O.k., time for your first homework!
1. find a way to make your dog run as fast as he can, tape him from the side and study his striding in slow motion or even frame by frame: how far apart his hind feet are, how far forward hind feet reach over front feet, how long and high the stride is, how his back looks like and where his head is: many people think you want low head for running contacts, but in fact, you want the head look exactly the same as when running full speed in the fields 🙂
2. have a dog run over the plank, tape him from the side and compare it with the video above - tape it at the height you're currently at. If you're just starting, restrain the dog before your plank, carpet or whatever you're using, throw a toy and release. Slowly bring the dog further away from the plank to really have them come to the plank with full speed. Mark anything that looks like running in the fields from the first video, jackpot when feet are hitting at the end of a plank/carpet (where the contact will be), but reward anything that is running. Don't forget to click it or at least mark it with your voice! I prefer clicking, but you can also first use a voice and start clicking later, when you know your dog's stride better and can predict it better.
This is a good check-up for those who are already running their dogs on a raised plank and a good stride-study that will help you see and mark the correct striding better for those just starting. Once you see your dog is running nicely, with an even stride, hind feet separation and hind feet reaching further from front feet, you can put a brick or something under one end of the plank and have them run over slightly raised plank - I'll tell you when you're ready based on the videos you'll send.
And yes, we're for now throwing a toy in advance, letting the dog chase it, in order to get full speed. So yes, the dog is rewarded every time with a ball - so make sure that you really make the best tries even more special, use excitement in your voice, a play of tug on his favourite toy or food if that's his real preference - in short: make a party about the really good ones and don't worry about not so good ones - just throw that ball again! 🙂
3. to make it easier for the dog to understand what you're clicking for on that plank, we'll be teaching some tricks that are important to help them understand how to use their feet and that you might be clicking them for using them. The two things you will try this time is cavaletti work - walking the dog over drawers or boxes on the floor - and teaching the dog to step with front feet on an object and clicking for any movements of hind feet: the final goal is a full circle in both directions, but first click even for just a weight shift and then go from there.
Post a video with all 3 assignments, first two in slow motion please!!! - But PLEASE cut out all the parts where I can't see the dog: because seeing just the plank, and that is slow motion, is absolutely no fun - and you can't imagine how many planks in slow motion I saw by now!
Also, read all the comments and see as many videos as possible, you can learn A LOT through videos and comments of others, that's why we do it in a class form in a first place!
Two pictures showing what I mean by hind feet reach: hind feet must land further ahead from where front feet were:
Two pictures showing what I mean by hind feet separation: hind feet must be hitting two different spots as far apart as possible (vs. staying parallel, hitting the same spot).
To take the explanation of hind feet separation and reach forward even further, here is a discussion we had with a first class on it, this is my comment to those two videos:
Experimenting with a full low dogwalk
Experimenting with throwing his toy
My comment: he doesn’t run fast enough – That’s my answer to 90% of problems with running contacts, so you will probably hear that a lot in next few months
Any BC, running full speed, is deep down the contact if doing two strides on a dog-walk ramp, period. Even my PyrShep who is 37cm (14.5″) does the down ramp in two hits and I even know a Papillon that is trying to, despite we would prefer him to do 3 hits
Meaning that if a BC does 2 hits and is too high, he is not running enough. That’s some general info for everybody, I’m just using your videos to discuss this topic as they show some very nice tries and some “not running enough” tries.
On most tries, you can see his hind feet come just shortly more forward from where the front feet where. Normally, when the dog runs full speed, hind feet will land significantly further ahead from where front feet were – just like you can see in “experimenting with the toy” video at 1:16, 2:16 and 2:27 tries for example – those were very nice!!!
