Summit had some awesome runs this weekend at the Mile High Golden Retriever Club AKC trial. The judges were Katherine Leggett and Terry Smorch. Both judges put out some very challenging courses that were designed to really test a variety of skills. I loved running all the courses this weekend and Summit and I did very well on them. I was very happy to see he had the skills to run all the courses clean. My intentions this weekend were to reinforce the stop and wait on the contacts since I'd been quick releasing Summit on the contacts last weekend in USDAA.
However, he dropped one bar in Friday's jumpers, Saturday's Standard, and Sunday's jumpers. This of course meant no double Q's. Which is disappointing considering how nice his runs were but for the one bar.
I've been watching our videos and really trying to see if I'm doing anything to cause the bar. I don't think I am. I have noticed that he tends to drop a bar while jumping in extension (as opposed to collection). I can cue collection and ask him to jump into me (convergence) which is a difficult skill - and he easily keeps the bars up (see Sunday's standard run - serpentine). He looks like sometimes he flattens out when he's in extension and maybe not picking his feet up?????
I jump him at 24" when we are training and he has a nice rounded form (he respects the bar) and rarely ever drops one. I am still going back and forth about moving him up to the 24" class but I'm not possitive that would "fix" it. However, it might start making him THINK about jumping rather than running over 20" speed bumps.
All in all, I'm very happy with how we handled the courses this weekend and confirmed we have many of the advanced skills to tackle these challenges.
Friday's Jumpers run - 1 bar
Friday's Standard run - Qualifying run. I stepped forward too soon at the start and Summit had a wide turn to the tunnel. I also wasted time after the a-frame. Summit released himself from the a-frame and I marked it. I was ready for that to happen though I wasn't fast enough and marked it after he took the jump. I think he knew what he was being marked for since I only use the "uh oh" for self-releasing contacts.
Saturday's Jumpers run - I overhandled the tunnel by picking up my outside arm briefly to pull him in (not really needed) and he pulled in all right, past the tunnel entrance. Otherwise a nice run.
Saturday's Standard run - 1 bar
This was a tough opening (very tight) and then many dogs took the wrong course jump instead of the teeter. Handlers motion was restricted by the weavepoles.
Sunday's Jumpers run - 1 bar
Sunday's Standard run - 1st place. I loved running this course and enjoyed the challenges. Many dogs NQ'd (especially fast dogs). The dogwalk/tunnel descrimination, the serpentine after the chute, and the ending with another dogwalk/tunnel discrimination and if the handler wasn't there to push the line from the yellow tunnel to yellow jump at the end, the dog's shot out and curled to the left and either ran by the yellow jump or took the wrong course red jump.
Agility Challenge Tip #20 – Practice Alone
6 months ago
7 comments:
Great runs Morganne. On that Sunday Standard, so many handlers hung back afraid of making the front cross before the dogwalk and it cost a lot of them. Then on the table, you got good position leading past the jump and could signal the tunnel and Still give yourself time to get the push to the yellow jump. Awesome! I did those things too with Skye, but with Summit's speed - oh yea!
Wow, your runs amaze me.
The jumpers run ( the first one posted) do you think Summit dropped the bar because you had to go so deep into the pocket to get that pinwheel. And even though you gave an opposite arm cue , it just wasnt enough time for Summit to adjust. You are usually a jump ahead and done with your cross completely before you dog takes off. (This is just my observation and I could be way wrong). The other runs I couldnt see anyting that caused it. Man you guys look great!! Diana
Hummm, I thought everything looked great and you are right it seemed all those dropped bars were on a big extension, do you suppose he just gets in a hurry and is not paying attention and forgets to keep up the back feet, I moved Liz up to mixed jumps 16 and 20 inches, she is small and measures for 16 inches but it does seem to help her pay attention more and think more. I did not see anything you were doing and it seemed your signals were great. I loved watching that one run, some really beautiful crosses and Summit is always so beautiful running....
Diana, great observation! I received feedback from Linda M. and she watched the three vids where the bar comes down and said I need to practice with him more at 20" (where he is jumping with more extension than at 24") and execute front crosses (rotating while he is over the bar) so he learns to adjust quicker.
Interesting, initial thoughts two x bars possibly are where there no collection info in time and you appear in his landing area. Or he needs to learn to jump into your space too. As he hits the tyre too for what seems to be the same reason. The other two x bars are like a ripple in where he is not sure to turn or to power on. It is so subtle. But watch the whole body and you see his line change as he is going over the pole. He is making bag loads of effort for you. With his speed and power, there is no error margin in getting info to allow him to complete the obstacles correctly.
Thanks for the feedback Christine. You're right, he bumps the tire for the same reason (I have not completed rotation of my front cross). I went back and watched the videos in slo mo and he is turning on the flat vs. turning over the jump. Again, when he is in extension vs. collection and I'm cueing a turn.
Any puppy news yet? ;-)
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