7 Time Saving Tips

In honor of daylight savings time Monday, here are seven tips to save your course time!

1. First, remember to run with your dog! Especially important for those of you with unmotivated dogs, make it a game of chase and use that happy voice.

2. Sometimes its best to NOT do a lead out, again, run with your dog. Some of our dogs need support on that first jump to get them geared up for a better run.

3. Also, remember to say your dog’s name in the tunnel so they know where you are before they come out, you can shave sometimes more than a full second by doing this, especially in the chute

4. On the table… be aware of where your next obstacle is and sit or down your dog facing the next obstacle.

5. On the table, for the big dogs, sometimes it is faster to sit and then down your dog, and be sure to give them room to down.

6. Know what your weak areas are, does your dog do the teeter slowly, or the dogwalk slowly, then make up time between the obstacles by getting your speed back up.

7. Walk that fine line between building speed and not rushing the dog! You need to know your dog, but you must remember to avoid rushing the dog and causing dropped bars.

Keep these tips in mind as you walk your courses and plan for them during your run. Every second counts. I’ve personally not qualified by one tenth of a second, so I do work on making up time on the courses. And you should too.

~Thanks to Linda Freed at http://agilityteamair.wordpress.com/ for the above entry~