Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: Things That Boost Doesn't Know

SUMMARY: Things I learned in class last night about rear crosses and bar knocking.

Instructor N last night pointed out that Boost isn't even trying to clear the jump bars; she's hitting them with her stifle. I was running as silent as possible so I wasn't saying ANYthing to her as we went around the course, because "talking to her on top of the jump" is one of the things people keep saying I'm doing that causes the bars to come down. So I really do need to get to teh hardware store and buy some wooden closet rods and paint them to look like PVC bars so she's got some motivation to not hit them.

The other interesting thing was that she has no clue about rear crosses in tunnels--she always turns towards the side that I started on, not the side I ended on. I tried it several times in class with the instructor helping, and the conclusion was that she just doesn't get it and I need to go home and practice with a short tunnel.

I must've done 30 attempts at home today with a short straight tunnel in the middle of the lawn. I tried tossing the toy on the final side, I tried placing the toy ahead of time on the final side, I tried really realy blatant rear crosses like when she is approaching the tunnel I am running perpendicular to her line of travel into the tunnel so there is nowhere I can go except to the other side, and variants thereof. Not once, not even one dang time, did she turn to the correct side as she came out.

So I'm missing something in how to give her that info. I know that she has a tough time with rear crosses anyway sometimes, so it's back to very very basic learning to turn one's head when mom moves behind you sorts of groundwork. Ack.

Now I'm packed and ready to head out for the weekend--first walkthrough at 5:30 this evening. ACK! I didn't pack my clothes yet! ACK!

Ta!

Labels: Boost jumps, jumps-jumping-bars, rear crosses, training

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3 Comments:

At 1:42 PM, June 06, 2008 , nightowl said...: This post has been removed by the author.
At 1:43 PM, June 06, 2008 , nightowl said...: When the Susan Salo videos came out - I grabbed a set and started with my own bar knocker. I've actually been quite good about posting all our reps (in slow mo!) on our blog and labelling them all as "Susan Salo Jumping" if you want to take a peek.

It's only been a few weeks, but we feel there has been a noticable difference - good luck!
At 1:55 PM, June 06, 2008 , Elf said...: When I started Boost jumping, it was with Susan Salo drills. I guess the moral of the story (in fact, every agility story I seem to have) is: Back to basics! And keep working on them! Of course I know that. Of course I do. Sure.