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 🙂
Working on editing lessons 1 & 2. I guess I’m not very techno savvy and can’t seem to figure out how to cut out the parts of my video that I don’t want…but I’ll get it and post shortly. For now I’ll try to post Lesson 3 Day 1. Enjoy! Pamela & Cooper
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=user/shattuckyachts?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/BVzTWFB0AKw
Nice 🙂 Good luck with editing -- you can ask here if somebody has the same program and can help you.
Hi Silvia
Earlier on I’ve tried to have a pole before the DW, to get a better contact but he doesn’t care. Today I put a rather big “box” before, and he just stepped on it as you’ll see. Then I tried a “streetboard” but I only got one good hit on the 1st contact. Do you have better ideas to train the 1st contact -- and should I click for good hits going up????
Also a video with the tricks:
GREAT job with tricks!!! With Bi, I use an empty plastic bottle as a stride regulator before DW. It makes her up contacts really good when it’s there and improves them when not there, but it’s of course not 100% as it doesn’t really teach much understanding… I mark it with “yes”. Normally, if she hits up contact, then she can do 4 strides and is nicely deep in the down contact too. When she misses it and starts her striding higher up, then she often goes for 3 strides and is often very high, sometimes too high. Your Terv seems to have the same striding as her: he is fine if he does 4 strides and hind feet meet the down ramp first -- but too high if he goes for 3 strides. How often he misses up contact and did you notice the connection of missing up contact and being too high on down contact? You can try with a bottle as a stride regulator and marking the good ones, but if it doesn’t improve his % of hits enough, you’ll probably need to go to front feet target on up contact, it works pretty well for up contacts, but of course takes some speed away…
Hi Silvia
I’ve done some sessions where we have worked on the up contact -- and it’s getting much better. Unfortunely he stille have high hits. It looks to me like he is adjusting his strides so he can do the down plank in one stride and that’s why he still gets the high hits. Hmmm… I may have clicked him too much for just having seperate hind feets and havn’t focused enough on the contact. Now I’m thinking of letting him run on a lower DW or what do you think?
I’ve posted a video with bad contacts but I think it shows the problem.
Slow motion video would be even better 🙂 But yes, he is missing too many, I think you indeed need to go back down and focus more on hits. Hind feet separation is good enough 🙂
Hi there
I havn’t trained much this week, but at the training I have focused on better hits -- still on a real DW. This is a video from the session last sunday, where he is trying to get deeper. I think I should keep on like this -- but what do you think?
Yeah, you can either just continue like that and select for deeper&deeper hits OR you can make his task easier at first with lower DW and then go from there, insisting on deep hits.
Ok -- tried with lower DW to-day and I got some really nice hits. He also made very good 1st. contacts 🙂
Is it ok to stay at this height for some sessions?
Great! Definitely stay on this height for a while, selecting for lower contacts -- and then SLOWLY raise it again.
OK still technically challenged trying again to put a video up -- yes I’m getting help from a friend tomorrow but until then… This should say Lesson 1 (not 2) Day 1.
httpv://www.youtube.com/user/shattuckyachts?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/pRq-kI1kCO8
Here is Liberty’s first attempts on the plank this evening chasing a toy.
Oh yeah another accomplishment is that I learned how to merge multi videos!
Melanie & Liberty
GREAT!!! That’s better as running on grass! 🙂 Don’t forget to mark and jackpot those nice hits!
Hi,
Here is Ripple’s plank work as of a couple of days ago. The next day she didn’t want to know and had no drive to play the game and was jumping slowly off the plank. She saw her chiro the next day and was sore so I won’t do another session until maybe Monday. I’m hoping the lack of drive was due to her being sore for some reason rather than not loving her plank 🙂
I will post the cavaletti, pivot work and running on the flat for both dogs over the weekend.
Thanks,
Charlotte
O.k., I hope she is feeling better soon! Why did you went back to the table set up?
Silvia this is Ripple, not Blaze and video taken before I changed Blaze’s set up too.
Would love your thoughts on her striding and if she needs to go onto the low dogwalk too?
