Ive been trying to figure out why Java isnt hitting contacts at a trial. I thought it was because she was to excited. (It could still be). I tried really hard to create excitement. Having my son hold her while Im at the end calling her, running with her, throwing food and toys when she is coming down the down ramp. She hit every time. I posted some video on Facebook and Loralei said she thinks its because Im behind at a trial so she isnt striding as large as when Im in front of her. (I hope that makes sense). She is taking 5 strides, so six hits on the board. If she gets those 6 hits before hitting the contacts, she leaps off no matter where she is. I felt I had trained her with me behind but I took her to the field to practice and if Im behind or she passes me on the dogwalk, her strides shorten and she doesnt hit the contact or hits the top part which would be a miss for USDAA. Ack!!
The field is pretty wet but no longer flooded. I took her out there and tried to vary my position. If her hits started to go high, I would take a big lead out and get a good hit to reward. Then start varying again. ( I only did straight on and off the board since it was wet grass).
I think she did better today than yesterday.
I went to the park again today. Like I figured ,more flooding, but they didnt close the walking paths.
We walked through this one and another one. When we got back to the water on the path from yesterday, it was now huge and I didnt want to walk through it. If it was deep yesterday, it must be really deep today.
This is usually where I take the dogs down to the river. Its has to be 10 feet down to where I usually put the dogs in. Now its almost up to the sidewalk.
The flooding is even out into the fields.
The temperature difference between the cold river and the warm air makes lots of mist or fog. I did see another owl and a whole new area. I guess they are moving around too.
And since I havent posted any dog pictures this week, here you go. (poor Java having to walk through the flooded sidewalk)
4 comments:
Glad you figured Java's dogwalk out!
Last summer we had a drought, this summer it's a monsoon. Maybe next summer will be just right!
Looked pretty good, even the reps you were behind. I think in trials it is hard to do contacts and weaves like we do in training. We know there is more that can go wrong and don't trust our dog like we do in training. I could see the difference in those two videos you had posted before. In the training video, you were sending her to the tunnel from way far away and even when she was headed for the wrong entrance, you didn't panic, just reset her as if you were, well, training. You never went up to the tunnel entrance like you probably would in a trial to assure she knew which entrance to take. All because you wanted to be sure she got the dog walk right. Then in the trial, you stayed with her on the table, hardly led out at all, because you wanted to make sure she stayed on the table (legitimately, baby dogs do need us to stay with them with these things, no need to push their stays). So the dog walk was a totally different picture for her in these two situations. I think she will get it. And I think she is ready for you to start trusting her more in the ring and treating her a little more like a grown up dog (not totally, she still has her baby dog moments like the teeter thing, which I also think will be temporary, but a little bit more :) )
Wow. There's so much to agility! My brain would explode.
loralei is smart! Glad she could help you figure out what was happening!
Post a Comment