But...on the happy side, I now know the problem :)
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Took Lynn to the cities to run on a rubberized DW...and, although she didn't miss the yellow on any of them...she was not confident on them, and did have a few "jumps" and several short striding DW's (aka high in the yellow). Her striding was not consistent...etc etc.
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When she jumped, she got a NRM (AHHHH the horror!!! AAAAAHHHHH!) and went back and tried again...she worked hard to meet criteria, and then got a party for her efforts :)
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Last DW I did with her was back to just the ball on the ground...she did that one perfectly...So...
So...what to do? Well...I will be rubberizing my DW first and foremost. However, that can't happen until March or April. Contact cement doesn't work well in the cold...grrrrrr
So...what to do? Well...I will be rubberizing my DW first and foremost. However, that can't happen until March or April. Contact cement doesn't work well in the cold...grrrrrr
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SO...the trial this weekend, I will be really watching what she is doing, to see if she can deal with the rubber DW there. I wasn't having issues with her dealing with rubberized DW's last summer/fall, however now things have for sure changed. So I have to adapt.
The plan is no DW's unless they are straight off...build confidence with it and just continue to work on that part.
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Another thing I noticed...as I get faster (aka less fat) her striding is changing...good to know for all of you people who want to lose weight to help out your RDW's :) I am not gaining the weight back for Lynn to get things to happy land again...so we will be working on that as well.
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Until I can get her outside, so we can really attack this situation, I think I will still be limiting her DW's at trials for now. Of course this is dependent on if I can get confidence on the DW this weekend...if it improves (unlike the last trial) then I might consider other thoughts.
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The question I DO have and I need to get an answer for...during training, if she jumps, I mark it and redo. In a trial (thinking gamblers)...I am thinking of doing that...but not sure...still thinking about it...She completely understands it...but just not sure yet...I am hoping I don't have to do that at all...but time will tell I suppose.
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On a TOTALLY AWESOME front...the snow is almost gone from my pasture...which means I will be able to get my dogs out on sheep next week probably! :) I would take them out right now, but with the trial this weekend, and lessons the next several days...it won't be happening. Next week...next week :)
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Running DW's are very interesting...and by interesting I mean frustrating :) I am too damn stubborn though...
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6 comments:
One thing that stood out to me was the change in her striding depending on what the next thing was. For the DWs into tunnels (and to her toy!), she threw in the awesome leap move and seemed to get very deep (I guess because of her head being down?). The DWs into angled jumps were not as confident by comparison and didn't appear as deep (her head stayed high on those). Do you think she is trying to connect with you in these situations when the next thing is not obvious? Hard to tell if she is finding you before she leaves the DW or if she is just mentally calculating the possibilities for what is next. At any rate, really interesting. Very very subtle differences.
But really, she doesn't look that sad. :) She looks good even on the "bad" ones! Fingers crossed that it carries over into the weekend.
Yep I think that is what she is trying to do, not confident...she would do those angles with no issues on a regular (not rubberized) DW :(
I do think she is figuring stuff out, and how to still meet criteria on those...honestly I think she would rather jump...but she isn't, she is trying REALLY hard to continue running.
So I just need to work her through the confidence issue ON the DW and then I think the rest will be fixed.
But time will tell...they are icky...I don't like them, but it is what it is :) Hoping for some straight off's this weekend for confidence building :) Fingers crossed...
How is Miss Shiver doing on her contacts? Hopefully good!
Ah she doesn't look that bad! At least she doesn't really fly when she's not confident. I still put out the ball a lot for Vito.
I specifically asked Silvia this question in December when I was going to a NADAC trial and would be able to redo contacts as needed. Silvia's answer is below:
The beauty of running contacts is that they become better and better even if you don’t do anything about it :) Bu was missing some contacts when she started trialing as she was not so confident on strange dog-walks – but I just ignored it to not affect her confidence even more and contacts just got better and better. If the dog doesn’t have a confidence problem, you can redo it yes, but as I said: it will get better even if you don’t. – How cool is that, huh! :)
Thanks for that Laura :)
I will work on that this weekend...just try to get her to run and not think :) Time will tell! :)
My bichon saw his 1st rubber contacts at a recent trial. He loved the contacts and once he realized he had more grip, would accelerate even more on the downside. The one 'problem' that I didn't expect was that I couldn't HEAR him running. I usually send to the dw and listen to his stride to judge where he is. The rubber absorbed all the noise and it was weird. I know he's a smaller dog, but I've always been able to hear/judge his speed/location and it was odd not to have that cue. Have you noticed that with rubberized dw's?
Yes Shawn...I noticed that as well...amazing how much you learn to listen for the correct striding isn't it?? LOL
Welcome to the blog by the way! :)
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