For probably the first time ever, we went to the field twice today. Once at 7:00am, once at 4:00pm. The first time we went, Mika and Wall-e worked on the A-frame, on-side weave entries, and dog walk/tunnel discrimination (all stuff that Wall-e needs for his class).
But it was our afternoon session that completely amazed me.
Mika trained first this time. I ran her over the DW a couple times first. (Well, she ran over it by herself the first time!) Then it was on to the AF. The first rep wasn't a true running AF, so I rewarded her quickly and then went back to do it again. I held her by her stifles (back knees) to rev her up like I often do, saying my usual "Reeaadyy...settt...GO!!" She took off like a bullet. And WOW. WOW. Can I say it again? WOW. She zoooomed over to the AF, strided up, and FLEW down. FLEW. What I remember most is her back legs straight out behind her as she soared through the air. And then I remember seeing her back paws hit the yellow at the top slat of the contact zone. Mika. did. a. flying. A-frame.
We must have looked like crazy people to the cars passing by. I screamed out, "GOOD GIRL, GOOD GIRL!!" to a hyperactive Mika who soaked up my approval eagerly, but who really just wanted me to throw that darn food tube. Which I did. I threw it and threw it and rewarded her until it was empty.
A one-hit AF probably isn't a performance that'd be safe long-term, but I'm sure that Mika won't be doing it again. I'm perfectly happy with a 2-hit running AF with a nice jump over the apex (not a ginormous, soaring Superman impersonation like she did today). I'm just so thrilled (and shocked!) that she did it today because I've been wanting a jump over the apex for years, and what did she do? She exceeded my expectations, as she's done countless time. Ohhh yes, she gave me a jump, but she gave me a BIG jump!
(Mika, by the way, is only 12.75" tall. I swear to God. Can you say -gasp-?)
Showing posts with label running contacts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running contacts. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Friday, October 16, 2009
Training at the field
Went to the field today for the third day in a row (although only Mika went on Wednesday and only Wall-e went yesterday -- today both dogs got to go).
With Mika I did the dog walk (with a pool noodle 30" from the edge of the DW) twice, and she had a REALLY nice hit, right at the bottom. Then we ran part of the same sequence that we ran on her birthday, as well as another very flowing sequence that I made up quickly. I should really be working on harder sequences, but I love seeing her soaring with no hesitation. She was nuts today, taking a couple off-course jumps in the new sequence I made up today (that's no surprise!) and having fun.
Wall-e's turn next! I also did the dog walk first. I haven't talked about his running DW contacts in a while...well, the pool noodle stride regulators weren't the best because he didn't hit deep enough in the yellow. Since then we've experimented with a few more methods but none of them seemed to work. Wall-e learned how to nose touch a target as part of his foundation training, and earlier this week I put his nose touch at the stairs in the basement, simulating a contact obstacle. He had this amazing nose touch -- I would start him standing at the last step, say "Touch!" and he would quickly leap forward to go in the 2on2off position and do a hard nose touch to the target. So yesterday I decided to try putting his 2o2o with a nose touch on the DW, thinking that it might help him graduate to running contacts. Even though I backchained it, he was confused and didn't know how to collect himself to get into 2o2o. And although he was having fun, he didn't have the same absolute joy that he has when he runs the contact. I put away that idea for now, although I might have to go back to it next year depending on how his running contact training is going.
Mika and Wall-e will be doing several fun matches this winter, and I'd like Wall-e to get experience on different contacts, so I want to use a PVC hoop at the fun matches. That way he can get used to the unfamiliar contacts and not practice leaping over the yellow. Today I put the hoop in front of the end of the dog walk so he could practice with it. He leaped the yellow, so I put the hoop closer, more at the end. This time he did a perfect hit, and the next rep too! I haven't seen the video yet so I can't say how much he collected his stride to hit the yellow, but it looked pretty comfortable for him. A possibility for training running contacts? Maybe. I have all winter to figure out how I want to train his contacts, and we have all season next year to train them.
Then I finished Wall-e's broad jump training (over the past several sessions I've been gradually spacing the boards apart and fading the 10" jump behind it), and then he ran one of the sequences Mika got to run.
It's been a good training day!
~Nat
With Mika I did the dog walk (with a pool noodle 30" from the edge of the DW) twice, and she had a REALLY nice hit, right at the bottom. Then we ran part of the same sequence that we ran on her birthday, as well as another very flowing sequence that I made up quickly. I should really be working on harder sequences, but I love seeing her soaring with no hesitation. She was nuts today, taking a couple off-course jumps in the new sequence I made up today (that's no surprise!) and having fun.