Thanks
Yeap, as you have a low DW, I would definitely use it, it will make it easier for them to adjust their striding as they have more room there. Ripple does the same as Blaze: she gets in trouble if she gets too deep on a plank with a first stride, but is nicely in if she hits the plank very high. At the end, she will have the same striding as we’re discussing with Fanny -- see her video and my comment bellow.
Thanks Silvia. Do you think Ripple is doing the over reaching? I hope to get her back onto her plank training on Monday. She has been out and about today doing some tricks and out for a 5km run with me today and looking great.
Oh, no, not at all, I wasn’t trying to imply that. I only asked you to read the other answer as I was explaining what stride Fanny should be going for as Ripple will need to figure out that striding too and it will be hard to get it on this set up.
Thanks. I don’t think it helps that we have such short ramps and a huge variety of shapes/angles etc with dogwalks here in New Zealand. However we will give this our best shot.
Yeah, it does make things harder, but I’m actually surprised how well the dogs adjust to the differences. Our DWs vary a lot too and it’s a problem for first few times you meet another one of a different length, but then they get better&better at adjusting.
Thanks that gives me a lot more confidence that I can make this work here, I’m sure for Lisa and Zing too 🙂
Hi Silvia, I think I’ve hit a problem time for Ripple. She was treated by the chiro last week and had until yesterday off. Last week she trained beautifully on Monday and on Tuesday just didn’t want to know 🙁 I put her back on the plank yesterday and she is still jumping and then getting confused when she isn’t getting rewarded and then giving up on me. I’m not sure if she hurt herself on the plank on Monday last week and has negative association with it or not. She is a softie, heaps of drive but desperate to please and does tend to worry if she doesn’t understand. So for the second session yesterday we went back to the plank on the ground. Some were good, some were jumps. Today she was a bit better again and I’ve gone right back to getting her to chase the ball across the plank and then playing tug on her return for the good ones and just repeating after the not so good ones. Is this what you would do to build her back up?
Many thanks, Charlotte and Ripple
Yes, definitely the right thing to do when things are not going as well as before! I hope she is back to normal soon!
Here is Ripple’s cavaletti and pivot work. She has only just started pivot work on the pot! I was using a low balance cushion but when I taped her doing it I realised she was bouncing around rather than stepping around so I have changed to a higher and stable object. She kept trying to sit on it or all fours like in her dish!!!
Charlotte
Great! Loved her activity level and enthusiasm! 🙂 Beautiful cavaletti work too, very nice movement!
Thanks Silvia, I’m looking forward to helping Rip find her way back to her usual self on her plank 🙂
Thanks re her movement, she is a big moving girl for someone so small, she is heaps of fun but does have this super sensitive side too but I adore her.
Yeap, super sensitive is sometimes hard to train as you need to be sooo careful. BUT the great thing is that once they get it, they will always give it all to be right!
Totally agree with you there Silvia. I tend to like the sensitive dogs 🙂 Ripple is desperate to please and I think she just doesn’t understand what it is I want at the moment. We played on the plank this morning, I’ve gone right back to square one with her running on the plank chasing a ball and playing tug for the running hits. We only did 5 reps, got one jump in amongst them the rest good, one had less hind leg separation than the other 3 running hits so didn’t play tug after than one. Good news is she had fun and was racing back to me after each rep which she wasn’t doing earlier in the week.
Hi Silvia,
As with Blaze I have taken Ripple back to the carpet. For her it was mostly to get her confidence and joy back -- sensitive soul that she is. I’ve changed from a ball to another toy which has helped her but made my throwing not quite so good!!!
How long should I do this for and where to next?
Many thanks.
Charlotte and Ripple
5 or 6 sessions like this and then two planks end to end.
Hi Charlotte,
My boyfriend thought you put your video with Ripple (doing cavaletti and pivot work) in a speed up motion 😀 So great to see her having so much fun doing it!
