Running AFrame

I have decided to retrain Split's AFrame. Two reasons primarily: 1) since he is not as motivated as Tip he tends to slow down and make sure he does it right 2) his reluctance at approaching the 2o2o spot makes me think it is painful or at the very least uncomfortable on his shoulders/ankles to hit that spot. If we work the AFrame a lot I do see a slight limp--not good.

We started about 2 weeks ago with the "hit-it" game. I have an old pause box that I use. I ask him to run, put a foot in the box and keep running. After he gets a foot in the box I throw the frisbee. At first my distance was minimal from the box. Now I get to be about 20 feet away and send him to the box. I will alway run with him straight into the box or laterally send to the box.

In general I am happy with his understanding of the game. He is almost 100 percent on hitting the box. However, I would really like to see more amperage in the game. This is my first challenge.

Today, I filmed Split and Tip's AFrame. Tip's AFrame speed will be my goal for Split. She has a phanominal aframe with speed and accuracy. Not sure how I got that but glad that I have it.

Times:
Split-1.86, 2.15, 1.85 seconds (running start)
Tip - 1.19,1.18 (running start and running contact)

Next steps--lower the aframe and begin to race Split!

Day 2
Started out the day playing tug, which Split is reluctant to do on the agility field. I used a tunnel, got him charges and finally he would grab it and tug. Then we just did some 2o2o AFrames. He seemed faster, but I didn't time it.

Next and this is the first time I have put the box on the contact. We just hit the box, jumped off and tugged. Next we ran the Aframe, hit the box and tugged. After a couple of repetitions Split went back to stopping. Repetition is not his friend. Even though I was rewarding him, he tends to think that it wasn't right. After this I mixed it up with other games.

Times: 1.22,1.58.1.57 - these were quick release.

7/13 - Split is gaining more confidence to run through the contact. He actually looks happier and not as worried about performing the contact. New found confidence, new found problems. He has now upped his percentage of jumping from the yellow instead of striding through it. He does hit the yellow, but it is not the behavior that I want. Time to brain storm again...

7/14 - I lowered the AFrame more today. I need to get him running the entire obsticle. I think if I can do that he will catch on very quickly. He is a 'learning' dog. He know that when we train I am trying to communicate something to him. Reading http://www.silvia.trkman.net/ to get some ideas on how to get the running performance.