A-frame seminar

k9kreationz

k9kreationz

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I went to a Sanders A-frame seminar this Saturday. Besides it being super cold, I have to say, I love that woman. When people start talking too much, she hushes them. She's funny as heck, and blunt too, but not mean. My kind of teacher. There were only 10 workers and 2 auditors. Perfect amount of people. I loved the way she led the seminar. We first started with dogs that have never seen the box. Then those that have. And so on and so forth till we got to dogs running, but having issues.

Um...I was so embarrassed and felt bad for my first instructor. I had to tell her we did train using her method, but I don't think it was done very well. Especially after she showed us how we're supposed to train. Yikes!

I put Koji into the "re-introduce the box" part of the session. So embarrassing. He was worse than the never seen it before box. Then he totally patterned and kept doing the same thing so she tried shaping him and that didn't work. I told her, "I swear, he's not usually this stubborn". He ate about half a bag (the big bags) of Charlee Bears and a ton of Zuke's, that's how bad it was. :o

At the end, I asked her if she could watch Koji's A-frame and tell me if it's all just mechanics, something fixable down the line, etc. Because Koji doesn't fly over the apex like box taught dogs are supposed to. So she had me run back and forth about....5 times. OMG. She was like, "ah, I see what you mean". Then we lowered the frame down and wow, Koji started flying over the apex and doing a perfect 2 hit a-frame. I said, "ohhh, so that's the secret". LOL.

So she told me, work on the box, get the cue, work on the grid, move to the A-frame. If he's still doing it, email me and we'll discuss it more. Her dog did the same thing so she has fixed it before. I don't have an a-frame so I can't work on it really. I could ask my trainer to forego running and do a-frame contacts a few times in class in-lieu of running, but we'll see.

It feels good to know that Koji really isn't broken. That he's just not doing it correctly and it could be many reasons. But first, to figure out the right reason, I have to train the box. So, back to the box. At least the DW is working. lol. And his sit-stay. so proud of my boy in those areas.

Maybe before he's 10, I'll get it all together. With my luck, I'll get it perfectly, then have to retire him. ugh! At least I feel like we're really progressing. Granted, we're doing things we should've had done years ago, but what did I know. I was it in for fun, not for serious agility.
 
Glad to hear the seminar went well. That is the hard thing about second hand information (like you were recieving from your first trainer). Some of the method can be lost between the original source and the person teaching it.
Just for clarification, are you doing a running contact, or a stopped contact on the aframe? I'm only familiar with the box method as a running contact.
For teaching the apex jump, and correct striding, I've used a stride regulator on the downside of the aframe. The person I worked with said to only use it on the downside so the dog was never sure when it was going to be there, where as if you use one at the top, they are able to know ahead of time if it's there or not.
 
HopeShelties said:
Glad to hear the seminar went well. That is the hard thing about second hand information (like you were recieving from your first trainer). Some of the method can be lost between the original source and the person teaching it.
Just for clarification, are you doing a running contact, or a stopped contact on the aframe? I'm only familiar with the box method as a running contact.
For teaching the apex jump, and correct striding, I've used a stride regulator on the downside of the aframe. The person I worked with said to only use it on the downside so the dog was never sure when it was going to be there, where as if you use one at the top, they are able to know ahead of time if it's there or not.
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Yes, the box method is only for running and that is what I'm doing with Koji on the A-frame. And interestingly, Sanders doesn't believe in stride regulators (bumps).

It is definitely good to hear it from her mouth because at the end, a trainer who was there, was saying, "well, you didn't have XYZ do that" and Sanders said, "no and I wouldn't have XYZ do that either". Trainer was confused, but honestly I already understood that Sanders is so great at seeing the dogs stride and what is going on and why they aren't where they are, etc, that she knows what will work for what dog and what won't work.

So, that's one reason why she said to email her when I get to that point and if Koji is still not flying over the apex, then we'll talk again. Because she knows he's not being "normal" and doing it the "normal" way. So she'll have him probably use two boxes, but it depends on his striding and mechanics, etc.

I was amazed at how much goes into really understanding a dog's a-frame performance and all the variables. So, although everyone thought his striding is "off", it is, but at the same time, not really. lol. So confusing, huh? Glad I'm not the pro, but wish I could be.
 
Sharon said:
I thought Kojii was jumping funny and was wondering why you would run him over the frame?
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Heck, I just thought he didn't like it. Versus like the dogs I see flying over the apex. ;)

Actually, I was told that dogs that do what Koji does, which is he goes over the apex, but not flying, more like he walks over it. She said it's usually because dogs don't like it or they are afraid of it. Not sure if you (or anyone) recalls, but Koji was DEATHLY afraid of almost every obstacle, a-frame notwithstanding. So, maybe his days of being lured, pushed, cajoled over sticks with him, so he's not comfy on it and therefore, he kinda walks over it.

Hopefully, with this retraining, maybe he'll feel more comfortable, because there's a "system" to it. Who knows, we'll see. In the end, he may never fly over. But I can hope, right?
 
k9kreationz said:
Heck, I just thought he didn't like it. Versus like the dogs I see flying over the apex. ;)

Actually, I was told that dogs that do what Koji does, which is he goes over the apex, but not flying, more like he walks over it. She said it's usually because dogs don't like it or they are afraid of it. Not sure if you (or anyone) recalls, but Koji was DEATHLY afraid of almost every obstacle, a-frame notwithstanding. So, maybe his days of being lured, pushed, cajoled over sticks with him, so he's not comfy on it and therefore, he kinda walks over it.

Hopefully, with this retraining, maybe he'll feel more comfortable, because there's a "system" to it. Who knows, we'll see. In the end, he may never fly over. But I can hope, right?
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Thank you for posting! I think I see some light there. Because when you posted about about that A frame and box and how they suppose to fly over the apex I am like- hmm, I am familiar with concept but never taught mine that box thing, althought I do have info how to do it. But both of mine fly and land nicely. I think it is matter of dog liking it and never being lured. Because I am a noob too. The difference that when my pups seen wobbly board- they like yeah, hooray, lets go for a ride reaction. So I think you are hitting proverbial nail there- desire have to be first.
 
SheltieChe said:
Thank you for posting! I think I see some light there. Because when you posted about about that A frame and box and how they suppose to fly over the apex I am like- hmm, I am familiar with concept but never taught mine that box thing, althought I do have info how to do it. But both of mine fly and land nicely. I think it is matter of dog liking it and never being lured. Because I am a noob too. The difference that when my pups seen wobbly board- they like yeah, hooray, lets go for a ride reaction. So I think you are hitting proverbial nail there- desire have to be first.
Click to expand...

Yup, when I was told that, the light bulb went on. Then I thought back to all the hardships we had on all the equipment. I don't think Koji will ever race over the DW to the point where he slams himself in a 2o2o (another reason I'm not overly worried about strain), like some dogs do. And although Koji goes up and over the AF, he definitely isn't comfy with flying over. I never thought about it being a "scared" issue (or he doesn't like it), because he does it and seems to not care. But I guess there's residual there, otherwise, he'd learn to fly, right? Well, I think so.
 
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