1. úkoly

 O.k., time for your first homework!

1. find a way to make your dog run as fast as he can, tape him from the side and study his striding in slow motion or even frame by frame: how far apart his hind feet are, how far forward hind feet reach over front feet, how long and high the stride is, how his back looks like and where his head is.

This is a good check-up for those who are already running their dogs on a raised plank and a good stride-study that will help you see and mark the correct striding better for those just starting.

2. have a dog run over the plank, tape him from the side and compare it with the video above – tape it at the height you’re currently at. If you’re just starting, restrain the dog before your plank/carpet, throw a toy as far as you can (and ideally use a ball that will roll after landing!) and immediately release, so that the dog is chasing a toy. Slowly bring the dog further away from the plank and eventually ideally start him with a  tunnel or a wrap around a pole  to really have them come to the plank with full speed. If they have trouble finding a plank or staying on, ideally use something wider and if not possible, set some fences, wings or cones to help them stay on. The problem will go away once you add height anyway.

Once you get the same running as running in the fields from the first video and the dog is running nicely, with an even stride, hind feet separation and hind feet reaching farther from front feet, mark the contact area and start clicking&jackpotting when you see the feet in, but let the dog have a ball every time.  Next step is putting a brick or something under one end of the plank and have them run over slightly raised plank – I’ll tell you when you’re ready based on the videos you’ll send.

And yes, we’re for now throwing a toy in advance, letting the dog chase it, in order to get full speed. So yes, the dog is rewarded every time with a ball – so make sure that you really make the best tries even more special, use excitement in your voice, a play of tug on his favourite toy – or food if that’s his real preference – in short: make a party about the really good ones and don’t worry about not so good ones – just throw that ball again!

3. to make it easier for the dog to understand what you’re clicking for on that plank, we’ll be teaching some  tricks that are important to help them understand how to use their feet and that you might be clicking them for using them. The two things you will try this time is the cavaletti work – walking the dog over drawers or boxes on the floor – or through ladder on the floor. Also try teaching the dog to step with front feet on an object and clicking for any movement of hind feet: the final goal is a full circle in both directions, but first click even for just a weight shift and then go from there. If you lure the dog into circling with your movement or a hand, you won’t really get them to think about their hind feet, so let’s take the time and really shape this trick, from weight shifts and head turns to first step and then more&more – it can take a while, but is well worth it!

Post a video with all 3 assignments, first two in slow motion please – no need for full speed tries, only include slow motion. – And PLEASE cut out all the frames where I can’t see the dog actually running: because seeing just the plank (or a dog waiting for the release), and that in a slow motion, is absolutely NO fun – and you can’t imagine how many planks in slow motion I saw by now!

Also, read all the comments and see as many videos as possible, you can learn A LOT through videos and comments of others, that’s why we do it in a class form in a first place!

Two pictures showing what I mean by hind feet reach: hind feet must land further ahead from where front feet were:

Two pictures showing what I mean by hind feet separation: hind feet must be hitting two different spots as far apart as possible (vs. staying parallel, hitting the same spot).

The faster the dog is moving, the further ahead from front feet hind feet will be landing and as a consequence, you will have MUCH bigger length covered as if hind feet hit where front feet were – meaning that if Bi’s front feet are above the contact, her first hind foot will be in the middle of the contact and the second one will be right at its bottom. – While if the dog’s hind feet only come to where front feet were, he is missing the contact in this situation – instead of getting a perfect one 

That’s exactly why I always get suspicious when I hear people saying their dog is hitting with 4 feet. With a BC size dog, running full speed with good hind feet separation, it’s simply impossible to fit all 4 feet in. 3 is possible and you should definitely jackpot those, but if they can fit all 4 feet in that small area, they don’t cover enough of an area and when they will be higher, all 4 feet will be out of the contact. Contrary – the more ground they cover, the more likely they’re in