CPE Clinic part 2-Snooker and Jumpers

Last Saturday Shelby and I headed over to Gemini for the second of three clinics on CPE games. This one focused on Snooker and Jumpers. As I suspected, we ended up spending the most time on Snooker, just because it's more complicated and there are so many ways to run it "successfully".

A quick refresher on the rules: There are 4 single jumps, called "reds" and they are worth 1 point. All the other obstacles are numbered 2 through 7 and are worth the corresponding number of points. For example, if the tunnel is obstacle #4, it is worth 4 points. The game is divided into two parts: an opening and a closing. During the opening, the dog must take one red jump and then any obstacle, then a different red jump and any obstacle, then a third different red jump and any obstacle. The obstacle taken after each red jump can be the same if you so choose. So your opening could be 1 red, tunnel #2, another red, tunnel #2 and a third red and tunnel #2 again. They have a fourth red jump out on the course in case you drop one of the red bars, in which case you have to move on to another red jump.

Once you complete the opening successfully, you move on to the closing, which is simply completing the remaining obstacles in the order they are numbered. Depending on the level of competition, you need to get a certain number of points.

On our first run we did really well, actually completing the opening and the closing through #6, so we would have had plenty of points to Q. The only problem was that Shelby disengaged at #7, so I had a hard time getting her back to the table to finish. Then we did a second run and Denielle wanted me to click and treat every couple of obstacles and I totally forgot my plan. Then we set up a slightly different course and I made the classic mistake of using obstacle #2 as my last color, and then forgetting to repeat it as the first obstacle in my closing. A lot of people often forget which reds they have already used and take the same one twice, which disqualifies them.

So then we had about 20 minutes to take on Jumpers. Jumpers is great because there are no contact obstacles-only tunnels and jumps! So you can go fast! Which Shelby likes! So we went first, and if I do say so myself, we schooled them on how to run Jumpers. We were so in sync, it was awesome and fun. Plus, we were in a rush, so we didn't number the course, we just had to remember it, and it was kind of twisty. But I had no problem. I seem to have really good spatial memory and find it easy to read courses and know where I need to be. The course was especially fun because it ended with a tunnel to a jump, and the jump was far away from the tunnel, so we could really run fast and end on a high note. All the dogs loved it. We have one more session in March which will probably be Standard and Full House.