A Good Night at Training

I really enjoyed running this course at training on Friday evening. It was a small class for a change, only 5 of us, and Murray set up a fairly simple course, but still with some challenges- especially if you didn't handle your dog's path. Also a good course for working on speed. (What I would call a 'Tank of Oxygen Course,' especially when you run it, another dog runs and then you have to go again!)
There were some fast diagonal lines in this course - or what Elicia referred to as SFL's (straight friggin lines) when she was here.

I started with a lead out between 2 and 3 so I could be ahead of Atilla to indicate the path to the tunnel. Then a front cross between the tunnel and jump 5 set up a nice straight line to the seesaw. I also made sure I was still in front at this point so I could use a little shoulder pull but I don't think he even looked at the tunnel.

Good section for speed next. He surprised me with a pretty fast dogwalk performance which actually changed the way I handled the weave entry. I was planning on front crossing after the tunnel to handle the weaves on the right, but he was so quick off the walk and through the tunnel that I didn't get there. I then used a 'threadle arm' when he came out of the tunnel and then rear crossed the weaves once he was in. I thought that might be a bit messy but it actually worked really well so I stuck with it on the 2nd run through. As his weaves are pretty reliable I was also able to peel away from them for some more lateral distance so I could front cross at the end. This made a straight line to the tunnel at 12.

Being ahead after the tunnel made jumps 13 and 14 easy to indicate. On the first run through, I had an off course at the next bit. I honestly thought my movement and position would be enough to indicate the change of line to the tunnel, especially as I don't layer in the handling system I am using, but he took the tyre. (As did most of the dogs in class) On the next run through, I used a 'threadle arm' after jump 14 and he took the correct obstacle that time. Something else for me to remember : still need support on some discriminations, especially as it was a slight change of line.

I thought about front crossing after the tunnel for a better line to jump 16, but found that I was able to stay ahead on most of this course so decided I didn't need to. Handled both jumps on the left, then front crossed at the end of the A Frame for the run home. On the second run through I left out the front cross and rear crossed after 19 to pull him toward the broad. That also worked well.

So, an enjoyable training session and I was so pleased with the way Atilla worked. Now all I have to do is get the same speed happening consistently at a trial. We seem to have sections of 'all cylinders firing' but others where he drops off the pace a bit. After our 3 passes off 4 runs last weekend at Sunbury, I am going to throw caution to the wind and push for a bit more speed next time we trial and see what I get. Plus try harder to sharpen up my handling for him.

Cruz ran a full length Novice Jumping course at training on Sunday and went clear with no difficulties. Guess I'd better start thinking about entering him in a Jumping run to see how he does under a bit more pressure and to see what I still need to work on with him. After Nationals maybe.

Of Cakes and Contacts

Okay Karen, this one's for you - Jack's photo has disappeared into the black hole of the alternate reality of my computer, so I have recreated for Cruz's second birthday.

Carrot, zucchini and peanut butter cake with low fat cream cheese frosting, hand made dog biscuits and of course the icing, 'smakos' and doggy choc sheep - mmmmmm !

Plus pupcakes for his 'brothers' and friends. Well, the friends didn't really get a look in thanks to the brothers, but the intent was there.And while I'm on the subject, here's one I made a few months back as an order for a dog's birthday party. Which annoyed mine as they got to 'look but not touch...... or taste !'

And now to the topic that is almost causing me sleepless nights - at least it would be if I wasn't so cosy with an electric blanket and two kelpies (oh, and there's a husband in there too somewhere I think) - CONTACT TRAINING , namely one A Frame.

This would have to be the piece of equipment that I have decided I hate training, as I have a clear picture in my head of how I want Cruz's performance to be, but achieving it is another story......... Cruz prefers messing with my mind instead.

We started with 2 on 2 off, as we are doing on the dogwalk, where he performs it brilliantly. This was fine until I started raising the A Frame close to full height and then he lost all speed and started creeping down to the position at the bottom . After a few weeks of this with no improvement I decided to train a running contact on the A Frame.

Began with a stride regulator at the top and a hoop at the bottom, got rid of the regulator early on as video analysis showed he was hitting the (almost) identical spot every time. Hooray - she says ! This will make it easy. (Fool!)

So a couple of weeks back we finally went to full height and it is a lovely running contact, fast and accurate. Am I a good trainer or what ? Well here comes the what ........... Cruz is getting faster and faster as his confidence grows, last week he began to fully extend and really run it, well that taught me something about running contacts.............a very long skinny kelpie when fully extended can actually get through the hoop at the bottom without touching the colour. Picture head down, fully extended with his back legs just above the colour and his front legs just off the end on the ground and you get the idea.

So my choices now are - put stride regulators back on to manipulate his stride, try to implement some sort of a board on the bottom of the contact for him to hit, or go back to a stopped contact. I don't feel I am experienced enough with stride regulators to do this successfully, plus by changing his stride I will need to go back to the months and months of muscle memory with loads of repetitions and even then there is no guarantee as I have just found out. The board has potential - and there are several DVD's in the pipeline using this method coming soon, but the problem is that his nose touch is so hard wired, every time he sees any sort of a board he wants to do 2o2o and nose touch - so I would need to break him of that habit first.

The problem with his stopped contact was that he never really got his weight back far enough as he does on the dogwalk, creating a slow performance which I also don't want.

So I am going to give Elicia's method (slide into a drop on board) a go. That way he can still nose touch if he wants, and then I can fade it. Began shaping the position on a touchboard last week and he has caught on to this very quickly. Put the board onto a lowered A Frame today for the first time, and he had no trouble with the position at all, so we will see what happens with this method. I am prepared to sacrifice a little of the speed I had with the running, but I don't want the 'creeping' down to the bottom.

I need to be patient this time and make sure I raise the A Frame one link at a time instead of rushing it. ('Patience is knowledge disguised' - Kay Laurence)

This whole training issue has also given me a better insight into how hard it is for people at club to train contacts with their dog when they don't know what they are doing. I think as Instructors we confuse them by all having our 'pet' ways of doing things. So they are told something different every week depending on who the instructor is plus they don't have access to equipment to train at home. I 'kinda' know what I 'm doing (at least I thought I did) and I have access to an adjustable A Frame at home, but I'm sure Cruz will tell you that I am still stuffing it up. So we need to get some consistency with the way we are teaching at club - something else for the next Instructor's meeting agenda.