LOL Jonina, too funny. Yes Rip is a very quick mover! You should see her jump, I call her my flying flea! Interestingly her sister who is smaller (Blaze) in height but more powerful and looks different when she moves but their speed is pretty much identical.
Hi Silvia, today we did the A-Frame was not so good 🙁
I Jackpoted the tries that are in slow motion, Training I saw that she was better than I see on the video, I think she is too high most of the times.
How do you see us, wath should I do?
Thank you
Wow, another impressive clicker!! Great job clicking! 😀
Amy and Little Spur
Huh, that’s strange, this was supposed to be in reply to Stevy’s video. ??
Hi Amy,
I accidently posted my work-out here as a reply of Ana.
I added the same work-out also in my threat (somewhere on page 4), and I think Silvia deleted this one here to avoid duplicates.
Kind regards,
Stevy
Well, but I think the trend was good: it started not so good, but by the end of the session, you had hits only, no? I would keep working like that to see if that stays the trend, they sometimes need some time to settle with one striding. You could put the A-frame a little lower as normal height.
I’ve been trying to find ways to get more rear paw hits and see when over reaching happens. At first, I tried the plank on the ground again and tried to find a distance where I would get rear paw hits. I got one repetition (1.3.) that I marked and rewarded, but when I saw it on video it seems like over reaching. The others were ok, I thought. All was rewarded.
I then thought it might be easier for him to learn to push off with his hind feet if I raised the plank slightly. Therefore, I went to a low dogwalk and in the first session it looked like I was right. He had rear paw hits in most repetitions. He over reached once and I didn’t see it and rewarded it (again!). He didn’t have full speed, maybe because it was first time on a dog walk, maybe because it was at the dog club with people and dogs passing by his toy.
Last two sessions are from home where we continued with the low dog walk. Unfortunately, the set up seems to be unstable and moves a bit. In these sessions, 50% of hits are rear paws and 50% are front paws. Maybe I’ll get more rear paw hits if I make the set up more stable and he starts to run faster.
The biggest problem is that I don’t see the over reaching when it happens, I need to watch the video. Even when I let some one else handle the dog and all I do is click, I’m not sure. Maybe I should try to make a bigger difference between rear paw hits (where I’m sure he’s not over reaching) and front paws? He does not seem to loose speed if I he doesn’t get the reward, but I have rewarded all but one in the video.
He definitely looks ready for a low DW, but yes, you need to fix it better, I would put a support under down/up ramp too and try to fix the horizontal plank. Also, make sure your reward is far enough, I think he is slowing down at the club because the toy is too close. Low DW is good as it allows him to hit the down ramp with hind feet first and then can do a nice extended stride that takes him in with hind feet. When you only do a plank, they hit it with front feet first and then on tries where he was hitting it further along the plank (like in 1.3 and to some degree also in 1.4, that was was somewhat “overreachy” too -- the rest were o.k. as he hit the plank closer to the beginning), if he wanted to still be in, he needed to shorten the stride some and I think that’s what took him into an overreach -- it at least looks like that on this video, already on a plank and then also on a DW. He is hitting the nicest when hind feet hit the plank first, as in 2.3 in 2.4. Flying the apex makes him leap (2.5) or shorten his stride and then overreach as a consequence (4.3). So you can try watching him at the apex -- if he is flying, that won’t end well 🙂 If he is striding through, then he will be fine. It might be easier to see it as yes, overreach is hard to see, especially if you’re watching the contact. If you watch the dog, you can see something strange, as if he is going to fall on his nose -- I saw it with a student who had this problem in live, but wasn’t sure what’s strange until I saw a video.
Anyway, this set up would be best for your other dog too. I think her problem is the same, she flies the apex and that puts her in trouble. It’s easier to get hind feet first on very low DW, when the apex is not so pronounced. I think she really needs to learn it as next year, FCI is shortening the DWs from 3.8-4.1m to 3.6-3.8m (per plank) and 5 strides will get impossible for most BCs, they will need to figure out 4 strides.
After a break over the weekend, I set the low dogwalk up on a different spot and made sure it didn’t move. I had two sessions with Epic and Squid got to do her first session of running contacts in months (her puppies are 7 weeks old now and she’s eager to get out of her maternity leave).