The faster the dog is moving, the further ahead from front feet hind feet will be landing and as a consequence, you will have MUCH bigger length covered as if hind feet hit where front feet were – meaning that if Bi’s front feet are above the contact, her first hind foot will be in the middle of the contact and the second one will be right at it’s bottom. - While if the dog’s hind feet only come to where front feet were, he is missing the contact in this situation - instead of getting a perfect one
That’s exactly why I always get suspicious when I hear people saying their dog is hitting with 4 feet. With a BC size dog, running full speed with good hind feet separation, it’s pretty much impossible to fit all 4 feet in. 3 is possible, but if they can fit all 4 feet in that small area, they don’t cover enough of an area and when they will be higher, all 4 feet will be out of the contact. Bi on the other hand is a typical example of the dog covering LOTS of an area, meaning that even if her front feet are landing in the middle of the down ramp (yeah, she desperately wants to do it in one hit), the second hind foot will be in the contact, as you can see in this video:
Complicated? Don't worry, it gets easier when you start to see the dog's stride 🙂
Hi Silvia and classmates,
My boyfriend will make our planks together this weekend ( with bars underneath for support) and then I have to paint them so we can’t do much running the next days. 🙁
Last Thursday we’ve practiced at the club, but unfortunately we can not often go there, so I hope we will catch up soon!
Here is the video of last Thursday (First time we’ve raised the planks some)
I’ve send her around a pole, about 3m before the planks
Jonina & Jin
Good, but I would reward somewhat differently… I would jackpot tries like 14 and 11 (great hind feet separation!) and wouldn’t jackpot 9 and definitely not 13 (not enough hind feet separation + high hit). I think we had better hind feet separation before, so pay attention to it in order not to loose it!
Ok thank you, I hope I can see the different and click (and jackpot) the right things!
Yes, Bella is definitely running. Tried the 20 inch DW without the plywood tonight, again sending her to slightly curved tunnel…then to tunnel and throwing ball as she’s exiting tunnel & approaching DW. The first time was beautiful, but the next 4-5 she was drifting off the side of the down ramp. It seems like Bella is very sensitive to even slightest bad throw . So for the heck of it, I sent Bella the opposite way …from the DW to the tunnel and then threw the ball for her as she exited the tunnel….she did great!! Course didn’t have the camera rolling…but was wondering if you thought it would be okay to maybe continue with this…thought we could do jump wrap to DW to tunnel…with ball thrown after the tunnel? Still “yes” marking & jp good DW hits. If so, how far would you recommend jump before DW and how far for tunnel after DW?
oops…sorry, thought this was posting under our other posts
Sure, you can do it that way if she pulls that well into the tunnel! We usually go to that step later on as it can be difficult for some dogs, but if she is fine with it, you can definitely go to that step already. Set the tunnel about 7m away and the jump maybe 5 or 6.
Hi Silvia…I wasn’t sure how to get this comment & video to post under our initial thread for lesson 1 with it being at the very bottom of a page, so am replying here to our most recent posts with you to keep the train of thought & suggestions in sync. So since the above post, we’ve had 3 more sessions with the jump wrap to 20 inch DW to tunnel…going to the tunnel stopped the problems with her drifting off the side of down ramp, but Bella seemed to loose some speed and her striding & contact hits were very inconsistent. So tonight I changed up the sequence and went Tunnel to DW and straight out to Jump with much better looking runs!
This video is where we are as of tonight…..when reviewing the video(as well as the last couple sessions) I noticed that when Bella does what I count as a 3 stride, she ends with an extended leap completely missing the contact. But when she’s doing a 4 stride, she hits the contact zone pretty consistently in the top 1/3. With tonight’s tunnel-DW-jump set up she had more of the 4 stride & hit runs. Should she be deeper into the contact zone even thou she does still run through the rest of the bottom? Should I maybe adjust the tunnel distance some to try for a deeper contact hit? Is there anything else you see we should change? She does seem to do much better with maintaining her speed and forward focus with having a single jump ahead of the DW than when I had the tunnel at the exit.
Any other thoughts on our latest session?
I’m still a little confused about how to correctly count strides, but when I noticed a difference in what Bella looked like over the past couple session I’ve tried to pay more attention to it..what I’ve been doing is not counting the first and last “hit” on the DW and only counting each full stride (not sure if that makes sense, but when you see my video you may have a better idea of how I’m counting stride…please don’t hesitate to correct my counting method so I can better understand & be consistent with you) Thanks………Nancy
Yes, that’s how I count strides too and yes, you definitely want 4 with her. I think what gave you 3 was a toy thrown too late and too high. However, 4 stride tries are not perfect either as she is so high. For now, definitely reward it, but do try to see if you can get better extension and her deeper in… Maybe with a toy thrown in advance, but really soon and low? Or maybe a static toy after the jump?
