Flying Poodles

Speed and Distances….

After reading some research on sprint training for dogs, I’ve decided that I need to persuade Dancer to do some sprints on a regular basis. She has a lovely energy-conserving lope that is her default pace… and I want her to go faster. So today at the barn I set up this course:

Jumping speed exercise, 10 foot grid

I got Dancer’s favorite tennis ball (the squeaky Kong one) and I worked the exercise from each end up through the tunnel. I stood in the middle, with a long lead out. I threw the ball at various points–as she came out of the tunnel, after the first jump to reward a nice stay, after the tire at the end of nine obstacles… I asked her to do a fast series of jumps eight or nine times, with a long run after a thrown ball after each sequence. Sometimes I threw the ball without even asking for a jump. I did the set as fast as I could, then put her in her crate for a bit while I worked Elly over the sequence a few times (at 12 inch jump height) and then worked on heeling with Elly.

(Elly is actually developing a good heel, because I’ve been working on it for five minutes almost every single day for almost a month now.)

Then I put Elly back in the car and set up this exercise for Dancer:

Distance exercise, 10 foot grid

I started by working 1-2-3 (black squares) and 3-4-5 (white circles) until I was behind the distance line and still getting a good contact. That actually took only a few times, much to my pleasure. Then I put Dancer in a stay at white circle 2. I led out to the middle of 3 at the distance line. I released her, and turned her over 3 to the a-frame with my new OUT signal and ran the line. Much to my astonishment, it worked the first time.

Of course I pushed my luck. I put her in a stay at the tunnel (at 1) and led out to three again, then turned and pushed her, with one step, into the tunnel as I released. Again, she ran the line flawlessly.

Once more: I backed up until I was at the outside edge of jump 2. Once again, she ran the line perfectly.

I gave her every single treat I had in my pockets and we went home.