Monday, May 10, 2010

Monday Class

Today's class focused on the forward motion front cross(FMFC). We did pretty well with this skill since mom is almost always ahead of me and I like her to motivate me with motion. Here are some jumbled-up thoughts about it and a really not-very-good video to show you the basic idea of the one-jump drill (it's obvious that we have never practiced this drill).

With a FMFC, the handler passes the plane of a jump and starts to turn her shoulders and gets her outside arm up early to cue the turn. If the handler only moved forward (without the turning cues of the shoulder rotation and the outside arm, she would cue extension - the turning cues cue collection). The dog needs to commit to the jump before the handler fully rotates her shoulders or she may pull the dog off the jump. A FMFC is similar to the foundation recall to heel (RTH) and can be practiced with one jump. As with the RTH, the handler will end up on the landing side of the jump as far away from the jump as the bar is high (for us 12" ) - that cues true collection. The handler turns 90 away from the dog (not 180 - this is important because if the handler wanted to do a 180 at the jump it would be a forward send and not a FMFC). A RTH is done with the handler in the center of the jump but with a FMFC, the handler is on the left or the right (cueing the direction of the turn). You can add some lateral movement to a FMFC if the obstacle positioning allows it. A FMFC can be done on the flat also. And can be performed with no motion - if the handler is significantly ahead of a drivey dog (one that wouldn't mind if the handler were standing still - this is NOT me), she could get into place and perform the front cross as her dog was coming out of a tunnel for instance and the dog would be constantly moving. (Please let us know if we got any of this wrong!)




By far the best part of the class was that mom brought STEAK for me - I had never ever had STEAK before and boy was it good!!

We are planning to get 6 weave poles with a base - I need to practice real weave poles more often since all we have at home are stick-in-the-ground ones. We were looking at buying 3 sets of 2X2s so we would have more options in the future (plus they should be cheaper to ship). So far we are considering these from Max200 - any advice or opinions?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

11 comments:

Natasha said...

I always love your handling posts!

I've heard tons of great things about Max 200. From the sounds of it, definitely a good place to go!

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Woo are just TOO much!

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
PeeEssWoo: Thanks fur sharing it was spiderwort! We've passed the pink ones too - now we know!

Lian said...

Your front cross look great!

Steak for treat! You are such a lucky boy Ricky!

Sara said...

I know we use equipment from max 200 at our school, and I ordered something from them....can't remember what.

Glad you had a fun class. Steak is yummy!

Eva the Sheltie said...

Ricky, you're looking great!
Steak sounds so yummy!! Lucky boy :D

Diana said...

Great post! Thanks. I have never ordered from Max200. Diana

Arran, Arthur and Mum said...

You looks like you doing really well on that! I does that, at my class, but they does not tell us the names, so I always like reading your blog.

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

FANTASTIC explaination, I really envy your great lessons --I have some great lessons here but they are based on Gregg Darrett handling and I use APHS, so it gets hard sometimes....you sound like you have some really great lessons!!!
Steak, it is always a good day when there are awesome new treats, glad you had a good day Ricky, ;-).

Sagira said...

When you get all your agility stuff I'm going to have to come over for a playdate Ricky!

Morganne said...

love watching the video and your description of the FMFC. The 2x2's I have are from Max 200 (as well as my channel weaves and tunnels). I highly recommend their products.

Marie said...

I always love your description of class nights. Just a bonus for me when you include a video too! It really helps me understand when I can see you do it. Thanks so much!