Epic still has a lot of front paw hits, but got jackpotted for rear paws. I’m not sure how big difference the jackpot makes for him as he is very happy as long as he gets the toy. The ones that were not rewarded were all very high rear paw hits (missed contact). I don’t feel like rewarding missed contacts, but I also don’t like punishing him for trying to push off with rear paws. I also feel that maybe I shouldn’t reward the higher front paw hits like 5.5.
I also noticed that he started to stride over the up contact, which made me very nervous. Tried with stride regulator just to not have him repeat a behavior I don’t want, but in the first session, I didn’t get the placement right. In the second session i put the bump 11-12 feet from the up contact and got nice up contacts. This also seemed to make his down contact a little better. I don’t think stride regulators will help much in the long run, but at least he isn’t repeating striding over it. Don’t you think you could have criteria for a running up contact, just like you do with the down contact?
This is Squid’s session. After watching the video, my conclusion is that I have to be more strict with criteria and don’t reward high front paw hits like 1.2. Those quick decisions are so hard, but I think I’m getting better…
With Epic, I agree with what you rewarded/jackpotted. He is still overreachy in some of the front feet hits, but as long as both front feet are nicely in, you can of course still reward it. But yes, try not to reward high front feet hits. With Squid, knowing her overreach problem, I wouldn’t reward 1.2, 1.3 and 1.9. 1.6 is clearly an overreach too, but as she is in with both feet, you can reward those, but definitely try to get more of 4 stride pattern by jackpotting those hind feet in. I teach jackpotting concept through tricks so by the time I use it on a plank, they know it really well, I also additionally mark it with my voice (vs. just clicker for good tries) and then play much more for those tries. Also, I saw you work with a static toy. I think you would get better extension on top plank and therefore more 4 stride patterns if you threw the toy -- that early that they can see it as soon as when on horizontal plank to extend more there and then hit down plank with hind feet first.
And yes, you could work the up contact the same way, the only problem is that it’s hard to work two things at the same time… So usually, I just leave it alone and very often, it actually gets better on its own. If not, I would address that then.
Today, I tried to throw the ball as the dogs ran over the dogwalk. I might have been a little late with the throw anyway and will try to throw earlier the next time. At first, I really struggled with throwing low and straight enough, which gave Epic a lot of misses in his first session. I got better along the way.
What was worse was that my observational skills totally suck! I accidentally jackpotted many tried that I thought were hind feet but on video turned out to be front feet. I can’t believe that I’m so bad at seeing this. Squid seemed to get even more into front feet hits, but at least they were very low most of the time. Epic had some nice rear paw hits and I’m excited to keep working on this. At least we got some new responses.
Epic:
Squid:
P.S. I made the slow motion part shorter in these videos to save your time. Do you prefer just the down plank or the whole dogwalk in slow motion?
Yeap, good to get some more variety from Epic and those three hind feet hits were sure perfect! Squid is trying really hard to get that front foot in. 3.3. could be a great hind feet hit -- and then she extends her stride enough to reach it with front feet and put hind feet on the ground… But while she was overreaching on the ground, she was not overreaching the contact, that’s something too! And, you got one really good one, so maybe you can get more, just try to see it in live. For me, the easiest is to start them by sending to the wrap or a tunnel so that I have a good head start and don’t need to run too hard.
I’ve been working on this for a few sessions over the weekend and truly had both ups and downs. Throwing the ball in advance as he is starting to run the dogwalk proved harder than I thought. If my throw was not perfectly straight, he would leap off. After a few reps like that he would start to leap in anticipation of the throw. I had many, many leaps (well, his hind feet were separated, but he left the plank just before the contact every time). I think I’m a pretty decent thrower, but it’s just impossible to always throw perfectly straight, especially when you’re to the side of the plank and running. I had to start mixing it up and mostly just place the toy on the ground in front of the dogwalk. I sometimes mix it up by throwing the ball as he is running the first plank of the dogwalk. I was pleased with his sessions today, I am definitely getting more rear paw hits.
