Description
Clean Run Productions LLC
Author: Nancy Gyes
Format: Paperback, Full Color
Length: 184 pages
Release Date: 2011
The jumping drills in this book are based on patterns from letters of the alphabet. Their purpose is to help you become more imaginative when setting up practice drills for yourself, or for your students, and to familiarize you with common obstacle patterns seen on agility courses. Each letter focuses on specific handling skills or dog skills, and uses a minimal amount of space and a minimal number of jumps (5 jumps is the average). The intent of using a familiar pattern for each setup, like the outline of an alphabet letter, is to aid you in remembering each pattern of jumps, so that eventually you can associate the pattern of the letter with the associated drills.
Alphabet drills are designed so that they are useful for all levels of agility handlers. If you’re new to the sport, there are drills to help you and your dog learn the basics of front and rear crosses, lead-out pivots, threadles, serpentine handling, pinwheels, 270s, and more—you can truly train the full spectrum of necessary handling skills with this book. If you’re an advanced competitor, you’ll find more technical drills for maintaining and tuning up your skills, as well as problem solving.
Regardless of which handling method you use, Alphabet Drills will provide years of material for maintaining your agility skills and also training new skills. You’ll never have to worry about what to practice again! Problems getting your dog in the correct entrance of the tunnel? Do the R drills for a week. Wide front crosses or problems with lead-out pivots? T is your drill. Does your dog spin in the wrong direction when you do a rear cross? Work on J drills.
These drills were originally published in Clean Run magazine starting in February 2005 and ending in April 2007. Some of the letters have been revamped for the book and new drills added. Photos and training tips have been incorporated into the text. In addition, Nancy has written an introductory chapter that covers topics such as what age to start training, training effectively, getting ready for training sessions, and what to do if you have problems. There are also new appendixes that contain articles on handling and training serpentines and 270s, the pattern method of course design, and a photo “dictionary” of handling maneuvers.
Special Discount: Buy the Alphabet Drills CD, which includes copies of all the drill setups in Clean Run Course Designer format, at the same time that you buy the book and pay $5.00 for the CD rather than the regular price of $10.00. Just select the “Alphabet Drills Book with CD”. To get the discount, do not individually add the CD to your cart; just use the menu to purchase it.
About the Author
Nancy Gyes has been involved in training for dog sports for the last 25 years. She was active in competition and pet obedience, tracking, and behavior counseling for pet owners before discovering agility in 1990. Since then she has been a full-time international agility instructor, competitor, and seminarian. She and her husband Jim Basic operate Power Paws Agility in San Jose, California. Nancy and Jim and their dogs have won over 70 first-place trophies at national and world championship events. Nancy has won a total of 12 USDAA and AKC championships, and was the first handler ever to win four consecutive USDAA Grand Prix World Championships: Scud in 1998, Riot in 1999, Wicked in 2000, and Riot again in 2001. Nancy has been the coach of the AKC/USA World Team since 1996, helping that team bring home numerous medals. She was a member of the AKC/USA World Team seven times (four years with Scud and three years with Riot) and has been on the USA Team for the European Open three times with Ace, winning the bronze medal in 2009.
