Poor Cash has an idiot for a handler. He was AWESOME last night and only messed up when he followed my body language. It is so true in agility that the dogs only do what the handler cues them to. Sigh...
When the only "issue" we are having is the touch at the bottom of the A frame, that's not bad and is fixable. He did a teeter with about an 18" drop (not bad when he is only 11.5" at the shoulder). He wasn't real fast, but drove to the end and held the 4 on the board.
We are starting to work distance and he will be fine once I get my mind around the cues and what NOT to do.
Next week is our last agility class until June and we'll have lots to work on during our hiatus.
3 comments:
Julie,
talk to me about doing 4 on the board? We are learning 2o/2o for all activities. What's the wisdom of 4? inquiring minds need to know LOL
On the teeter, with a small dog, our instructors prefer 4 on for safety instead of 2o2o. What has happened in the past with a small fast dog is that when they get to the end of the teeter and assume the 2o2o position, the rebound of the teeter hitting the floor can flip the dog's rear end into the air and not only scare the crap out of them but potentially injure their back. Cash is 11.5" and weighs about 7.5 pounds, so he would be a candidate for injury. Right now, he's not particularly fast on the teeter, but is gaining speed as he becomes more comfortable. He was a wild man on the buja board but hadn't been on one for a while before we started teeter work. I have since built a buja board and had a teeter built for me for home use which helped alot.
This exact issue is why NADAC has removed teeters from their trials for the time being until their research is complete on drop rates and they are considered moving the pivot point from 24" to 18" or padding the end to lessen the blow.
Julie~~~ Wow! Thanks. For all the classes I have taken over the past few years, you'd think I might have a clue LOL. I had never even given this any consideration, but then again, we were constantly derailed by injury or rehab before we actually got to the moving teeter with sadie. now with Trevor, it's not a consideration.
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