Sunday, February 5, 2012

Forward motion--lightbulb!

I've been pretty lax in updating the blog with agility related stuff...but it's (again) been pretty rainy here so we haven't gotten out as much as I'd like.

But, in class the other day our instructor said something that made so much sense to me.  It sounds obvious, but I just never considered it.

Lexi needs very little forward motion cues.  The less, the better.  If you take one step too many forward, she races out and we get wide turns, off courses, and I'm playing catch up.

I know it makes sense, but I never though about it in such simple terms.  This afternoon (sunny weather, yay!) we went out and worked more alphabet drills.  I focused my handling so much on minimal forward motion--or at least being conscious of when I was using that as a cue.  And it made such a difference.  In a 20 minute session I probably got 4 amazing, jackpot turns (meaning tight and lots of rewarding).  I was so impressed and as usual, Lexi had a good time! :)

2 comments:

  1. You gotta love lightbulb moments!! :)

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  2. Its a hard balance with some dogs. To much forward motion or stopping and they go off course. LOL. Im glad its working well now!!

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