Ok, feeling a bit frustrated on what to do now. Was away from RC training this weekend for a trial…but the couple sessions before the weekend and then again today, our RC training has not gone well. I kept DW @ 20 inches, and sent to tunnel about 15 foot from DW…but did away with obstacles after the DW to get Bella to just run in hopes of getting back better extension, speed, 4 stride & deeper contact hits. But it’s just not happening.
So tonight after the first 3 low DW runs were 3 strides + leap I decided to go back to our last real successful set up…no DW, just the plywood raised about 8 inches….first with restrained starts and then sending to tunnel to plywood. Only got in 4-5 runs as she was showing signs of getting tired & it was getting close to dark. In these last runs on the raised plywood, Bella stopped throwing in that long leap at the end like she had been doing on the DW, but the striding just still doesn’t seem like it was when this setup was going well before going to low DW (unfortunately I didn’t get this on video).
Before we go out again, I just wanted to know what your thoughts are on this….was I correct to go back to the last successful set up? If so, should I do this for a few more sessions then? Or is there something else you think we should do?
oh, about our trial, I debated whether to scratch her for the STD class because of the Contacts, but was willing to accept a NQ for missed contacts in exchange for a chance to offer Bella more trial exposure and fun times!! She did slow down considerably on the DW compared to what she had been at home with the RC training and did miss the down DW contact each day…but had a nice AF…and showed increasing enthusiasm & drive with each run….and in ExA JWW she earned her first Q!!
Was wondering what you thought about us re-doing the plywood raised 8 inches a few times and if have good success,then we could set the middle section DW up at 8 inches and put the plywood on top of the DW down ramp…leaving out the DW up ramp for a couple sessions…then remove the plywood and continue with the 2/3 DW set at 8 inches. then if all goes well, add the up ramp. ????
Beginnings are often hard with retrained dogs, so things actually went almost too well to be true. So yes, going back to the last good set up was a good idea. I would do some more sessions like that and then go to plywood on 8 inches DW yes, sounds like a good plan. And congratulations on your Q!
It’s funny, when the first 3 runs on the low DW were not good, I stopped & took Bella for a short walk where she could run in the woods and could I play the game “2W2S” game…oh, that’s “What Would Sylvia Say”…and in my head you said, several sessions of repeat issue…go back to last successful set up and work from there!! Thanks for getting in my head Sylvia, oh and for the Q Congrats!!
🙂 See, you soon won’t even need the class anymore! 🙂
Oh, and I definitely need this class, I just like being able to think & try to resolve problems on my own from what I’m learning from this class!! So, NO, I NEED the class & your expertise & support 🙂
We did a couple more short sessions again with the plywood raised 8″ & then the 2/3 DW raised 8″ and with the 22″ wide plywood on the down ramp…again send to tunnel to 2/3 DW with ball being thrown as she’s exiting tunnel. Seemed she had the best hits with tunnel 9-12 ft away. We did 2 sessions of 12-15 repetitions with overall about 75% good hits…but of that, it was 50-50 with front vs hind…thinking maybe the leaping onto the middle DW session could be affecting her getting a consistent stride going I set up the full DW, again at 8″ & with plywood…we did 2 sessions with this…and then it rained and I hadn’t brought in the plywood (it wasn’t painted) and it warped, so I took it off and just kept the set up with the full DW raised 8″,we had our first session with that today…here is the video:
what do you think? Are we ok to continue with more sessions with this set up?
I also noticed in looking at this video that because our yard has a gradual slope that the DW down ramp doesn’t seem to have the same apex angle as the up ramp…should I try to correct this somehow or will it not affect Bella’s striding & understanding? The location is the flattest area. I could have her run the other direction on the DW but couldn’t throw the ball far enough because of driveway/cars…but could run her into a tunnel on that end if you think that would help. (Also I do have 2 tunnels, the new one is 12 ft 4pitch and is great for U tunnel…but the 2nd is cheapy canvas tunnel that’s best used straight)
Also, I changed up “how” I was jackpotting Bella…just seemed like neither of us could tell the difference with the exception to the excitement in voice & praise. At trials, and other aspects of our agility training, we use a soft frisbee as her big reward…she tugs & I make a few short throws…just started this with RC sessions the other day and see a huge difference in Bella’s understanding. When she’s not hearing my YES mark and excited praise, can tell the way she brings the ball back to me….but oh boy, give that YES & praise and she’s on full screach to get back to that frisbee tug!! I think it’s been an “ah ha” moment for her and gives me a better way to control my mark & praise for the “right” reasons!!
