Parkour (4/5)

The dog she had a problem with during the first class was again not present.  Hope everything is okay with them.

"Thru" sequence video - It's not easy to see them, but behind the carwash are several things (foot obstacles) to walk over.   If you watch you'll see Gimme's head get higher.  None of this is a challenge for her.

Ladder work video - The ladder is set with the easy side up.  The dogs have 5½-inch wide steps to work with and Gimme finds this really easy.

Sequence 1 video -  This sequence starts with the carwash and foot obstacles, then the hoop stand, the ladder, a box (out of video), ladder, hoop stand, foot obstacles and carwash to end.  Gimme does great with it - she loves to do-do-do.

Boardwalk video - The boardwalk is set up using two benches, so the dogs have to step over the arms of the benches to walk the boardwalk.  Gimme is completely unconcerned by this challenge. 

Sequence 2 video - You'll notice right away that I was having Gimme "halt" (stop) on the boardwalk.  Since Gimme was so unconcerned about the boardwalk made of benches, our guest instructor wanted me to up the ante by adding repeated control points on the boardwalk - always a good idea with Miss Go-Go-Go.  I was proud of her responding so well to the cue and once I was even able to "halt" her with her front and back feet on either side of the bench arm.  From there she has a chair to go "below" and a milk crate to do "hands" (2 on), which she turns into 4 on.  It takes me a moment to get positioned so I can interrupt her and get the "hands" I wanted.  From there we do the hoop stand, ladder, and box.  You'll see while we are practicing our stay in the box, the guest instructor turns the ladder over, so Gimme now only has 1½-inches to work with.  Initially I was moving her too slowly, but once I moved her faster and got her to think about what she was doing (instead of thinking about the treats I had), she got it pretty well. 

Putting on my trainer hat, I think it's too much of a change in increment to go from 5½-inches to 1½-inches.  I've been thinking about it and have come up with a way to add a mid-point increment to the basic ladder.  I'm going to talk to the guy who does the building of stuff for Pawsabilities about building the ladder the way I'd want it with the ability to set it up with a 3½-inch surface for training.  It's really not that hard to make the change and would be very secure/stable when using it. 

Sequence 3 video - A plastic tarp was put down as part of our sequence.  The other dogs danced around it before getting on it, while Gimme walks right up and starts walking on it while she checks it out.  It just doesn't occur to her to do otherwise.  Another change was to reverse the order of the foot obstacles on the other side of the carwash, making an additional challenge for the two taller dogs, since they needed to bend a bit to step up on the higher platform while they were still under the carwash.  From there we did the hoop stand, ladder, open barrel, box, open barrel, hoop stand, foot obstacles, carwash and back over the plastic tarp. 

Sequence 4 video -  For this sequence, the tarp has been moved inside the open barrel and a small platform has been placed where it was.  The sequence is boardwalk, go below a chair, 2 on a milk crate, hoop stand, ladder, open barrel with tarp, 4 in box, barrel with tarp, ladder, hoop stand, carwash, foot obstacles and table for 4 on.  Gimme really enjoys the sequences. 

"Bacon" 1 & 2 video - Gimme tried throughout the evening to sneak in "bacon" at any opportunity.  So when we were given the chance to do individual work, I gave her a chair to "bacon" onto.  She's done higher obstacles and this kind of chair before, so I was surprised at her reluctance to get her front feet into the chair.  I gave her a couple of chances before moving to a lower obstacle.  I wanted her to end on a positive note.  Gimme is very honest and doesn't just refuse to do something without good reason.  She so loves "bacon", when she wouldn't finish the behavior, I had to assume something was bothering her.  So, I was glad to know we were scheduled for a chiropractor appointment the next day.