Running A frames

Last weekend was the Training Troops AAC agility trial.  I had a great time with Strider and Spryte and Spryte even earned her Advanced Agility dog title (AADC) and got a Q in Master standard.  I was thrilled with how well my young dog handled the challenging courses.  She didn't even hesitate with the Masters course challenges and would have had two masters Q's but she missed a weave pole entry. Pretty minor error that's for sure!

 However I was once again frustrated with Spryte's Aframe contact.  She was pretty good about hitting her Dogwalk and teeter, but she really struggles with the Aframe. I hate how she has to slow down so much  and does this jarring motion as she comes down and tries to hit her position. She would far rather jump through the aframe.  So after A LOT of consideration and talking with other agility people I have decided to switch Spryte to a running Aframe.

 I do have some concerns switching her. One being if she thinks she doesn't have to stop on the Aframe, will she think that she no longer has to stop on the dogwalk?  Also will she be confused now that I am asking for a completely different criteria on her Aframe.  I'm pretty sure for the first little while it might all fall apart in competition, but I think in the long run this will be the best solution for Spryte and what she prefers to do naturally.

So I have decided to try the Rachel Sanders Running Aframe method using a pvc box.  So far Spryte can jump in and out of the box, mostly doing a nice pounce. I'm not getting too picky, as long as all four feet end up in the box.  That was going well so then we progressed to the jump grid into the box, to get her patterned to take the appropriate number of strides.  This is also going well. So now we are ready to add the box to an Aframe. Problem is its too cold to go outside and play with the Aframe right now. So maybe tomorrow I can sneak a few minutes in before our flyball practise.

Below are short videos of the first two steps of the Sanders method that I mentioned above.

Here is the initial box work, I am trying to vary my starting position and have been adding motion too.

Here is the box with the grid added first.  She looks back at me on the last repetition, so she knocks the box, but I'm not too worried about this.  She seems to get the concept of entering the box with all four paws and that is what I am most concerned with right now.

Here is an Advanced run of Spryte's from Saturday.  You will see me stop after her Aframe deciding if I should "correct" it by having her sit or move on and finish the course. At this point I was already thinking about changing to a running aframe, so I decided just to go on.

And because Strider can't be left out, here is a Steeplechase run of his from the Dec 28th trial.  He was a good boy :)