First Indoor trial and Running Contacts

Last weekend Taari had her first indoor trial. I signed her up for one Steeplechase and two Master Jumpers runs. We haven't trialled since October and I had a bad cold. So bad I wasn't sure I would be going to the trial. The venue was quite nice. I liked how far away the last obstacle was from the fence. We had some nice parts to our runs. The last Master Jumpers was our best run. I had taken a 5 hour energy drink in the morning but found that it was wearing off so I took another one. I felt energized and the Niacin flush they warn you about. I am sometimes concerned that Taari will turn back and get in front of me. This happens when she feels needs to tell me that she doesn't know what is next. My defensive response to this is to put out both arms to try to balance myself. I noticed this on the video. I didn't run that last run the way that I had planned. I ended up on the wrong side at one point and we had a tunnel discussion. We were first place in the 16" class with 5 faults. Here is the video.




Today during our agility practice we concentrated on running contacts. Taari's box work on the ground has improved but she is still taking off too early and I missed her only putting one foot in the box a few times. I am a bit late with the Treat N Train. I was trying to be more careful and not "click" bad behaviors. I think that this resulted in me being late. Here is the video.



Then I put the box on the A-frame. I back chained it a few times and then tried Taari on the whole A-frame. I tried moving up the box and using stride regulators to get her to do one hit before the box. It wasn't really working and I need to think about this some more. I need advice. Ideally I would like a solution that doesn't involve putting too much on the A-frame because of group classes. Here is the video.



I am not sure how to fix her apex. I think that she is doing 3 and half hits in the last couple of A-frames as she is walking down on her front feet (more than 3 hits) but her back feet only hit 3 times.

Is it just a matter of doing more work on the ground and more work with the box higher up on the A-frame? Should I being trying for 3 hits or 2 hits? She will jump off the A-frame too high and miss the yellow sometimes in competition.

I decided that the box wasn't working for Taari on the dogwalk. She wasn't comfortable with it when other dogs were around. Since I have been using the PVC hoop in class around other dogs and she is quite comfortable with it I decided to go back to it. I will attempt to fade it by first removing part of the top bar and then the whole top bar. After that I will make the sides shorter. Today I got to the point of removing the top bar. We were practicing by ourselves and she was successful. I am going to try it at class Monday night. I may also try the box on the A-frame as well. Here is the video of the dogwalk.