Handling your baby dog

Often when I teach Novice/Intermediate level seminars and there are sequences of obstacles involved, handlers will first comment about the fact that they are running a "baby" dog and that said "baby" dog is not necessarily ready for whatever the sequence is. At this point handlers will generally over handle the situation trying to avoid allowing the dog to make a mistake, etc...
This is all very innocent of course, all done in the name of helping the dog be successful, however, even though the handler is completely managing the exercise mistakes are made. Most of these mistakes are due to confusion on the dogs part because the handler is acting in an unfamiliar way, giving unfamiliar cues, probably Being a bit erratic in their physical cues.
Think about all of those nights at class, the seminars, etc... You are teaching your dog to recognize and respond to the cues that you will be utilizing throughout the dogs career, these are the cues you should be using now as well.
Before you begin to sequence, you teach the cues, hand signals, motion cues, etc... You do this on 1 or 2 jumps.
When you start to add obstacles to your sequences you absolutely should not change your cues or anything else that you have taught your pup to respond to. There is no reason to modify or change what you have been teaching simply because your dog is inexperienced. Changing your cues or handling strategy will do nothing except ultimately require you to retrain the things you originally trained when the dog is no longer considered a baby.
When you begin to sequence with a young dog the only differences in how you should handle this dog vs. An older more experienced dog is to keep the sequences shorter with even more than the usual effusive praise and reinforcements for a job well done, and, don't be in a hurry, speed comes with understanding, clear concise cues without rushing will get the job done without compromising the end result.
Your cues should be a bit more dramatic to ensure understanding. It is at this point in my dogs career that they learn the meaning of the individual cues, the more consistent I am in how I present these cues and the more clearly I present them, the better the dog will be
able to react quickly upon the initiation of these same cues later as the dog matures.
Your handling decisions should be the same with your novice dog as they are with your agility champion, just more dramatic!
In summary, train your pup, trust your training, maintain clear consistent criteria and most of all, HAVE FUN!