A little too much fun for Vito- CPE weekend
This weekend was another CPE trial for the dogs! It was Vito's third CPE trial but he acted way more like a baby dog then he ever did on his first one! He has never run on dirt before Saturday so maybe that had something to do with it? Either way he had a blast!
Saturday:
Fullhouse-NQ
I didn't think it was really possible to not qualify in this game, but we managed to do it! Man was he reved up and totally not listening to me! On the positive side he had a very lovely running aframe and he apparently felt very comfortable in layering obstacles, obstacles of his choosing :)
Jackpot- Q
I wanted to test Vito's dogwalk contacts in the opening section so I did it twice. I was really happy with the results too! Vito was a bit slower than normal on the DW but he had great striding and a good "go" to the jump. His teeter was a nice 2o2o but then he doubted himself and for some reason stepped his front feet back onto the board. The jackpot itself was a nice simple straight line of obstacles and he had no problems.
Colors- NQ
I lead out and had Vito set up heavily angled at the first jump. It was very similar to the opening we did in jackpot so I didn't think he would have a problem with it, but Vito ran straight to me (and the off course tunnel!). We also had issues with Vito taking another off course tunnel at what I thought would be a simple rounded turn of jumps. He did start to turn with me but then changed his mind and shot off the other direction.
Sunday
Wildcard-Q
I was really happy with this run! Vito was running fast but also listening! He did kinda enter the weaves after the 2nd "wildcard" and ended up retaking the jump he had just went over so we got an off course. He also spun between two tunnels but I was pretty far behind him so can't blame him.
Snooker-NQ
Short :) I didn't feel like there was any nice flowing course I could have done for Vito so I decided to just do the 3 7's I had planned for Lance. Shouldn't have been too hard, just some wraps. I was happy with Vito's lead out, another sliced one and call to heel that he did in jackpot but not in colors yesterday, but apparently he couldn't wrap at all. We make it through 2 7's and the third red but then he took another red. Vito just didn't want to turn tight at all.
Jumpers- Q
A tired puppy! Vito did not tackle the course with the enthusiasm he had been over the weekend and this enabled us to qualify! I wasn't too happy with my handling of the course but as an excuse I was expecting a crazy red dog :)
Overall
Well Vito is no longer bouncing around on the field, he's actually running and running pretty fast! But he also isn't listening as well. Vito is usually very responsive to my handing in class and is actually pretty easy to pull off jumps because of how sensitive he is to my shoulder pulls, but clearly I don't yet have access to that dog in a trial! I need to remember to stand up straight when calling him and to talk to him more. I am pretty happy with how he did this weekend though, especially excited about his dog walk and aframe running contacts !
I thought VIto looked very good this weekend. Granted he had a few silly puppy dog oopses, but he also had some really brilliant moments. I thought he was wonderful. Look at how far away from you he is willing to work! Really nice.
Looking good! Congrats on those running contacts, all that work is paying off and Vito is definitely having fun with it all.
Loved the extra spin between tunnels on the Wildcard run. What a difference. Looks like you get quite a work out with Vito in the ring.
Mango Momma
I love his running contacts! I REALLY want to teach Layla running contacts - when we were doing a Just Contacts course last winter, she got to the point where she was literally running the length of the dog walk, which is hard for a dog her size. But none of the instructors where I train teach that way, and the few people I've talked to online say that you really can't train it successfully without equipment of your own. Ah well - maybe my next dog!
Also, I haven't heard the term "crackerdog" since I read one of James Herriot's stories. It made me happy hearing it again, I'd forgotten about it!
Thank you! I was very happy with his aframe and happy with his 2 dogwalks as well. Of course he didn't have time to build up speed coming from the weaves each time so I don't know what it would have been like with him in full sprint mode.
No one I know teaches true running contacts either. You see a lot of early releases and a lot of people who say they have running contacts but really just yell at their dog to "touch" and the dog slows down from their yelling but were never trained at all.
It does require a lot of work, much more then a stopped contact (even those stopped contacts that are trained and proofed well). But I trained Vito's mainly with a board. I used Silvia Trkman's method and until you get to full height all you need is a board. That being said, I still have a lot of ways to go with Vito and do need access to a full dogwalk to do it. I'm struggling with teaching him turns after simply because I can't practice that often. I also think that it will require much more maintenance than a stopped contact.