Wall-e's turn next! I also did the dog walk first. I haven't talked about his running DW contacts in a while...well, the pool noodle stride regulators weren't the best because he didn't hit deep enough in the yellow. Since then we've experimented with a few more methods but none of them seemed to work. Wall-e learned how to nose touch a target as part of his foundation training, and earlier this week I put his nose touch at the stairs in the basement, simulating a contact obstacle. He had this amazing nose touch -- I would start him standing at the last step, say "Touch!" and he would quickly leap forward to go in the 2on2off position and do a hard nose touch to the target. So yesterday I decided to try putting his 2o2o with a nose touch on the DW, thinking that it might help him graduate to running contacts. Even though I backchained it, he was confused and didn't know how to collect himself to get into 2o2o. And although he was having fun, he didn't have the same absolute joy that he has when he runs the contact. I put away that idea for now, although I might have to go back to it next year depending on how his running contact training is going.
Mika and Wall-e will be doing several fun matches this winter, and I'd like Wall-e to get experience on different contacts, so I want to use a PVC hoop at the fun matches. That way he can get used to the unfamiliar contacts and not practice leaping over the yellow. Today I put the hoop in front of the end of the dog walk so he could practice with it. He leaped the yellow, so I put the hoop closer, more at the end. This time he did a perfect hit, and the next rep too! I haven't seen the video yet so I can't say how much he collected his stride to hit the yellow, but it looked pretty comfortable for him. A possibility for training running contacts? Maybe. I have all winter to figure out how I want to train his contacts, and we have all season next year to train them.
Then I finished Wall-e's broad jump training (over the past several sessions I've been gradually spacing the boards apart and fading the 10" jump behind it), and then he ran one of the sequences Mika got to run.
It's been a good training day!
~Nat
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Fun at the field
We went to the field today and practiced the 24" high dog walk with both dogs, with the stride regulator above the yellow. Also set up half of a CKC Novice JWW course (but replaced the set of 6 weaves with a jump because Wall-e's weaves aren't yet fully trained). Both dogs were perfect on the dog walk, good dogs! When I tried the sequence with Wall-e he missed the tunnel entry because I got too far ahead, and then missed the rear cross cue because he came running out of the tunnel and wasn't expecting it. Just little green dog things. He got the sequence perfectly the second time though. Mika of course got it perfect the first time, but then again, she's a Nationals dog! :) I can actually say that now, not meaning to brag! ;)
After training, Wall-e got to play with his friend Jasmine, a bichon mix. We let them off leash in the agility field and watched as they raced around and around and around! Wall-e really loved chasing her and even started barking at the end!
~Nat
After training, Wall-e got to play with his friend Jasmine, a bichon mix. We let them off leash in the agility field and watched as they raced around and around and around! Wall-e really loved chasing her and even started barking at the end!
~Nat
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Running contacts update!
Great news about Wall-e's running dog walk! We cut the pool noodle to fit the dog walk, and I put it near the end of the centre plank like I said I would, but Wall-e was still missing the contacts. Then a couple friends came up with a great suggestion (thanks again!!) -- why not put a pool noodle a bit above the contact zone? So we tried it, and Wall-e took this one huge stride into the yellow and hit the contact beautifully! We tried it one more time, and this time he hit it even better, nice and low!!
If I keep the pool noodle above the contact there for the rest of this month, all of August, and all of September -- two and a half months -- hopefully he'll build the muscle memory to stride into the contact. I kept the stride regulators on the A-frame for two and a half month and now he has a great running A-frame at full height.
I'm very excited and very hopeful!
~Nat
If I keep the pool noodle above the contact there for the rest of this month, all of August, and all of September -- two and a half months -- hopefully he'll build the muscle memory to stride into the contact. I kept the stride regulators on the A-frame for two and a half month and now he has a great running A-frame at full height.
I'm very excited and very hopeful!
~Nat
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Running contacts
We've been working on Wall-e's running contacts on a plank (Silvia Trkman's method) for six and a half months now. We've had lots of highs and lows, but I felt that he didn't really undertstand the behaviour. He could only hit the yellow consistently when I called him over, not when I ran with him. Nevertheless, after lots of discussion with friends, one of my friends convinced me to try him on a low dog walk. Yes, it took a LOT of convincing, let me tell you :)
Wall-e's been on a low dog walk before, three times, but it was completely by accident. When we were taking classes and he was about ten months old, I never trained the dog walk because the class was being taught 2on2off and I was training running -- I didn't want to mess up his running with the 2on2off. So one evening at class, we were on one side of the mini dog walk (training something else, not the dog walk) and he saw a dog on the other end of the dog walk in 2on2off position. So he ran (yes, ran as in galloped!) over the dog walk to see his new friend. I didn't know how to other dog would react, so to avoid a possible scuffle I called him back over just as he reached the down plank. He spun around on the down plank and raced back over the dog walk, actually hitting the yellow.
