Contact class

Cassi has not been feeling well since she was bit or stung by something last Friday, but she seems to be keeping her food down as of today, so we went to class and she did well. D told everyone about the "excellent-level" course that Cassi did at the trial. I didn't realize that the jumpers course was changed very little from the Excellent course. The obstacles that were so difficult were the jump into the weaves--there was another jump that was a more obvious direction for the dog to go and apparently, most of the dogs took the jump instead of the weaves. Knowing that Cassi and Teka both got that weave entry made me proud, but also a little upset that I pulled Teka out and messed up her run.

We did the dog walk at the low height, back-chaining down one end. Holding her collar, I direct her onto the sloped part, facing down, then release to her treat pouch about 3 feet out from the end. This is a send, recall, run with exercise, increasing the distance about 2 planks each time.

We did the A frame next. We have been doing it at the black notch--very low--and letting her run across it, again to the treat pouch about 3 feet out from the end. She is not hesitating at all, so I think we are going to move her up a little next time.

Next we did the teeter, which she is SOOO excited about in class (yum, treats) although she is not always so excited about in public. We took it down to the 10 notch (very, very low) and let her run onto and off it, with D or my classmate waving the treat pouch and throwing it out a little when she got near the end. She really likes this game.

The next exercise was a sequence with the clicker boards, except that one was just a square board. Once Cassi got the idea of touching that one, she did okay, but she keeps running around the clicker boards and then touching. I need to work on this at home somehow (I don't have a clicker board.) At the end of the sequence, I had Cassi "switch" to the last jump and my classmate, J, was very impressed. She asked how she learned it and I had to really think about it before I explained it, almost correctly, so I should document what I recall.

Teaching switch: I remember using 4 jumps in a box set up (if I was standing in the middle and turned four directions, a jump would be in front of me to jump over.) We started by doing two opposite each other--easy, straight line. Then we used the first jump and the one to the right or left to practice "here." When starting out, the jumps usually have to be pulled closer to each other and then spaced out more as the idea becomes clear to the dog. With the three jumps close together, you can teach "switch" by using the arm motion and naming it when the dog goes the opposite way of you (opposite of "here"). As they get it, increase the distance between the jumps. We started with the jumps touching so they couldn't go between. I vaguely recall that we may have thrown the treat pouch or toy over the jump, but I don't remember using it as a lure.

Our last exercise was a sequence with the "boxes" and she has the idea of the large box but hasn't been consistent with the narrow box, so D suggested we take that one out so she could be successful. She did really well with it. Actually, she had more trouble with the wrap. There was 2 jumps that required she do a U from one to the other, then she needed to come back between them (wrap) to the box and she kept wanting to come back over the second jump. I guess we'll need to work on wrap at home.