Great! It’s important that they understand the difference and yes, if they understand it, you should be able to see a difference in their response.
Normally, I prefer somewhat higher successful rate, but let’s try some more sessions and see what’s the trend. You might also want to try to run her in the other direction (into the tunnel) and see which direction (up or down hill) gives you a better successful rate and then stick with the one that is better for now before adding more challenges.
Ok…here we go again, or should I say STILL 🙁 We’ve done at least 6 or 7 more sessions with full DW raised 8 inches…have varied starting positions (mine & Bella’s), adjusted distance from DW, sent around cone, sent to tunnel to DW to nothing…and vice versa, stationary toy, thrown ball before, during and after tunnel…and gave each change at least 6-7 repetitions to see if I could get some consistency with her striding and contact hits. It actually seemed to get worse, well she does have consistency…but not what we want. She seems to want to do a 3 stride DW with the extended leap at the end, regardless of what changes I make. Here is the video from this morning’s short session where she is now only giving me 3 strides and no contact hits 🙁
Again thinking I need to go back to previous successful set up, a few hours later I set up the teetor plank raised 8″, with Tunnel to plank to nothing. I used the teetor plank thinking maybe if it was “color difference” causing this stride/leap preference that this might help Bella to work thru it…plus it was easier than taking apart the DW again, and my plywood I was using before had warped after getting rained on. Anyways, here’s the video from this session with the teeter plank:
After using this teeter set up, I honestly don’t think it’s the “color difference” on the contacts, I think maybe a couple factors…1 she’s a retrain & I imagine this isn’t uncommon? 2,we didn’t stay long enough at this or maybe an earlier step of your RC program…3, possibly my “marking” her good hits were coming late enough to confuse her on what she was being marked for? With this new set up of the teeter, I’ve also started using the clicker, then a softer spoken “yes” . It seems to have caught her attention, so much so that several times she actually came to me for her frisbee tug reward instead of retrieving the ball first & then getting the tug. But being afraid that she would then start “turning” toward me and not following thru with her running stride, I’ve made sure that she knows that retrieving the ball is part of the process, but am happy that she is recognizing the marker I’m giving her.
So, what are your thoughts Silvia?
Oh, and here’s what her DW looked like this week at the Springer National Specialty Agility Trial, this is just her DW from the Open STD class. Although she’s far from running, I was happy that she stayed consistent and through to the bottom with no leaping. (didn’t Q thou as we had a “table issue” oh well, was a fun run)
Forgot to mention, I even moved the DW to more level ground, DW looks better there but it didn’t make any difference in Bella’s performance 🙁
Yeap, looks to me like she needs some more plank work to understand the importance of going all the way down better. Teeter plank set up gives you some great hits and some huge leaps, so I think that’s a good set up to do some training. Once the % of leaps drops to almost zero, you could try DW again, but maybe just from the middle first and then slowly taking her further back. I would probably also try to use somewhat higher DW as it might be less tempting for her to go for 3 strides on higher DW. So try to add some height on this plank first and then go to higher DW, but only running part of it first. And yes, she should get a ball first before getting a jackpot as otherwise, you will loose the forward focus…
ok..thanks Silvia…will follow your advice!! I also took advantage of not using the DW for a bit and gave it a new coat of paint w/sand additive today, as the planks did seem a little slippery where the paint/sand was worn a little…maybe this was creating a traction issue for her too!
Hi Silvia,
Here is an update (I am not sure how to post under my 1st update?). Raised the plank up and added an up-plank so they didnt have to leap on.
Vids 1-5 (ignore 2, its in the wrong place) just running straight with Ink (and Shim on 5)- all straight, looks fine, I think.
6&7- starting curves with Ink- did not reward either of these, as although she had hind foot separation I thought it was too high- yes? I think she might need more speed and then she might get deeper, do you agree?
8&9- Shim- what I get with turns mostly. She slows down, and does lots of little strides. I dont really like this, what do you think?
10- slightly faster, but I think it was a jump, didnt reward
11- jump
12- really liked- jackpot. I dont get this very often when I give her a big run up, but I get this stride pattern VERY regularly when we practice in the garden from a standing start. I am not sure how to get it more when she has a run up! It seems to just turn into a hind leg together jump when she gives me more speed (like 11)
13+14 were Ink doing curves going the other way- bizzarely looking good. She must be R handed.
