnel or the jump out in the corner, whereas I know that I can just stand 20-30 feet away and send him. I love the speed that amazes and results in a first place (on the rare occasion when we do Q).

 

FWIW, most of the people I interact with are pretty savvy about the pluses and minuses of running BCs va. other types of dog. In class, we all cheer the others on. What we value is a well run course - regardless of the time it takes.

 

I recently had the opportunity to run a little Pomeranian (an agility classmate had surgery, but continued to bring her dog to class so he could continue to get his agility lessons because he loves agility). I LOVED running him. He is a velcro dog so I really had to run the whole course (no distance sending), but OTOH, I was able to get in my front crosses, was able to think on the course and had a Q run without even practicing. It was awesome.

 

I truly believe that the challenges that I have faced with my dog have really elevated my handling - although it usually doesn't look like it since I still have a ways to go to achieve consistency with my dog.

 

Jovi

[mum24dog]

I can't stand blind crosses. I used to do them, and then at one trial my dog was on the teeter and I turned my head (away from her) as she was doing the teeter and she took that movement to mean a blind cross and she was off behind me before I even realized what happened. Yeah not a fan. Do them if you want (obviously), but I've seen too many dogs cutting behind handlers to go off course for my tastes.

 

I totally agree.

 

The risk of a blind cross -

 

 

A blind cross means your dog can't focus on where it is going next because you are in the way.

 

And many people with slow dogs use them because they have the time but they are the very people who shouldn't use them because they should be teaching their dogs to drive on and be more independent. It drives me nuts when our beginners whose dogs need speeding up keep throwing them in because they want to keep an eye on where they are going and they aren't concentrating on their dog.

 

There's nothing you can do with a blind cross that you can't do without taking your eye off your dog and reducing the risk of it going off course when you aren't looking. Not such an issue with a velcro dog though.

 

A blind cross IMO is something that is useful to have in your handling tool box but to be used sparingly for most people; it's too easy to get addicted to using them. You can probably get away with them most of the time if you have a slow dog or you are an experienced handler who has trained for them from the day your pup came home.

 

I (as a very slow handler) used to think that front crosses were difficult but in fact they are easy if you have a reasonably independent dog and can be better for a slow handler who can be left floundering in their dog's wake if steering from behind using rear crosses - another move you shouldn't use with a slow dog.

 

Of course my views are based on experience of a system where getting round clear in the course time isn't enough so we have to concentrate on speed.

[alligande]

I have started to add blind crosses to my repertoire, i have really only used them so far with tunnels and have found them a useful way to keep my speed up. I do agree that you have to have a dog that recognizes that they should be on the side with the arm extended, we have put a lot of time into this not because of blind crosses but when Rievs was younger he had a nasty habit of going behind me, and now I can use it for blind crosses. There is no such thing as a conservative run with my dog, since he was young we have always run hard, my regular trainer used to say do not race the dog, while the women I take privates from says never slow down and has she has won at a national level it's her advice I take..... Mum24Dog in USDAA in the states there are tournament classes where you can win money and you need super Qs for your championship title which means beating other dogs in one specific class so speed does matter in that venue.

 

I do think the like everything many of the problems with blind crosses are training, our rear crosses are terrible because I put little time into them as I spend most of my time working on trying to get my front cross timing right, and I use rear crosses as the choice of last resort which of course means they are very ugly.

[Root Beer]

I do think the like everything many of the problems with blind crosses are training,

 

I concur. And also, learning when to use them and when to do something else. That's what I'm in the process of exploring right now.

[PSmitty]

There is no such thing as a conservative run with my dog, since he was young we have always run hard, my regular trainer used to say do not race the dog, while the women I take privates from says never slow down and has she has won at a national level it's her advice I take.....

 

Wise choice!

 

I know a junior handler who struggles with her fast BC, who has a bar dropping issue. A couple of trainers at her club have told her to slow down and stop racing her dog, which results in her walking a course miles behind her dog. THAT is not solving the problem. I will never understand the slow down/don't run hard/don't race sentiment. Run, people, run!

[mum24dog]

I will never understand the slow down/don't run hard/don't race sentiment. Run, people, run!

