So it has been a month since I last gave an update on here, and lots has transpired! I am now up to 24" on the dog walk, and she very consistently runs without jumping at the end, BUT, her stride is such that she lands halfway down the last board and then stretches her next stride to land on the ground, effectively missing the end of the board completely. So I wrote and asked Silvia about it, and she thought that if I played around with start points, as well as did some just one plank work, that I could get her hitting again...and she was right! I am now just running her on the down board, and with the lessened momentum, she is hitting the bottom of the board pretty much every time. She is missing just often enough that I have hope that she will figure out what gets the party and successive throws, and what gets just another try with a few positive remarks. lkdfj

Now, what else have we been working on? Well jump work of course! We have moved on to the more advanced susan salo jump grids, as well as Sandy Roger's One Jump Two Jump DVD work. I have also been teaching a version of Silvia Trkman's Kip and Cap. I taught her a send to that jump and wrap it towards me command, which makes running a course really really fast, since she has a very clear message of "jump wrap that toward me while I get in place for the next jump"  and since it just on a verbal, I am not falling into that trap of early cueing, teaching the dog to ignore my body cues. I am still teaching all of the Greg Derrett handling system, I am just adding in this verbal jump wrap cue. Now, one problem I have run into by using this new method, is that getting a rear cross is extremely difficult, since she is so used to jumping toward me(which while this SHOULD be her default, I have to be able to get her to go the other way when needed). So I am now teaching a "hook" command, which means "turn away from me", and then putting that onto a jump. She still has not quite gotten it, but we are making progress. I am just trying to keep her from guessing, which is what she is doing now. 

Teeter: So, we have also been doing a lot of work on the teeter. I got her to where she was playing the bang game into 2o2o position from about knee height, then I moved it back down and started teaching her to run the length of the board, all the way to the end, even though it was at an angle. Once she got to the end which I was holding firmly with my hand and had my knee under it, I would feed her with my free hand, then give her the bang command, and slowly drop it, so that she could get into her 2o2o for the rest of the food in my hand. I put the board down after my bang command more and more quickly, then moved it up and started over at a slow drop again. Once I am happy with the almost full speed drop, I will start varying when I give the treat, whether at the end of the board, or just once she gets into 2o2o. I also make sure to do lots of stay work once she is in position, so that I am getting her ready for when I am running beside and I need her to stop.