What do you think?
Thanks
Kriszty
To post under your previous videos, just hit “reply” to your first post. Anyway, it’s in fact not uncommon the dogs are curving easier in one direction. I think left is easier for my other dogs, but it’s not very obvious -- both sides are almost equal. But Bi has a BIG preference for right curves: her right curves are perfect right from the start -- and we’re still struggling with left curves… Maybe go more gradually with left curves, setting a jump under less degrees first? At first, I would be o.k. even with higher hits to the weak side, but then of curse go for deeper hits.
Shim’s turns actually look pretty good to me -- definitely faster as in the last video you posted. You can practice some more from a standing start if that gives you best hits, but I think also 8 and 9 were perfectly o.k. In order to keep good speed, try to mix in some straight exits too. Bu slows dow on turns a lot if I precise just turns, but does them really nicely if I mix it up with straight exits. Great job so far, they sure seem to understand this game really well!
Hello,
J’ai un problème avec Fluff !
Comme je t’ai dit, au club sur DW entière elle fait 2 foulées et à la maison 3 foulées (la planche horizontale ne mesurant que un peu plus de 2 mètre, pas la place de mettre +).
Mercredi entrainement au club et très bonne session avec peu de mauvais running (environ 80% de bon), jeudi repos, vendredi entrainement au jardin et plein d’erreurs !, samedi au club au début que des erreurs avec saut !, puis en reprenant que la descente puis çà nouveau la DW entière elle a retrouvé un bon running.
Je me demande si le fait de ne pas faire la descente avec le même nombre de foulées au club et à la maison ne la perturbe pas et qu’elle ne sait plus comment faire ? Est ce qu’il ne vaut mieux pas que je ne fasse plus la DW qu’au club, donc DW entière ? mais je ne pourrai la faire que 3 fois par semaine. Qu’en penses tu ?
I have a problem with Fluff!
As I said at the club she makes DW with 2 full strides and at home three strides (the horizontal plank measuring just a little over 2 meters, not the place to more).
Wednesday training at the club and very good session with not much running bad (about 80% good), Thursday rest, Friday training in the garden and full of errors!, Saturday at the club, at the beginning full of errors with jump! And by taking the descent and here again the full DW she has recovered a good running.
I wonder if the fact of not make the descent with the same number of strides to the club and at home do not disturb her and she does not know what to do? Is it better than I would make the DW only at the club, so full DW ? but I can make that only 3 times a week. What do you think?
I think it’s actually very good if they know to do DW with different striding patterns… And afterall, when you do just the second part of DW at the club, how is that different from what you do at home? Training 3 times a week is perfectly o.k. at this stage, so I wouldn’t worry about that, but maybe you could still work at home too, but maybe focus on turns at home and on putting DW in (straight and easy) sequences at the club? You could also start with A-frame.
Hi Silvia,
Getting caught up after moving and loss of power and internet following a hurricane. Here’s where Bree is on running the 24′ carpet. After the first try I moved the carpet farther from the tunnel so she would hit the end of the carpet and we could get some jackpots in. While she’s no longer leaping over the end of the carpet, it looks like she still extends her last stride on the carpet. Not sure what that means. Should we continue on with the carpet or be doing something else at this point?
Thanks, Carol
Hi it says it is private cant watch it.
Sorry, can’t see it, it’s private…
Sorry about that. I’ve changed it to public. Thanks to you and Alicia for letting me know!
Huh, you are right, the last stride is still longer and airy… I think 5 was the best, but still not completely equal… Hm. Do you have two tunnels maybe? Then we could try running her from one to another, leaving the carpet in between but pretending it’s nothing, running her back and forth and marking and jackpotting if she starts to run normally. It usually works well with dogs who pull well towards tunnels, so definitely something to try. Other options would be to try different starting positions and different timings of a throw.
Hi Silvia & classmates,
Let me introduce myself first, my name is Bianca and I’m from the Netherlands. I will follow this RC class with, Dazzle my BC (he had his b-day tomorrow) and he is turning 8 years old. We are in competitions for the last 6 year.
