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.

More practice

Lexi has continued to work on her teeter.  She has been having trouble making the connection about not jumping off on the end. So we're working a lot on the "bang" in her 4 on position.



Bentley did more A-frame work:



Lexi was really moving in a short sequence:

A-Frame Training

We've been a bit lax in our training.  This heat is so oppressive that we never want to go anywhere...plus we can't train for more than a few minutes at at time.  That being said, we had an AWESOME day in class the other day with  both Bentley and Lexi.  We're lucky in the our summer classes allow us to work on a variety of short skill sets.

Last week we worked on contacts which was beneficial for both dogs.  Bentley did awesome.  Some of the sequences were hard as he's one of the few dogs with a running dogwalk (dogwalk into the tunnel under it!), but he didn't miss a single one!

Lexi also did well.  I've learned that she needs commands earlier than Bentley does, which is something I'll need to learn.  She missed a couple contacts (remember, she does a 2o2o) because I didn't tell her soon enough, and she didn't slow down fast enough on her way down the equipment.  I was amazed, too, because she was doing handling exercises that she has never seen before like it was nothing.  I was able to flip her out to a tunnel no problem!

Enough about class, here are two short training videos on the A-frame.

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.