[Kristen Cabe]

I am SO excited! The light bulb in Jak's little brain is flickering on finally! He'll be 2 in June and ever since we started doing bitework with him, it's been a fight once the sleeve is slipped. :evil: He would take it to the ground and try to maul it rather than carrying it around like most dogs do. Up until now, we've just been choking him off it as soon as it's slipped, but last week the TD said to try and see if we can get him to carry at the end, and he did! All the way to the car, but then when he got to the car and I tried to get him to sit with it, he started fighting with it again.
This week, we worked on it some more, and he seems to be getting it finally! The helper has to kind of go with us when he slips it, but it's a big improvement from before! We had a few little flubs (one time I was almost tangled in the lead , one time the helper slipped the sleeve like he does with the other dogs instead of going with us, etc.), but overall I'm satisfied!

The video is almost 6 minutes long, and my cousin didn't loosen the tripod thing enough so it would move more smoothly, but I'm really glad she came with me this week, because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBXUms70Uas

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

I've seen that lightbulb go off in a few dogs heads in the past 2 weeks, n it's really cool to see a dog that finally gets it! Congrats!

 

[Bob Scott]

Gotta love it!

 

[Jeff Oehlsen]

A small tip for you here. Your line handling needs help. The decoy would not be able to get a good miss because your are taking slack with the forward hand and the dog is popping it out and getting extra space.

Have someone help you with this, as I recognize it well. It is the bane of my existance for sure.

 

[Kristen Cabe]

You are taking slack with the forward hand and the dog is popping it out and getting extra space.

You're absolutely right, but I don't know how else to hold him while still being able to somewhat maintain my balance and not be jerked forward myself - aside from hooking the leash to the prong, which the TD doesn't want to do with Jak yet. I've tried looping it around my butt, but that just seemed to make it easier for him to jerk me forward. My arms aren't strong enough to hold both hands together at belt-buckle level. The thing that works best is to stand sideways and hold the line in both hands, but hold one hand around my hip behind me, to help anchor, and use that forward hand just to basically keep him from getting tangled, and also to help hold him back some. That's actually the 'technique' I was shown to use. Please, if you have any tips yourself, I'd love to hear them.

Your line handling needs help.

Boy is that an understatement :lol: I am a lot better than some of the other women at our club, though. Some of them are literally dragged around by their dogs. The only two differences in them and me are that they have their dogs on the prong and I'm still using just the fur saver, and the fact that they bought young adults (or adults) with some amount of training already, and I have a dog with little training other than "Where's the sleeve? Ok! I see it, now let me bite it!" :lol:

 

[Jeff Oehlsen]

The hip thing is correct, but the foreward hand souldn't be holding the line like you were doing. It is there to keep the line tight. So what you said is correct, just the application I saw was wrong. The other thing you can do is get a "lead ass" or large guy to hold the line for you. This is good for these early stages when the dog is hitting the end of the line and hard to hold on to.

 

[susan tuck]

Kristen: Brace your back hand more behind your hip & don't allow any slack line between your two hands. Keep your body angled to the side, knees bent & feet apart. Are you wearing cleats? If not, try soccer shoes - they really help. We do not have the upper body strength of men, so we have to rely on every trick in the book in order to be good "poles" for our helpers!

 

[Al Curbow]

Kristen, i was the "lead ass" for Anne Jones and blitz, it worked good. I held the long line at the end (away from the action) and she had a 6' leash to control what they were working on up close and for my safety. Basically a post that can release the line on command,

AL

 

[susan tuck]

Al I really like that! Finally, my bf will be able to participate in the sport.

 

[Maren Bell Jones]

Just like in martial arts and other sports where stability is needed, keeping a low but mobile stance is key. All your hands need to do is just hold on for the most part as long as they are in the right position. I stay in what is called back stance in our martial art (also called L stance and a couple other things). Think about standing on railroad tracks so both toes are pointing out forward and feet are about 1.5 to 2 times shoulder width apart. Then whichever way you are going to end up facing (say towards your left) towards your dog and the helper, you want 60-70% of your weight on your back (right) leg. Then you can slide your front (left) foot towards the target which is in this case your dog and the helper. This makes a really nice sturdy but mobile when you have to "pole."

 

[Mike Schoonbrood]

One trick we use is a metal post cemented into the ground with a quick release snap on it, so the dog can bounce on a spring-relieved line on a post for all the misses, then the handler snaps the line off when the dog needs to run with the decoy.

 

[Anne Jones]

Kristen, Al is right. He would help be the 'post' for me when we were working my dogs. My holding a 6ft line left me free to handle the close up work & also to keep him (AL) safe...especially with Blitz. He is quite civil. It worked well with my female also. She is only 64 lbs but is a 'wild thing' for sure. She is solid muscle & uses every bit of it when she is working...especially bitwork. She is pound for pound as hard to work as a 90 lb dog. She is extremely athletic & agile & uses it to her advantage at all times. It made it possible for me to work these very strong dogs, when left to my own devices...I would not be able to. It does require a level of teamwork & communication...but one you get that part it is a very effective way to train. I prefer it to a solid post/tree because there is a level of flexability that absorbs the impact on the dog & keeps them from getting hurt when hitting the end of the line with an dead post.

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Is there any downside, Anne and Al? It sounds so useful to me that I'm wondering why I haven't seen this on the field. Is it just shortage of volunteers?

 

[Jeff Oehlsen]

Quote:Is there any downside, Anne and Al? It sounds so useful to me that I'm wondering why I haven't seen this on the field. Is it just shortage of volunteers?

To many men TD's :lol:

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Quote:Is there any downside, Anne and Al? It sounds so useful to me that I'm wondering why I haven't seen this on the field. Is it just shortage of volunteers?

To many men TD's :lol:

I figured it out after I posted. #-o