Wednesday, June 15, 2011

How about those Handstands?

I am weaning off the props getting more wide open things where the dogs HAVE to pick their feet up and not climb...I think Breeze has the idea, I just wish I had not taught it with me in front so I could have her use my legs for balance. The rest of the dogs get tired fairly quickly working these, but Breeze just keeps going and going. Not the best video but I just wanted to let ya all see where it is going!




WEAVE CHALLENGE UPDATE
Yea we have got a bunch of videos and it is cool to see everyone doing so well with their weaves! I hope everyone saw the link yesterday for Dare and Marie, they look like they were doing awesome, I had added the link late so I hope it does not get missed.

Last night I got a treat when I saw Jive has done his first video, and he looks great! Jive is one of Cricket's littermates. http://jumpnjive.blogspot.com/2011/06/jive-wins-novice-agility.html

For anyone wanting to join the challenge and work on getting really solid, independent weaves the original description is at http://kathy-agilityadventures.blogspot.com/2011/06/mastering-independant-weaves-challenge.html

Basically the place most people are at is for the first week we will put a jump approximately 16 feet in front of the weaves. We then send the dogs to the weaves without leading out or going with them, from the left and right, then run with the dog trying to blast ahead of them once on the left and once with them on our right, then we rear cross the weaves from the left to the right, and then the right to the left. Last we stand facing the weaves about eight feet past the poles and call the dog so they are recalling through the weaves. Seven trials for the first jump position, so the dog is doing some weaving with handler movement, some where they just need to understand how to find the entrance without help, etc...

Week 2 we move the jump a little to the right as you look at the weaves and repeat all seven ways to do the weaves.

Week 3 we will move the jump a little to the left so offside of where the original jump on week 1 was. I drew a little picture on the first day if I am not explaining it well.

Personally we are working on position three and I am having to do a little work with 2-2x2's because all of a sudden Cricket is having a hard time when I am blasting past the poles,she wants to go with me and has a hard time understanding to tap her breaks and get in the weaves no matter what my movement is doing ;-), so guess it is good we are doing the challenge!

6 comments:

Sagira said...

Look at her go. She is really starting to get the hang of it now. Before long she will be walking on 2 legs. :)

Sara said...

Kathy! Breeze is so awesome. I was so excited when I saw the title of your post (on my phone). Couldn't wait to get home and watch the video. Breeze really gets the idea of picking up her hind legs! Plus, she's so darn eager to work. I just love her.

I'm so hoping Oreo can get to that point as well.

Unknown said...

Amazing! Breeze is so clever and she's working so hard on making it right. Look at her enthusiasm, she deserves tons of treats!

Instead of doing handstands, I'm trying to let Eva to use her hind legs more due to her weak legs, we are still working on Elephant Walk. LOL!

Diana said...

Great handstands!!

The only thing I worried about was standing still and sending all the way down the weaves with me not moving. A "no motion cue" should pull my dog back to me. She shouldnt just continue down the line. I dont want Miley to think its ok to do that. So once she made the entry, I did move forward.

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

Diana, I thought about that too, and the recall where you are facing them, and if you notice in our next video where I really do the recall, in the day light recall Cricket does look a tad confused and goes a tad slower because I am facing her.....I asked about that and was told that because the weaves are an obstacle the dog is supposed to complete no matter what you are doing, once they start they complete them.. then the motion thing is ok, but I do not think I was physically able to stand without some movement in the direction of the weaves, and you are so are very good trainer and smart to not do anything that would conflict or tear down what Miley understands, because the motion thing is of course HUGE, and def. one I have thought of!

Mariana said...

I loved Breeze's handstands! In no time she will be perfect!
good job on the weaves!!