Yes, a bigger variety of hits is definitely good news. Especially as it pretty much really looks to me like he thinks it’s all about front feet. Because the funny thing is that when his striding is perfect for a great hind feet hit, like in 16.4 and 16.5, his hind feet are not as well separated as normally and he even looks like he is airy, leaping off up in the air some, as if he thinks his options to succeed are already over. We saw this with one dog in the first class, she either had a perfect front feet hit or a leap, even when she could have perfect hind feet hit. The reason why I think it might be the case with Epic too is that as long as he gets just a little bit deeper, like in 17.2 and last try, so that one front foot is in, then he is running normally, hind feet separated and all -- when 16.5 and a like really look somewhat leapy. Still, as it’s still a hind feet hit, I guess it’s o.k. to reward those for now as that’s the best we can get from hind feet, but do pay attention to it, jackpot when he shows some more hind feet separation and don’t reward if he gets even more airy as that.
I think he had better hind feet separation today and was not as leapy. I think it\’s because I didn\’t throw the ball att all, but had the toy in front all the time.
Yeah, less leapy but more overreachy today… I didn’t see him overreach as much as he does at the beginning of this session before, but the good thing is that you got the 4 stride pattern and more&more hind feet hits by the end of the video. Maybe he is finding out how much easier this is as an overreach! I think that as long as you can see it and mark it correctly, he will soon be running normally.
Hi Silvia and classmates,
i had today a session that Benji’s run on carpet,
1,4,5,7 good,
2 for me not good because i’m not good
3,6,8 for me jackpot, because he had nice fits for my feeling and hitted with the hindlegs the carpet close to they end.
but for me it is hard to see which are the best.
I selected two fits and that his hind legs lands nice at the end of the carpet, So i hope you can tell me that i’m jackpotted the best ones of maby you jackpotted a other one.
Yes, I agree with what you rewarded, only that I wouldn’t jackpot 6 as his hind feet are not that well separated (because you’re too late with the toy and he is checking back with you) -- but you could jackpot 4, front feet are o.k. too. But hey, he is really running, I don’t see any speed problems anymore 🙂
hehe thank you Silvia,
4 i dont see that but i saw the tape again and i know what you mean.
also to 6, i hope he get a lot of more speed in a course when he do rc.
today we had competition and i hope we had a lot of speed there 2 haha
Salut Georges !!!!!!!!
appliques toi !!!
Hi Silvia, Here’s video from today…first session sending Bella to tunnel with soft U-turn with exit @ 9 ft from plywood ramp raised @ 8 inches. Your suggestion of sending to the tunnel before the ramp made a huge difference for Bella focusing straight ahead even more, not to mention my ball throwing accuracy! Thanks! And we only had ONE leap and I know that was my fault with bad throw. I was hesitant of throwing too many changed variables to her at one time, so only switched over to having Bella on my right for 2 runs…she did great! Seemed like I was jackpotting just about every run, was concerned at the time that I could be seeing things wrong but felt much better about it once I saw the video clips in slow motion….what do you think? Figured I probably should run a couple more sessions with this set up and just alter my positioning a little more and then raise…..or do you think we are ok to raise up a little if we go in 2-4 inch increments?
Also, could you explain definition of a dog’s stride? Would make it easier for me to understand when you talk about # of strides (3,4,5 etc). Thank you!
Hm, yes, sorry, I’m somewhat inconsistent in how I count strides, I never knew what counts for 1 stride either 🙂 Maybe it’s better if I talk in hits? One hit would be 4 feet hitting the plank, meaning that you’re getting two hits with Bella. Then my 3-4-5 stride DWs become 4-5-6 hits DWs 🙂
But wow, she is sure running great! Very good hind separation and great speed! I would raise it some every 3 successful sessions like that.
