Wyatt has trouble with the broad jumps used in class. They are large, wooden broad jumps. At home, I use plastic, lightweight broad jumps. When we go to class, he frequently goes around the jumps or walks on them. In the interests of science, I brought my plastic broad jumps to class to see if he still had a problem (indicating place related stress) or did fine (indicating a lack of generalization to different types of broad jumps).
He did fine with the plastic broad jumps in class. I have to conclude that he has not generalized the broad jump exercise to the large, wooden broad jumps. Unlike the dumbbells and scent articles, you can't bring your own so I guess I need to train him on the kind they use in trials!
Though I probably could train him in class, I think I will make some wooden broad at home since they are easy to make.
2 comments:
I think you're on the right track here. Being a complete novice, I had never considered this. It was a very rude awakening when I took my dog, who had been training indoors in Open for several months and was easily jumping a smaller-than-regulation-size PVC and canvas jump, to his first UKC Novice trial outdoors and he came to a screeching halt when he saw the regulation-sized wooden jump! (UKC Novice recall is over the jump.) The moral of the story, as far as I was concerned, is that they have to learn that jumps are jumps, even when they look different and are in different places!
Sounds familiar! Thanks for sharing your story, Lois..
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