Baer Striding Work (+playlist)

So we had a good start to our session... then Baer's striding sort of deteriorated. She went back to the skipping foot, even after I went back to the agility jump. I was standing right at the jump the entire time.

Well, just means we have to keep practicing. That was a given :)

We've been practicing her turns on a slant board too. Hopefully this will keep that box turn from the last tournament (wide as hell) from returning.

Having a LOT of fun with Baer & flyball right now :)

Stride work with Flyball jump

So with the discovery that Baer had used the flyball jump as a visual to leap from 6 feet away to get over it, we're now working on training to run over the jump, versus leaping.

If I'm right, correcting this will fix two problems:

1) Her early take off at the start-line. She uses the start line as an indicator to leap, so she's flying through the air way before take off.

This photo was taken in Feb 2013. As you can see, before the start line, she's already in the air- taking off from about 10 feet from the first jump.

I always heard from people when we competed, "Wow! She takes off SO far back!". Little did I suspect this was ruining her striding and time, but, it is. So here we are. 

2) Her 2 strides from the box to the fifth jump. If she can keep the short strides and run over the fifth jump, I think the 3 strides will come naturally. 

Our next tournament probably won't be until spring, so I'm just going to keep up the repetitions of running over the flyball jump, making the props smaller and smaller. When I can finally do no props and have her consecutively running over the first jump versus leaping, then I will start to put the rest of the equipment into the equation. But if she starts to falter and goes back to leaping, we will go back to square one.

I guess the thing I'm most of afraid of, is doing this training by myself, getting to the point where I'm using no props to get her over the first jump, and not being able to tell if she's leaping. But I'll cross that when I get to it. 

3 Strides- incorporating a Flyball jump (+playlist)

Quite the breakthrough moment- Baer sees the Flyball jump as a cue to leap over it from 5 feet away.

So now I'm going to focus on training her to run over the jump versus leaping over it.

I feel like if this training is effective, the 3 strides will come naturally off the box. Time will tell :)

3 Strides- 7th session

Well, no noticeable improvements with the striding.

 Both dogs seemed kind of "meh" today during training, so I didn't push it and cut it short.

Right now I put one stride regulator 5' from the first jump, and then the second regulator 5' from the first regulator. I think I'm going to switch it up- move the first regulator 6' from the first jump (to encourage both front feet to make contact instead this weird skipping thing she does). Not sure what to do with the first regulator- she's not doing 3 strides TO the box and I'm doing a lot right now just to get 3 from the box, so we'll see.

Flashy seemed kind of out of it with the slant board. I'm going to take a break tomorrow and just do agility foundation work, to switch it up for him. But more than likely, I'll be doing the striding work with the jumps with Baer tomorrow.

Flyball Striding Work- Second Session

Certainly getting there. Excited to do another session with the box & see if her 3 strides look more natural.

Flash- Slant Board Turn

So I switched my arms- and I made a point to keep the ball low when coming off the box, and I'm happy.

Flash is getting up pretty high and his snap back looks nice.

Love training box turns!

Box Turns on Slant Board

We finally got the slant board working! Now in this video, I'm making some crucial errors- I'm throwing the tug out & over his head, keeping his head high. I need to bring the tug straight down once he is in mid air, leaping on the board- this will keep his head down & straight. But I'm so, so happy we're on the slant board now :D

Tried to get Baer on it, she was doing box turns off the wall above the board. I'll have to figure that one out.

So, I'm the type of person who goes over. Way, way overboard. Especially when it comes to my dog sports. I will practice daily for hours on end if you let me- so naturally, I'm having a hard time pacing myself in Flyball. Baer's 3 strides have been looking better & better (I'm not asking for much, I hope) and I'm thinking of doing an every other day rotation of flyball & agility. I think it'll keep our training from getting boring or repetitive, and it'll work different muscles on the dogs versus just doing box turns & power jumping every single day.

Today is Agility day, so we're going to do some fun exercises (which I hope to record if I'm not short on time).

I need to get back to doing more Agility anyway.

We had the option to move Baer out of Advanced Beginner level, and into Intermediate- and I decided not to. I'm going to hold her back for one more session. Sorry to say but she just does not have the foundations down yet- Which I need to get back to. We were doing weaves last night, and a dog who can, by herself, zoom through 12 no problem, could only get through six before turning into me and barking. Wtf? So more grinding on weaves and teeter & dog walk. At least she's getting the 2 on, 2 off contact. FINALLY. After months of work. But I love her :)

Correcting a Leaper

So I'm trying to build muscle memory @ the start line. To diminish the 6 foot leap before the start line that royally fucks her up.

I need to move the prop closer to the jump I think though- she's still leaping AT the start finish line.

But hopefully this will help out her issue. The first time, she kind of bounces- the second & third time, she's running more than jumping.

3 Strides-6th Session

So- the third run was nice. Happy with that =)

Happy with all of it, actually. Good girl.

I'm going to try a new training method for Flash tomorrow- I have some ideas to get more of a snap on the box. I'll get video :) of course.

Well, dammit.

I need to get back to my 3 stride training with Baer. Today I just did a complex agility sequence with her, which consisted of seven jumps, a full set of weave poles, a tunnel, and a hoop.

The first round we did- she was beautiful. I did two front crosses, and followed me, we looked like a great team.

The other five tries were complete...well.... fuck ups, lol.

She was knocking bars, not following my cues (more likely, my cues were wrong) and just rushing. At least she was perfect going into & out of the weave poles, even with me moving far away.

And of course, I didn't record the first try which went perfect- because it was our "test" to see if she could do it. Silly me!

I have agility class tonight, for both dogs, which will keep me busy til 8. Tomorrow I want to take the dogs on a hike before work on Pie Hill, and then I'll do flyball work with both on my lunch. I'm trying to really keep us busy & active, and plan out the training sessions we will do.

Flash needs work on his "stays", box turns, and restrained recalls over jumps.

Baer needs box turn work, and 3 stride work.

And I need more time in the day!

Flash- 4th Box Turn Session

So my footwork is improving which means the tightness of Flash's turns are improving. In the last two turns, you can see he's much tighter- and the last box turn is just downright sexy, if I do say so myself.

Good boy :)

And with Baer, I did a simple sequence today that was hoop- weaves (all 12 of them) and sharp turn to the right to a jump- she was perfect 3 times in a row.

I have amazing dogs.