The other time he went on the dog walk by himself was the next week at class, when the class was running a sequence. I always skipped the dog walk when we ran sequences, but this week when I tried to pull him (with my body language) around the dog walk, he ran on ahead onto the dog walk, leaving me standing clueless. When he reached the centre plank (still in a gallop), I got to my senses and ran after him. He reached the down plank and soared over the yellow.
I guess all that plank work he'd done gave him the confidence to do his first dog walks on his own!
So. Let's get back to the present. On Sunday evening we went to the agility field to try the mini (2 foot high) dog walk. I backchained it. First I put him at the top of the down plank so it looked exactly like it did at home, and he hit it perfectly, but as we moved farther back along the board and then the entire dog walk, he missed every rep.
I think that he missed the contacts when I moved him farther up the dog walk because he doesn't know how to regulate his stride when he hits the yellow. When he starts at the top of the down plank he takes three strides into the yellow, but when he runs the whole dog walk he takes one or two strides on the down plank.
On Monday we went to the field again. I followed some advice that I'd read on Silvia Trkman's web site and put a jump set at 26" at the very top of the down plank of the lowered dog walk, creating a sort of 4 inch "stride regulator" since the dog walk was 24" high. (Silvia doesn't recommend a jump, but I didn't have any poles cut to fit the dog walk. We're going to cut a 2" pool noodle today to fit the dog walk before we go to the field again.)
I decided to do 3 reps over the whole dog walk with the jump in place. I wanted to see if the jump would help him think about his striding. The first rep was BEAUTIFUL!! I can't even say how perfect his hit was!! He took two strides on the down plank, hitting the contact with his front feet past the middle of the yellow and then brought his back feet under him to hit at the very edge of the bottom of the yellow! Awesome!!
The next two reps he took one stride on the down plank and missed the yellow. Looking at the video, he probably hit each of them by part of a toe, which is a bit of improvement.
I analyzed the clips in slow motion. The first rep, he landed after the jump pretty close to it, while in the other two reps he landed a bit farther away. So, today when we go to the field again, I'm going to try moving the pool noodle a bit farther back so it's on the end of the centre plank instead of the top of the down plank.
That hit in the yellow encouraged me...there is hope! Now I know that Wall-e really can have a beautiful running dog walk, and there's no way that we're switching to a different performance now!)
~Nat
Wall-e's been on a low dog walk before, three times, but it was completely by accident. When we were taking classes and he was about ten months old, I never trained the dog walk because the class was being taught 2on2off and I was training running -- I didn't want to mess up his running with the 2on2off. So one evening at class, we were on one side of the mini dog walk (training something else, not the dog walk) and he saw a dog on the other end of the dog walk in 2on2off position. So he ran (yes, ran as in galloped!) over the dog walk to see his new friend. I didn't know how to other dog would react, so to avoid a possible scuffle I called him back over just as he reached the down plank. He spun around on the down plank and raced back over the dog walk, actually hitting the yellow.
The other time he went on the dog walk by himself was the next week at class, when the class was running a sequence. I always skipped the dog walk when we ran sequences, but this week when I tried to pull him (with my body language) around the dog walk, he ran on ahead onto the dog walk, leaving me standing clueless. When he reached the centre plank (still in a gallop), I got to my senses and ran after him. He reached the down plank and soared over the yellow.
I guess all that plank work he'd done gave him the confidence to do his first dog walks on his own!
So. Let's get back to the present. On Sunday evening we went to the agility field to try the mini (2 foot high) dog walk. I backchained it. First I put him at the top of the down plank so it looked exactly like it did at home, and he hit it perfectly, but as we moved farther back along the board and then the entire dog walk, he missed every rep.
I think that he missed the contacts when I moved him farther up the dog walk because he doesn't know how to regulate his stride when he hits the yellow. When he starts at the top of the down plank he takes three strides into the yellow, but when he runs the whole dog walk he takes one or two strides on the down plank.
On Monday we went to the field again. I followed some advice that I'd read on Silvia Trkman's web site and put a jump set at 26" at the very top of the down plank of the lowered dog walk, creating a sort of 4 inch "stride regulator" since the dog walk was 24" high. (Silvia doesn't recommend a jump, but I didn't have any poles cut to fit the dog walk. We're going to cut a 2" pool noodle today to fit the dog walk before we go to the field again.)
I decided to do 3 reps over the whole dog walk with the jump in place. I wanted to see if the jump would help him think about his striding. The first rep was BEAUTIFUL!! I can't even say how perfect his hit was!! He took two strides on the down plank, hitting the contact with his front feet past the middle of the yellow and then brought his back feet under him to hit at the very edge of the bottom of the yellow! Awesome!!
