|
2Week Two |
 |
 |
| objective | Recall and send away more than one jump | The pipe tunnel | The dogwalk | weave poles |
Training week 2
Objective
w To teach the dog to sit and wait at
the start.
w To recall over four jumps.
w Send over at least two jumps.
w Further work on the pipe tunnel.
w Negotiating the dog walk for the first time
including the position on the touch point.
w Introduce the weave poles.
One line of four jumps were set up going up the venue for the recall
. The pipe tunnel was placed in between two jumps and the dog walk (at full
height) and weaving poles down one side
Sit stay and recall
more than one jump revisited
We started where we left off on week one with a recall over one, two,
three and then four jumps. All the dogs completed this task with ease. Please
note that we started again at one jump, not four. This is to give the dog and
handler confidence and to help reinforce the sit stay.
Teaching Send away over jumps will help the dog work away from the
handler and is especially useful for the finish of a course. It is achieved
by sending the dog to it's favourite toy or a treat. We personally prefer the
toy because it tends to make your dog more enthusiastic.
Stand in front of the jump and throw the toy over the
pole while commanding to stay. When the stay is solid, send over the jump to
retrieve the toy. Follow up and play with the dog and toy, repeat in opposite
direction until you are confident. The next step is to repeat the above exercise
but instead of throwing the toy tell the dog to stay and walk out and place
the toy, return and then send. This same procedure is then repeated over two
jumps.
Step three involves both the recall and the send away. Tell the dog to stay
walk out two jumps recall the dog and as the dog clears the second jump turn
and throw the toy over the third following up and praising.
Handlers were ask to repeat the Tunnel as taught last week, which they all completed with no problems. The next step is for the handler to place the dog at the entrance to the pipe, give the tunnel command and run to the other end to collect and praise. After repeating this exercise a few times a jump was placed after the exit and as the dog came out of the tunnel a toy was thrown over the jump as in the exercise above. This is to get the focus away from the handler and onto the next obstacle. It is always a good idea to link pieces of equipment together in this way to get the dog looking for something else to do instead of turning to you.
Negotiating the
dog walk and stop on the touch point
Once again, we started by placing the dogs on the end touch point in the position the handlers wanted them to take up, whilst, at the same time, giving the command for the contact. This exercise was repeated several times with the dogs on both the left and right hand side of the handlers. We then took the dogs over the dog walk. Bringing the dogs to the up ramp, handlers were asked to give their command for the dog walk. With a hand in the collar, and the instructor on the other side of the dog walk to help guide the dogs, handlers then took their dogs across the dog walk and down on to the contact point - giving their desired command for this and guiding their dogs into the correct position. We then repeated this with the dog on the opposite side of the handler.
Introducing the weave poles 
We have purchased a set of staggered - or "V" - weaves from Jaycee Jumps (see picture) and this is the first course we have used these on. They allow for the poles to be leant outwards at various angles and can gradually be moved inwards until completely straight.
To start these were angled outwards so that the dogs were merely moving through the middle and making very little movement. The dogs were brought up to the poles and commenced the exercise with the first pole on their right hand shoulder. Handlers gave their command for the weaves at the start, i.e. "weave" or "poles". They then gave further commands during the poles - "weave", "weave, come", "in, out", etc. It does not matter which command is used so long as it is consistent and used all the time, even at this stage when the dogs are making very little sideways movement in the poles.
Gradually over the coming weeks the poles (starting with the end ones) will be moved inwards, but the commands will remain the same.
