It was a lot of fun, I must say. I set up the JWW course from my last trial. I wanted to correct the handling mistakes that I made during our run, so I set up just the middle section to start with (weaves, double, tunnel, pinwheel). Sadie ran it like she remembered the course, though I did put her up to 24". She was even able to layer one of the room's columns between the weaves and the double, though she didn't like it. My fault for not thinking about it when I set up the room.
Maxwell had few problem with the course as well, which pleased me greatly. At 20", he moved gracefully and with focus. His only real issue was the pinwheel. Maybe I set it up too tightly, or maybe I just haven't worked tight turns enough, but he completely missed the second jump a few times. I brought him back, took just the pinwheel, and he never missed again. Note to self, work on moving into tight turns while in drive.
Once I was happy with both dogs' performance on the section, I started adding obstacles. The end sequence of jumps came first, letting me run their rear-crosses. Neither dog missed even once! They have very different styles, though. Maxwell runs with incredible purpose and fluid motion, which seems planned down to every step. Sadie takes moves like a rear-cross and executes them almost like an afterthought. Oh, right... I'm supposed to turn here.
Lastly, I added the opening jumps. For Sadie, I practiced running from the outside and pushing her to the double, like in the trial, and also with a lead-out pivot. The pivot felt so much more natural, and let me guide her along a faster path. I definitely need to get lead-outs with her in trials. I started right off with the pivot for Maxwell, since he's so fast. I could have hugged him, he was so good about a two jump lead-out.
In fact, Maxwell got so comfortable with the course that he started running it without me. I'd start to set him up, and before I could say WAIT he'd be over the first three jumps and headed for the weaves! It was absolutely incredible. I'm going to use it to my advantage, letting him work at a much greater distance than Sadie can. On the flip-side, I need to make sure it only happens when I ask for it.
Working with the Beardies was fun, too. We ran our own dogs for the first 40 minutes or so, they doing the JWW course, me finding new sequences within it (like running it through the pinwheel, then back into the tunnel to finish in reverse). It gave them a real course to practice on, and me more experience being creative in my training. Plus, it meant handling everything from the opposite side as the original course.
My friends' young male Beardie has a habit of not respecting jumps. He's incredibly fast and athletic, but tends to take off too late and knock bars with his chest. With some practice, he was getting through the course with only a few bars down, which were always in the pinwheel. He's been getting noticeably better about not mugging his handler, and is responding nicely to her new style of handling (adding obedience cues to settle him).
I offered Maxwell for my friend's mom to run, since her female Beardie is a wonderful dog, but slow. She finished the course with a grin, telling her daughter that she "had to try running him. He's so smooth!" After two rounds, my friend agreed. Yay for Maxwell!
I got to run the young Beardie, which was a blast. He's completely different from either of my two dogs. Much more drive than Sadie, but needs to be handled more firmly than Maxwell. He ran quietly for me, only tried to mug me once (hey, I did have a frisbee after all...), but still took the same bars.
On a whim I got out three more bars for the three most 'reliable' downed jumps. One end of the extra bar went 4" below the jump bar. The other end was on the ground, but pulled about 8" towards the take-off point. Clean on the first run! Adding more perceived depth to the jump moved his take-off point nearly a foot back, letting him clear the bar. I bet his handler could practice like that regularly, and gradually fade the extra bar. And before you think that I'm some kind of jumping savant for thinking this up, I'm nearly positive I saw someone do this with their dog once.
* * * * *
We had out-of-town guests for the long weekend. My boyfriend's mom spent her free time feeding the dogs; peanut butter on toast, dinner leftovers, you name it. For their part, the dogs loved having more people to demand attention from. In fact, the very first morning they burst into the guest bedroom (whoops, forgot to latch the door!) and launched onto my boyfriend's sleeping parents. Good morning!
My boyfriend's brother and sister-in-law were here as well, though staying in a hotel. They enjoyed watching the dogs rough-house, and mused about their own dog's doings. He, a mini-Doxi, was staying with a friend of theirs.
I was especially happy to show off clicker training / positive reinforcement training. They saw Sadie's trick of standing on an overturned wastepaper basket, which she throws herself into without need for a cue. (See? Clicker dogs love training!) Maxwell showed off some shaping, as I'm trying to get him to stand with his hind feet on his dot (a slightly raised, small circular platform). We're up to walking over it with one-foot contact. He's definitely having a hard time connecting his conscious brain to his hind end.
* * * * *
Last night was the first day of Sadie's new Tuesday class: Novice competition. It was very strange working with a new trainer, surrounded by people I don't know. Sadie regressed a little into reactivity, but was fairly easy to call back to work. Despite my warning the instructor about her past behavior issues, and her subsequent warning to the class, one woman walked her GSD right past the end of the weaves I was working through. Luckily Sadie wanted my cheese more than to investigate the strange dog.
I have to be vigilant in this class, and not just of Sadie's reactivity. The jumps were set for USDAA, so when we ran, I accidentally put Sadie through a 24" tire. Oops! She's never jumped one that high before! She's used to AKC, which puts the tire 4" lower than anything else. (This is because dogs generally jump through the center of the circle, which is much higher than the official height of the jump.)
This instructor will be very good for me as a handler. She pointed out that I was bending over on contacts and crosses, effectively shortening Sadie's stride and pushing her away with my posture. I hadn't even realized I was doing it, and must now make myself work more upright.
The instructor also wants to work on my contacts. I told her that I've trained a 2-on-2-off, but Sadie tends to run them (legally) in competition. It seems like we will be moving to a true running contact, as my homework is to research running contact videos and training methods. This will probably be a good change for Sadie, since she's not exceptionally drive-y anyway.
Now we get to look forward to a new session of Saturday classes as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment