Cheating Dogwalk?

So we went out tonight and tested our theory.  I noticed the other day that if I slowed down at the end of the dogwalk, Bentley almost consistently strode through the contact zone without issue.

Consider our theory proven.  He hit 100% of the contacts when we slowed down on the downside of the dogwalk.  Unfortunately, it's not a great training method, but for now, it at least shows that he knows what we want, though he's cuing off the wrong command (the command being a deceleration).  What works:  hit the contact at full speed, decel on the downside and watch his feet...bingo!



And here's a quick video of our speed demon.  I know that we'll use more rear crosses than anything else with her, but we're trying to get her to slow down and focus on our body language and read a front cross.

A Frame Day 2, Lexi Sequencing

Second day of Bentley on the A-Frame at a low height.

Video


Stats
Reps:  18
% Success:  94%

Thoughts
1.  Height.  We will definitely be raising it up as he did excellent here.
2.  Tops.  He is learning to fly the apex.  Check out his last one--beautiful!

We also started Lexi on some beginning movement and sequencing.  We haven't done much yet, and haven't even broached the subject in our intro class, but we wanted to go ahead and get her moving with us (and to nip her herding in the bud!).

I was very impressed with how quickly she caught on.  We did some front crosses out of tunnels, lead out pivots, and rear crosses to tunnels.  She is much more obstacle-focused than Bentley so it's interesting to train her.

Videos
Front cross out of tunnel:


Lead out pivot:


She knocks 2 bars in the second video, but she hadn't knocked any all day.  I think she may have just been tired.