Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Freestyle class #3

Well, its hot again. Last night is was 85 degrees , which I guess is better than 95. Class is very fast paced. I felt bad that I didn't practice at all last week. I kept having bad headaches and then I was to tired from the agility trial. I didn't want to be disrespectful to the teacher by not practicing. If someone is taking their time to teach you some thing, then you should practice. Anyway, last night we went over everything we have learned in the last two classes. Luckily she didn't make us show her individually what we have learned. Then she added teaching your dog to nose touch your hand in different places. Then when your dog has that , you teach them to nose touch you hand with your hand up a little higher so your dog has to jump up to touch it. We also tried to teach the the dogs to touch a little ball that is at the end of a dowel rod. This will give you more extension and teach your dog to work further away from you. Then she showed us a scallop. Your dog can sit or stand on your left side, he stays and you move over to his opposite side by turning to your left , which would bring you in front of the dog and then continue rotating until you end up on the dogs other side. Then you bring the dog around to your other side, by bringing him around the front of you and then around to your side. I'm sure this doesn't make sense. But both your moves mimic each other.
Tonight she played music and showed us how you add the moves to the music. We are not ready for that but it was neat to watch. Next week she will bring her dog and show us some of their dance routines. Its been to hot the last few classes, but a cool front is suppose to be coming. Next week we are to bring a tug toy to class and the ball on the stick. This class is very tiring for the dogs. I thinks it because they are constantly working all at the same time. In agility, each dog works one at a time. So your dog has time to rest. No rest here. By about 5 minutes until the end of class Guiness was done. He just stopped working. Ill have to be more careful about that.

Ive decided to reteach Miley a 2on/2off for contacts. It is very obvious that a running contact isn't going to work for us. I saw this friends dog do some awesome 2o/2o contacts with such speed. That's what I want. When I was deciding on contacts I hoped that Miley was small enough to stride right through the contact zone but she has a huge stride. Its at least a 5 foot stride when going over the dog walk. So tonight we worked on that. We also worked on running to a 4 inch table. She jumped right on every time. Isn't that how it always it. Perfect at home. Ha!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

good luck with the re-training contacts! I think it will be a better choice for her- and you! I think that for some dogs it has to be black and white- they have to know without a doubt what they are expected to do- and a running contact isn't always clear to them.

Wicca has a 2on2off that I love- she is still fast and drives into position- no creeping. That is what you'll have to look out for.

amanda at manymuddypaws