The next two reps he took one stride on the down plank and missed the yellow. Looking at the video, he probably hit each of them by part of a toe, which is a bit of improvement.
I analyzed the clips in slow motion. The first rep, he landed after the jump pretty close to it, while in the other two reps he landed a bit farther away. So, today when we go to the field again, I'm going to try moving the pool noodle a bit farther back so it's on the end of the centre plank instead of the top of the down plank.
That hit in the yellow encouraged me...there is hope! Now I know that Wall-e really can have a beautiful running dog walk, and there's no way that we're switching to a different performance now!)
~Nat
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Regionals and Wall-e's Running contacts
It's MAY already!! Eek! That means Regionals are coming up quickly! Less than a month. The first day of Regionals is Friday May 29, where we will do the Warm-Up Games, and on Saturday and Sunday (the 30th and 31st) we'll run the actual Masters Standard, Jumpers, and Gamblers courses (two each, one of each on Saturday and one of each on Sunday). What we really have to work on now is staying on course and not taking off-courses. That's what Mika will be practicing every time we go to the field (3 to 4 times a week), until Regionals. Yesterday we practiced choosing the un-obvious tunnel entrance when the other tunnel entrance was staring her in the face, because she was sucked into the wrong entrance at our Regionals group practice on Wednesday, but she got it right away yesterday! Tomorrow we're going to run half of a Standard course from last year's Nationals, and the next time after that we're going to practice threadles and not taking whatever obstacle is in front of her. Yes, I plan ahead! :)
Just because I will be busy with Mika doesn't mean that I won't find time for Wall-e! I work him mostly when Mika is sleeping, like half an hour ago, when we worked on his running contacts. We haven't trained running contacts in forever. We're using the regulation-size wooden teeter plank now instead of the metal mini-teeter plank, because the regulation-size is, well, regulation-size. I want to start training his dog walk at the field soon, so we'll have to practice on a plank that's close to the size of a real dog walk.
I wasn't counting the reps, but I'm guessing we did about 7 and I know for sure that he missed 3 of them. We'll work on it :) The plank is still flat on the ground, no angle to it yet.
Mika and Wall-e are both sleeping now. That's when I do homework and/or go on the computer -- when they're sleeping.
~Nat
Just because I will be busy with Mika doesn't mean that I won't find time for Wall-e! I work him mostly when Mika is sleeping, like half an hour ago, when we worked on his running contacts. We haven't trained running contacts in forever. We're using the regulation-size wooden teeter plank now instead of the metal mini-teeter plank, because the regulation-size is, well, regulation-size. I want to start training his dog walk at the field soon, so we'll have to practice on a plank that's close to the size of a real dog walk.
I wasn't counting the reps, but I'm guessing we did about 7 and I know for sure that he missed 3 of them. We'll work on it :) The plank is still flat on the ground, no angle to it yet.
Mika and Wall-e are both sleeping now. That's when I do homework and/or go on the computer -- when they're sleeping.
~Nat
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wall-e's running contacts
As you might already know from our latest video, I've been training Wall-e how to do running contacts with Silvia Trkman's method. I plan to do this for the dog walk and the A-frame, although I won't have to do nearly as much training on the A-frame as I will on the dog walk because the dog walk training progresses into the dog understanding how the run the A-frame contact.
His running contacts are going great so far! A couple days ago he started developing a habit of LEAPING off the teeter plank (which I'm using to train the running contacts), two feet away from the contact zone!! So I put that PVC hoop back at the end of the plank to set him up for success. He still jumps the contact sometimes, but at least it's only a couple of inches and not two feet! I'll probably use the hoop for a few months.
Silvia Trkman says to wait until the dog is hitting the contact 100% of the time before raising the plank. This morning Wall-e hit it 3 out of 4 times, which is great, but his average success rate with hitting the contact right now is around 50%. So, needs some more work!! I'd like to get at least a week of 100% before moving on. At least he's getting faster and faster running across the plank!
~Nat
His running contacts are going great so far! A couple days ago he started developing a habit of LEAPING off the teeter plank (which I'm using to train the running contacts), two feet away from the contact zone!! So I put that PVC hoop back at the end of the plank to set him up for success. He still jumps the contact sometimes, but at least it's only a couple of inches and not two feet! I'll probably use the hoop for a few months.
Silvia Trkman says to wait until the dog is hitting the contact 100% of the time before raising the plank. This morning Wall-e hit it 3 out of 4 times, which is great, but his average success rate with hitting the contact right now is around 50%. So, needs some more work!! I'd like to get at least a week of 100% before moving on. At least he's getting faster and faster running across the plank!
~Nat
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