Hi

I tried see-saw today, quickly, only three times.

In the second run he didn’t go all the way to the top.

We then gave up because it was wet and slippery, he slipped on the third run.

A sad day in Croatia today, can’t sleep so here are a few videos.

1 video is two versions of your sequence. I sent you the whole training so you can se how it looked. We did it with his favourite toy, because he wasn’t interested in bananas. I tried with bananas, but he smelled the toy on the table and he only wanted it.

Second video is A frame. One training lowest setting, second video a step higher as you suggested. Looking forward to your comments.

Third video – last topic I’d like to work with you, the see-saw. I did it slowly and very detailed to make him run to the top where he has a food tray. He is OK with the drop and hit, but still looks a bit uncomfortable if it is not controlled by someone. End of the video – you can see it surprised him so he exited the SS before my cue.

My lawn is 20x10m so if you have time to sketch a few combinations so I can train without repeating the same sequance. I have 4 jumps, slalom and 2 tunnels.

Now I can see that he had two strides on downward plank instead of his usual, three. Probably because of his excitement.

Hello

Here are a few videos from our training sessions. (height:25)

The “start” was done with banana throws. He loves bananas, and it is easily seen in the grass, and very easy to swallow. ?
Should I try this on a set course next time, for a first run?

There are also three runs from yesterdays training. First run I don’t have on camera. He hit the second jump and the bar fell down. I’m not sure if he did his extra strides there. Second and third run is on video. It would be better if I had not repeated the first two jumps, as you suggested? I asked the trainer not to repeat the jumps where he hit himself, but he insisted we must do it again. How to help the dog in this situation? To avoid or put the bar down?

This weekend I will be on a private training where I can get the course set up just for me. If you have a suggestion on what to train, let me know.

Ok, I will try to work on his condlfidence by not correcting him that much, and not making a big deal out of his mistakes. 🙂

As a follow up to his lack of confidence – on the DW he did well and fast on medium height, but on full height he probably lost a bit of confidence and now he is slower + wierd movements and hits less precise. I also corrected him a lot…

How can I get it better?

Startline: did you mean food throws before or after I tell him to sit?

Trainings – if static toy wouldn’t work, is it OK if the toy is in my hand?

Which height of jumps would you recommend?

Sorry for the long post, but here it goes, I’ll try to explain as much as I can.

About knocking the bars : it does happen sometimes, on straight or ‘out’ jumps. He had an accident at Zeljko’s on the training after the one seen in the previous video. Now, since the bars are lower, he hits them rarely. He is a silly and smart fluff. If he slips in the tunnel, next time he will slow down and be careful. Or if he runs into the slalom and wants to speed up, he loses control, hits himself, and then slows down. So I guess he loses control at speed, then decides it’s much safer to go slow.

Grids: Oh, I didn’t notice that.  I was just looking if he would be adding the extra strides and the idea was to teach him to properly ‘extend’ himself.

Competition run: we didn’t yet start to compete officially (DW, A-Frame and See-Saw are not ready :)) . We ran 3 times just to get some experience. He ran a ‘junior’ run with lower bars, you can see it in the video. Second time he avoided obstacles we didn’t work much and he did much worse than in training. Third run, that you saw, was really bad. I didn’t have time to warm him up properly after being in his box for a long time so that could be a part of the problem. I also corrected him at the start a few times so that demotivated him + straight lines that he doesn’t like at the moment.

We have problems at the start of the run. He is too anxious to run, and when I ‘hold him back’ or return him, he gets demotivated. He likes it when we start with a turn. That is our second problem 😀 😀 

“Did his attitude change when this problem started. Was he always fast before?”

In may, when we returned to training, there were periods where he wasn’t as crazy about his favorite toy. I had to change to food for rewarding him. He then did well, but not as fast as on toy. During the training, I had to change rewards because he got bored quickly. He sniffed more, left the course sometimes, his focus was low, and wasn’t as fast. Maybe it was because we started training on a new field outside, lots of new smells, girls… 🙂 . He is also sometimes afraid if there are people close to obstacles so he avoids them. He’s usually not a dog who is scared, but he doesn’t like unknown people.

To summarize. Before he used to run a good speed and sometime run crazy fast. Since march, he had some bad periods, motivation problems, but also some good training. In the past few weeks his favorite toy is interesting again, he got faster. I avoid pushing him to wait at the start and jumps are low.

Thanks, I really enjoyed it. Hope you had a good time at EO. I heard it was quite warm 🙂

Since this class is over, I would like to continue working with you like you suggested. Please give me more info on this.

I find your insight into a dogs’ brain very helpful. I would probably do a lot of things wrong myself.