Back on the Pole

To prepare for the SchH 1 we are back to working on the pole, a stationary metal pole in the ground with a 6ft chain attached. The chain is attached to Kane's harness, and then I hold the chain so that it doesn't hit him. It would be better if I held him on a long leash, but I am really bad at being stationary with an 80 lb mass working against me (i.e. Kane). :-)
The pole work is for working on his grip and the outs for protection. We've had some so-so sessions, but finally things are starting to look better.

Packen! (Go)

We also practice on heeling in a left-hand box around the helper, to get Kane's heeling under control while he is in protection drive. Then I say packen! when he does well, and off he goes for a bite reward. Can you tell he loves this part?

The thing with being on the pole is that
you always get some interesting photo shots!

Kane giving our trainer some lip....

And Kane always gives me
great photo shots like this one! :-)

After we work the pole for a few minutes, we run blinds (there's only 2 blinds to run in SchH1) with a bark and hold. Kane does very well.

Ready for launch in 3....2....

Mine!

Starting the A-Frame

In Schutzhund obedience there are retrieves for the dumbell to be done over an A-Frame. Competition height of the A-Frame is 1.8 meters, or 71 inches, or just below 6 ft. It's a pretty steep wall, and I want to make sure that Kane learns how to scale it and "de-scale" (!) it correctly so that he doesn't injure himself in any way.

So we started practicing with the A-Frame at a much lower incline. I started out with Kane running over the A-Frame, and then he was rewarded when he made it to the other side, with his back legs still on the A-Frame.

I want him to learn to climb up and down, and not just take a leap of the top. Leaping off the top could mean serious elbow injuries, and we don't want that.

Then we moved on to throwing the ball over the A-Frame and having him retrieve it. The first few times, he went over the A-Frame to get to the ball, but then he tried to go around it on the way back.

We solved that by me climbing up and slapping my hand on the A-Fram and calling him and then moving backwards when he came the right way, again rewarding when he reached the end.
Finally he did one correctly all by himself!

Now we continue to do the same thing for a while, eventually raising the A-Frame up until it is at trial height. Then we have to add the dumbell to it as well.