Until a few months ago we practice 2on2off. His contacts were turning slower and at my agility club they train RC so I decided to do RC to. I’m training with a electronic contact mat, when he hits it there is beep and a ball automatically releases. At first it was hard to get him off his 2on2off position. And after that I back chained him to the beginning of the DW.
Somewhere it went wrong . . . I can give details how I trained him, but I don’t think that’s imported.
Here is my first video 😉 We started today with the first ground work. And I show what happen on the high DW, this is at home in a competition it´s even worse, he will jump off high and miss the contact.
I have to do some catching up!! But not sure where to start. I know his contacts are terrible like this, but where do I have to start? Can I start with the down ramp or back to the carpet first?
Can’t wait to begin!! Thanks already!!
Bianca & Dazzle
Oops I did something wrong, I should not be in a replay.
.
For retrained dogs, carpet work is even more important as they need to forget about the stopping and just start running. Because yes, he is not really running on his DW (see some videos on this page to compare) -- he is stopping and then leaping off when he hears a beep: to me, it looks like he is going into 2on2off, but then releases on a beep, it doesn’t look like running at all. So yes, definitely start with the carpet! Happy running!
Thank you Silvia!!
We just did the firts carpet session, only the battery of the camera went flat. Howmany sessions do we need to do on the carpet? I ask this because I have to do some catching up, and next week is the next lesson. So I can build in enough sessions for the carpet work 😉 I will post a video tomorrow.
Depends how he will be running, but you need to do at least 10 to 15 successful (meaning running all out) carpet sessions. For the next step, you will need a thin, wide (double width) plank, so you can meantime try to get that. -- Meaning that you won’t be able to catch up till next lesson, so don’t even try, after 7 years of stopping, it’s only fair to give him time and build this gradually.
Hallo! Cant see the video because of the music, its forbidden in germany….. Can you show it without music please?
I’m sorry next video I will make without music, I didn’t know that.
I shut down the volume, I hope you can see it now. I don’t know how to delete the music, first time with movie maker 😉
Yeah Im allowed to see it ;-). Thanx!
Here are today’s runs. Longer carpet. I used a ball for the first half and food for the 2nd. She was faster with food--but generally faster each day. If we are looking at “hits” I didn’t see very many good ones. Any feedback?
No, we are not looking at hits, we’re looking at the form of running… And yes, she is still leapy, but I think you throw too late. Work on chasing the toy away from the carpet. What is your position in food tries?
Directly in front of her about 20 feet away.
I though so, but as I said before, you need to practise being behind already now as it will get you in trouble sooner or later -- see the problems of the other PRT we have in the class. As you won’t be able to be 20 feet in front of her on every DW, you need to practice behind behind too already now that things are still simple -- or they will fall apart later on, as soon as you will end behind.
Good--I missed this response about being behind…will work on that next. Can’t seem to find the one I posted earlier in the week on the carpet inside. Sometimes it is so difficult to find the posts.
Yes, I noticed I keep saying the same things over and over again 🙂 Try to remember when you posted your video and then search for my answer, otherwise it really doesn’t make any sense… Also, check the “recent comments” page, you do want to read as many discussions as possible and watch as many videos of other participants as possible to get a better picture of what you’re going for.
Hello Silvia and Classmates,
Here is our session from today. I set Maia back at least 16 feet at the beginning. She was in most of the time, but very high so I set her back a full DW length to see what would happen -- she got better and better hits. The last two were perfect I think -- front foot in then two back feet nice and low. Should I continue like this for a few more sessions still?
Nice! You can do some more sessions like this yes before adding the object. Another idea would be to lay down planks of real DW (I think you have it?) and then raise the whole thing SLOWLY -- maybe that would promote less air as jumping on an object?
Great. I will do some more sessions like this this week. Yes, I have an adjustable DW. So if I set it up low, I still add a plank at one end correct?
I was thinking to set it on the ground first, using the hill (supporting it on some places to make it stabile) and then slowly raise the whole thing, without additional plank.
I had 3 sessions of just the plank, as above and starting her from far, far away. She did great each time with a success rate of at least 90%. So, today, I connected all three planks as in the picure below.
I started her from various positions on the middle plank first, then moved her back slowly. This is our first session like this. It was not great, but it was not a disaster either, so I am encouraged by it. I think I will start her in the middle a bit more and then move her back even more slowly although she is much faster when I start her before the entire dog walk. What do you think?
