GDA Luncheon Video

Introduction - 8/31/08

Hi! Welcome to my Blog. I have decided to start blogging my training experiences with two of my dogs who do agility with me. My older dog is Gus, a 3 year old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. I have had Gus since he was 8 weeks old but I took over training him for agility just shy of his second birthday. My younger dog is Flex, a one and a half (we think) year old Mini Australian Sheppard. Flex is a rescue and he has only lived with me since April of 2008. He has a lot of trust issues but so far is really enjoying Agility.

Right now I am trying to correct Gus' terrible jumping problems. He does everything at full speed and never learned to judge the appropriate take off point when he jumps. He routinely knocks almost half the bar on an agility course. We have been using the Set Point exercise from Susan Salo's DVD. So far this has dramatically improved his jumping in a controlled setting (no speed). We were trying the Linda Mecklenburg jump training but I found that he wasn't understanding the concepts very well. I went to the Clean Run Instructors Conference and sat in on a few of Susan's classes. Her instruction was clear, precise and based on years of experience.

Gus has been progressing very well with the Set Point Exercise. He is consistently taking off properly and clearing the jumps with out touching the bar. This exercise has also allowed me to work on his sit/stay while in front of a jump. His stays have improved quite a bit. We will continue with this exercise for another full week and then progress to the next level of her program. Flex is also working these exercises although his work area is larger then Gus'. Flex struggled with knocking the bar because he was taking off too late once the bar was raised to his regulation jump height of 16". I increased the work area by 6" and that solved the problem completely.