Comment

Comment by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on September 21, 2011 at 1:22pm

Cheri, that second exercise (spacing the jumps after keeping the first two close) sounds really good! I will have to try that.

Comment by Beth on September 21, 2011 at 10:23am

Sorry Cheri, yes I did mean the Pem Nationals.  Didn't mean to dis the Cardis; I know theirs was several months ago.  :-)  PWCCA is terrible about getting results up on their site.  They never did load up the 2010 results.  I was disappointed, as I know the BOB from last year (Joy) and her owner/breeder Ann.  I ended up ordering the quarterly book they send out just to get the full results. 

 

I'm asking because one of Maddie's daughters probably ran in the agility and I'm wondering how she did.

Comment by Cheri on September 21, 2011 at 8:40am

I assume you mean Pembroke Welsh Corgi Nationals. The results from Cardigan Welsh Corgi Nationals have been out for a while now. :D

Comment by Cheri on September 20, 2011 at 9:30pm

Yes! That's exactly what you want to do! Good luck.

Comment by Beth on September 20, 2011 at 7:59pm

Oh, and does anyone have results from agility at the Nationals?

Comment by Beth on September 20, 2011 at 7:59pm

Well, I know how to do it with horses so I imagine it's similar with dogs.  With horses you call those bounces and set distance lines "gymnastics."  So you might do a series of five trotting poles to an x-rail and one stride out to an oxer, or three bounces in a row.  The only thing you would not ever do is a one-stride to a bounce, as a horse might get lost and crash.  A bounce to a one-stride is good, though. 

 

The other things they do with horses are cavaletti (slightly raised trotting poles) and exercises to get the horse deep to the base of the jump to improve bascule.  For green horses, you would set out groundlines before the jump to help them see the takeoff spot.   For horses, they should take off approximately as far from the jump as the jump is high; the take-off spot for a 3' jump is about 3', for instance.  Is the same roughly true for dogs?

 

Generally speaking, a horse collects to verticals (bar jumps) and lengthens to oxers (spread jumps).  I get the feeling it should be similar for dogs.   

Comment by Cheri on September 20, 2011 at 4:56pm

The next exercise after you do that though is to set the distance at varied length. Set up 5 jumps with the first 2 being bounce distance and then space the next 3 each further apart. When you set up the dog, visually it doesn't look a lot different so they are surprised the first time they do it. It teaches them to better estimate their take off. To evaluate what's coming up rather than taking it for granted that it's going to be evenly spaced. So for example the first 2 jumps are 3 feet apart, then the next is 3'3", then 3'6" and then 4' between the last two. Do that right after doing evenly spaced jumps. The goal is to get them thinking and evaluating what's ahead of them. You can do rear end awareness by putting a ladder down on the ground and having them walk the ladder. They have to be aware of the rear end and where it is and what it's doing. You can also put a brick or something of that size on the ground and teach them to put their front paws on it and walk around it while keeping their front paws on it, only moving the rear around. There are all sorts of things to get them thinking and aware of what they're doing.

Comment by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on September 20, 2011 at 3:51pm

I agree, the jump bumps are great. My trainer also has an exercise where she sets up the jumps the perfect distance apart so the dog can only jump the bar and basically regroup and jump again right away. I think that really helped Baxter a lot. 

Comment by Cheri on September 20, 2011 at 1:02pm

Not only do fast dogs have a problem dropping bars, so do corgis in general. They're not always aware of their rear end and what's going on back there. I would do jump bumps and rear end awareness exercises.

Comment by Beth on September 20, 2011 at 12:07pm

Jack's gotten much better about the sniffing as the work gets more challenging, but now we have a new problem:  dropping rails.  Ugh.  He seems to not care much one way or the other whether he actually clears the top bar.  Instructor says it's a common problem with fast dogs (and he is that, bless his stubby little legs).  So she says next week we'll start doing some grid work to get him to learn to collect himself a little and pick up his legs. 

 

If anyone has any pointers, I'd much appreciate it.  I think there's nothing for it but to buy a set of four jumps and set stuff up at home. 

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