3..2..1..Contact

My life is ruled by contacts, running ones, 2 on 2 off ones, trying to make business ones :)
Contact training with the boys is a never ending task, at the last trial, Rival hit 3 out of 8 dogwalks-not bad for a boy who had been on the dogwalk once in the past month. AND, he picked the important classes to hit-Team Standard and Grand Prix (although I really wanted one in Advanced Standard to finish his AAD). He only missed one A-frame and had one teeter fly off. Brink on the other hand, hit all his dogwalks (although not always holding a 2 on 2 off position) and only hit 3 of his A-frames and probably 2 teeters. I can't remember how many A-frames and teeters he did in the weekend but considering it was a 3 day USDAA trial I bet there were a lot.
So, I have added a hoop to Brink's A-frame box training, in hopes that he will learn to keep his head down and not try to one stride the down side. I also hope that Santa will bring me an A-frame for Christmas. I just don't think I can keep his running A-frame consistent without one at home. It's amazing how a perfect running A-frame can disintegrate in ONE week without training. For his dogwalk, I'm trying a more upbeat 'feet', rather than telling him harshly to 'feet'. I'm trying to get thousands of repetitions over the holiday week, using the down side of the teeter with the up side stabilized so it can't tip. So far Brink seems to be enjoying the drills and understanding the position. Today we were able to progress to having a tennis ball about 6 feet away from the end of the teeter and Brink still hitting his 2 on 2 off position. The next test will be throwing the ball while telling him to 'go feet', and then the squirrel will come out. Last time we proofed his contact with the flying squirrel, Brink decided he couldn't move, all he could do was stare at the squirrel.
After setting up the teeter contraption, it struck me that this also would be good for drilling Rival's running dogwalk. I'm so excited that I figured this out, I'm hoping it will make Rival's dogwalk a little more consistent. He really was fun to run with at the USDAA trial, the new attitude is really paying off with him.
We're taking a short break from trialing, so with all this contact training, I'm sure the boys will be 100% by January:)