I’m not sure why the photo does not want to post but here’s another try.
http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq52/ChinookMaia/DSC_0964.jpg
Cool, I actually liked 14 and 19 a lot as I think that will be her real striding, only that she will fly over an apex more when it gets more pronounced and will be even deeper, but those were really good to start with. I would try this starting point more -- and going to the middle if you get too many bad ones in a row: a kind of going back and forth as needed to keep good enough successful rate.
It’s private, we can’t see it.
Sorry about that… I don’t know why my youtube account always sets them that way =). Should be fixed now.
She reminds me a little of my Spur. Some very slight slowing on the horizontal plank and then two strides on the down isn’t enough. Spur has to really adjust to get in three strides on the down as two just doesn’t get him deep enough. I will be curious to hear what Silvia says. If Spur takes two strides on the horizontal plank, then he leaves earlier for the down and manages three strides down perfectly. If he puts in a third stride on the horizontal plank he ended up wanting to do two on the down and that’s very hard for him, but he figured it out and adjusted and his most common striding is 2-3-3, but with time he is figuring out 2-2-3 on occasion as he gets more confidence and more speed.
Cute little dog!!! She looks very fun!
But… -- as we see in her first try, this dog can easily be nicely in with two hits -- if only she ran the same way with handler behind as she runs with handler in front.
And so can Spur if only he would not slow some on his horizontal plank. He has done a few two-stride downs really well/deep at trials lately! 😀
This is actually very typical problem for a terrier 🙂 Unlike BCs, small dogs and terriers in particular don’t naturally pull forward well, so it’s very important you work on it right from the start -- that’s also why I have been bothering Toni with her PRT to absolutely work with a toy in front right from the start as it’s easier to get rid of a toy as a handler forward position. Because yes, as soon as you’re not forward, she is checking with you, shortens her stride and is sometimes not in even with 3 hits even though she does it with no problem with 2 hits when you’re in front. Nadia with her PyrShep has the same problem, so read that thread as well, but in short, we need to find something that would make her as much in a hurry as you in front do. A toy? A tunnel? Did you try with a toy thrown in advance? The one time I can see a ball in a video, it’s thrown too late and not far enough, you would need to throw it sooner and further to make it work and give us more forward focus. So let’s try this and i it works, you can then continue with lesson 3 that explains how to get rid of a toy. Meantime, definitely work on her drive into the tunnel or o the jump, whatever is easier for her.
The first dogwalk was without toy completely. Then I started throwing her favorite ball, and there was a learning curve for me, timing wise for sure. I felt I was almost distracting her to much with it, and she was lifting her head and front and it was affecting her striding. I’ll play with this and see if I can target her out in front somehow or better place the toys.
Thanks!
Yes, if she is not used to run over planks after the moving toy, it can distract her… The reason I like to do it is because it recreates the excitement of a trial and allows you to really train with full speed, so the contacts won’t fall apart once the dog adds speed. It also gives you good forward focus independently from the handler position. But you can get that also with a tunnel if she pulls well to them or a static toy if that gives her the same speed. Try, tape and see what would be best for her.
Hi Silvia.
Well, the good news is I think Da Vinci is getting a lot more comfortable on the narrow plank. He definitely runs more and we are getting speed. It seems like I either get a contact OR running, but not a lot of both. We worked on the 8″ single plank for a few days, then tried 16″ mini-DW today. He didn’t want to run much from a point on the horizontal board. I tried running with him back and forth tunnel-DW-tunnel-DW…not much to jackpot, but when he does get it I think it is good. I’m not sure he is understanding that he has to run AND aim for the end of the board. I was pleased that he was willing to run on the 16″ height, but was it too soon? With the tunnel-DW-tunnel-DW setup, he was having a great time.
The video is way too long but I needed to see it all together for my own learning. Sorry if you have to skip forward to see our most recent sessions. Dates are in the title frames so should at least be easy to skip ahead for you.
Looking forward to your comments. What do you recommend?
Kristin
The plank sure looked great, what a hind feet separation! On full DW, he doesn’t look so comfortable yet, but I guess there is no other way as practice and experience here… Do experiment with different stuff (running to a tunnel, food, thrown toy etc.) to see what gives you the best hits and then stick with it, to not practice leaping too much, but I guess more confidence and experience on real DW is the first thing we need now.