Hi all
Finally got round to getting Stuart to take some photos of Ash doing some of her foundation training in the paddock today.
First there are some of her learning her jump bumps. I start with a single bumb (which is a 1m long section of plastic spouting with coloured tape on it) and getting drive to her toy.
Over time we add a second and then add hurdle uprights to change the look. The side rails in the photos help keep the pup straight.
I tend to alternate between sending her to her toy at the end and doing a leadout and going to the toy and releasing her.
She is starting to really drive through the lane of bumbs now and we will simply consolidate this and once she is confident, we will start doing some bend work with the jumpbumps to teach her how to balance on the turn. Important though that she has good drive with the straight ones first!
We are also working on her targetting and have this week progressed to teaching her end position on a ramp and have her give the target behaviour. She gets on from the side of the ramp and assumes her end position, is rewarded for front feet on the ground and rear on the ramp, then I add the target and reward the nose touches.
As you can see, Ash chooses to lie down if I ask for multiple touches. This is no problem - Kindle did this as well. Again, lots of work will be done consolidating this end position.
The next progression will be to ask her to get on the ramp higher up and drive into position. This will be interspersed with tugging with her while she is in the end position - this will add more value to the position. We want the end position on the ramp to carry a high value to her so that it is always her goal from the moment she steps onto a piece of contact gear.
Kindle's end position has stayed rock solid so far and I'm thrilled with that even when she is in high drive at a show. More soon................................
