Private Lesson

Yesterday evening Bug, Carmen, and I had a private lesson with Amanda. I felt like it went really well.

With Carmen we worked on me continuing to move and support her and rewarding her for speed. Carmen cut behind me again so we practiced the blind cross exercise we had discussed in the workshop and that is on the schedule to be practiced at home.

With Bug we discussed teeter rehab and contacts. Amanda said she doesn’t consider what I am doing with Bug a running contact because there is no criterion per se. She called it a moving contact and suggested that if I run into problems (like him leaping off contact equipment) I might want to consider a down after the contact. She agrees that asking him to stop on the contact or do a 2o/2o wouldn’t be the best for his structure. The down after the contact is what Katrin suggested as well. I realize it would likely give the dog more confidence because they have a specific task. At this point I am going to train a down on the fly on a mat or in a pvc box as a tool/trick. However I do not think I plan on incorporating it into my contact behavior right now. Given Bug’s structure and personality I just do not want to stop him at this point.

As to teeter rehab, Amanda suggested having the START of the teeter up on the table versus the descent. She has a theory that with dogs that are nervous about the teeter it is harder for them to go up to come down. She suggested I put Bug on the teeter, run him off it and tug.

Bug was a tugging maniac last night so that is good.

I don’t feel like Bug and I are that connected, so I think I need to spend some time and energy focusing on that and becoming a bit more captivating to Bug!