This evening with Mike available to video I ran both Spice and Grace around an arc of agility equipment I had set up in the backyard. I tried to handle both dogs for speed and accuracy by giving them early info about the weaves and teeter. Spice is more accurate than Grace at this point and probably faster. Since Grace could benefit from these sequences she will get worked during training sessions as well even though the courses will be designed with Spice in mind.
Our taping session went as follows: I ran the course in one direction with Spice on my right and then we turned the teeter around and Spice and I ran it in the opposite direction with Spice on my left. Grace ran on my left and then on my right after a teeter 180. In Grace's defensive Spice had the weave poles near the end of her first run and Grace had weaves as obstacles #2 of her first run. That being said Grace has been training in agility for years but some of the lessons she missed or they didn't stick. Maybe Tracey will have some insight into the differences. My thoughts on Grace are:
- Grace doesn't care if she is accurate because I gave her cookies for trying at the beginning of her training to encourage her to participate. Grace came with huge emotional issues so if she put forth honest effort I rewarded it. In training I have been more black and white with Spice which has likely reinforced accuracy.. It may be too late to fix a black/white accuracy problem for Grace but we can strive to improve my choosing when to reward her.
- Grace is so terribly put together, even though her hips are relatively good, that she just is clumsy. That being said she can balance on her rear paws so she can stick her head in the top of her favorite holly bush. However, she does sling her self over the jumps so we periodically work jump chutes to encourage better jumping form.
- Grace doesn't care - Grace is out for Grace's sake.
I am very pleased with Spice. See needs several teeter repetitions before her debut. She is ready for a obstacle sequence that involves more turning with acceleration and deceleration/collection including front and rear crosses and maybe a pinwheel. Eventually we need serpentines and threadles too. I need to get the dog walk, broad jump, triple (in pieces in the workshop) , and table (have base in need of a top) out in the game!
Our videos are here:
Because Spice is still working on conquering the teeter we practiced it before we ran the entire obstacle sequence so she knew where it was in the sequence. All in all I am pleased with Spice's speed and accuracy. My posture was mostly upright this evening but there is always room for improvement.