 

But you can avoid racing your dog without slowing down. Racing can push a driven dog into making mistakes. Race a slow dog by all means.

 

We're currently having this with a dog my daughter is running that doesn't belong to her. My daughter is a very experienced, fit and capable handler with a difficult, fast top grade dog of her own but this new dog Cody is potentially in a different league. Her own dog feels slow to her when she has been running Cody.

 

If she tries to race Cody she just goes faster and faster, knocking poles and not listening as she should. If she handles her more intelligently and works to the dog's strengths she is still faster than the vast majority of dogs but more under control and more responsive.

 

I do know people who work on control at the expense of speed but it doesn't have to be a simple choice between racing or slowing a dog down.

[ChantalB]

Wise choice!

 

I know a junior handler who struggles with her fast BC, who has a bar dropping issue. A couple of trainers at her club have told her to slow down and stop racing her dog, which results in her walking a course miles behind her dog. THAT is not solving the problem. I will never understand the slow down/don't run hard/don't race sentiment. Run, people, run!

 

I got the best private lesson a few months ago. And I was repeatedly told to "run run run"!! Best advice ever.

[mum24dog]

I got the best private lesson a few months ago. And I was repeatedly told to "run run run"!! Best advice ever.

 

Just running is a very blunt handling instrument though. You need to have the confidence to believe that you can get where you need to be and being lazy never helped anyone. Sometimes you need someone to prove to you that you can be faster than you think, but you do need to use your brain as well as your legs.

[Kelleybean]

Just running is a very blunt handling instrument though. You need to have the confidence to believe that you can get where you need to be and being lazy never helped anyone. Sometimes you need someone to prove to you that you can be faster than you think, but you do need to use your brain as well as your legs.

 

In other words, think fast and run faster!

[alligande]

The biggest challenge I have had moving from a methodical dog to a rocket is learning to both think at speed and be confident and accurate with my handling. When my trainer is pushing me to run, it is to make me think less and just get the confidence to go for it. So much of it is practice like a dancer learning their steps the more the more you practice the more confident you are with your motion, and the more confidence you dog has in you to provide accurate direction: that's my theory at least........

 

Where I practice regularly the trainer who kept saying I should slow down kept asking why I kept pushing for the front cross, once I explained what my goals were, she has gracefully accepted my insanity and now provides solid advice on where I went wrong.

[gonetotervs]

I haven't competed in the US in the past 8 years but have competed in Europe and South Africa with my BCs and tervs. So my mileage may differ.

 

But if one is headed for the backside of jump, etc. it is very useful to have blinds, ketschkers and changes in one's bag of tricks. And a course I saw recently had a threadle and the backside of jump at the novice level. As an older handler, I tend to like technical courses because I like the strategy of them versus the ones where the fast 16 year old handler can just outrun me. The strategy of planning where my dog needs me to be to handle the challenges presented, and how to get myself there, are what make agility trials interesting for me. And honestly, it is more fun to watch other teams handle a technical course rather than a straight steeplechase. Sometimes my pup and I run clear, sometimes we don't -- we have fun either way.

[Root Beer]

But if one is headed for the backside of jump, etc. it is very useful to have blinds, ketschkers and changes in one's bag of tricks.

 

And apparently that is all the rage right now. I've seen more back sides of jumps in our courses in class between this past December and now than I had seen in all of the years that I've been taking classes.

 

At first I wasn't crazy about them, but now I actually enjoy them - probably because Tessa likes them.

[SecretBC]

As pieces of European courses start to matriculate into the agility scene here in the states, we will see far more purpose in all of the "fancy handling moves" that Europeans have been using for years.

 

Many moons ago folks in this country considered a front cross "fancy" and perhaps even unnecessary.

[PSmitty]

As pieces of European courses start to matriculate into the agility scene here in the states, we will see far more purpose in all of the "fancy handling moves" that Europeans have been using for years.

 

 

Yes, and I'm happy to see it. However, at least where I trial, the AKC people are being dragged kicking and screaming. My last AKC trial in May, we had one back side of a jump in the three day trial and some people thought it was the end of the Agility World As They Know It. And depending on how you ran it, it wasn't even a true back side, IMO.

 

I would love to work more on technical European type courses.