Thanks…I am thrilled with how well Bella is doing! And the stride/hit count makes sense to me now 🙂
She is awesome! Can’t believe you had speed problems! 🙂
Thanks Silvia 🙂 At home she has always been VERY focused, drivey & fast…at class she was less and trials even more so. Between my Trainer & I, we’ve worked on a few things that seemed to be stressing her a little and have seen improvements. The Running Contact work has been a lot of fun for her (and ME) and has really built on her enthusiasm & confidence. I am a little concerned on what things will look like when we fade away the ball thou. She is very “throw the ball” or even “carry the ball with me” motivated.
That was never a major issue, so I’m sure she will be fine. It’s especially easy if she likes tunnels 🙂 What can be more of an issue is getting the same running in new environments that stress her… Hopefully, she will forget about it when running, but for my Bu who is very environment sensitive and easily stressed, it was not easy at first to extend enough on new DWs and with people&dogs around to be in and she was missing some of her contacts at the beginning. I just gave her time, kept running, took her to as many different DWs as possible and the problem disappeared with more experience.
Since this last video, we’ve had 3 more very successful sessions with the plywood raised @ 9-10 inches, with hind leg hits in mid 1/3 of contact zone in 12-13 out of 14-15 runs and always with good running & hind leg separation.
So tonight we raised the plywood to @ 13-14 inches…still with the slight U-shaped tunnel about 9-10 ft before the plywood. I think Bella is really struggling to figure out where her starting point is between the tunnel & plywood…causing her “usual” stride to be off. I couldn’t quite tell what was off when we were out there but knew that she just looked different and chaulked it up to maybe the new height. So for the last few runs, I put the plywood back down to the previous height (9-10 inches) to see if that would at least let us end the session on a happy, successful note. But again, her stride seemed off….maybe I shouldn’t have done that within this same session?
Any suggestions on what to do next? Have we just progressed so smoothly so far that I was bound to get an “off” session…do I rework the successful height set up for another session, and then try again with the next height? And/or maybe with the new height, should I maybe back up the tunnel a little more to give her the room to have time to make adjustments to her stride & where she will start her stride onto the raised plywood?
I do have a homemade full DW that I can pretty much adjust to any height for whenever you think I should start using that (thinking she’d be running the full length that way?)
Here is the video from tonights session:
Huh, that sure is leapy… Could be that jumping on the plank affects her striding too much, so maybe low DW could help. I would probably first try it with plywood at the end (as an extension of a down ramp) to make it look more like this exercise and then raise it up to down ramp angle and then get rid of it. Meaning that you can start with DW at 20 inches and put a plywood on down ramp at 10 inches.
Ok..took me a couple times reading this to figure out what you meant, but I think I got it now and can see how that could be a good solution..Thanks Silvia, will give it a try tonight. Just ordered a new tunnel too, will be so much better to have a “real” tunnel than this cheapy canvas one..but it’s done us well and will still be ok to use as a straight tunnel here at home.
Set up the low DW with plywood extension as you said. First 2 sessions seemed to be more about rewarding for running with consistent good stride, hind legs and continuing through to the bottom. Bella seemed to be leapy, but in reviewing video saw that my DW placement & set up was not good. Moved to more flatter area of yard for Session #3. I felt it went really well but because I was a little unclear as to what to be “marking” I’d feel better if you could review and let me know what you think, also because the 4th session you’ll see after seemed to look so differently
After studying the video I noticed the bounce in DW middle so corrected that today before going out for 4th Session.
So, here is the 4th session with same set up. To me is just didn’t go as nicely as 3rd, kinda felt like she was struggling with that down ramp with the long extension. The plywood extension has been at 10 inches and is 12 ft long.
I’m not sure if maybe I need to shorten the plywood extension, or move it further up, try without it, Or do we just need to stay with the current set up a little longer to give her some time to figure it all out…as I’m fine with that too, Any suggestions? And with the plywood extension on, what am I looking for to mark, these last 2 sessions I’ve been concentrating on stride and thru to the bottom of the plywood?
She clearly understands it’s the same exercise and is mostly running, so yes, maybe let’s try without the plywood now. If she gets too leapy, you can always bring it back, but maybe set it somewhat higher yes.