New videos of Luke (NADAC)

He looks terrific!  I was cheering him on through the videos.  I wish you guys were doing a competition near Illinois, I would definitely want to come watch.

Sorry about your "faults" but he really looked pretty good!!! Was that you running him? I thought you had longer hair.   Belle and I have issues with her contact on the down side of the A frame. I need to get a handle on that, it is my thing. Now that she has moved up to Open (AKC) in her jumpers class, I need to MAKE SURE we have our weave entry. Luke looks really good on that!

Agility is so much fun! Good runs or not (though good ones are better) it is a blast to play.
 

lol  Yes, that's me running him.  I chopped my hair off back in March.  It tends to get a little bit shorter every time I go in for a "trim."  I'd like to go get it cut before my trial this weekend -- it's SO much cooler when it's short!

Contacts are harder for the big dogs.  Luke's A-frame performance is pretty much 98% reliable now -- he's figured out the striding to be able to do a nice running frame.  The dog walk gives us constant struggles.  I know it's my fault, though, because I have been completely inconsistent in my training of it.  In beginner agility everyone started with a two on/two off.  Luke started to totally shut down with that and didn't want to do contacts anymore, so we switched to doing running.  That became too unreliable, so I tried to go back to 20/20 -- he'll do it in training, but the trials are too stimulating and (my bad) I let him run them.  His rate of success on the DW in trials is probably about 20%.

I'm currently looking to buy a house with a BIG yard so that I can set up my own agility equipment.  Building a dog walk will be my number one priority -- What I need to do is train a running contact with hoops so that he learns to keep his head down and focus on the bottom.  Unfortunately, right now we're limited to what is covered in classes once a week when they're in session...

We had a REALLY good lesson on Saturday and the trainer had some very good observations about what I might be doing to hinder Luke.  We also learned that he's more comfortable (and likely to hit his contacts) when he's on my right, so we need to work more from the left.

Luke sounds a little like Belle. She always liked her contacts, but in general she would 'shut down' in class. My first two trainers were adamant, stop on the contact, but the problem with Belle was we couldn't get her started again. She would LITERALLY walk the agility course. Our current trainer found how to make Belle LOVE agility. I am learning I need to run faster and faster LOL. NOW we are doing stops, 2 on 2 off in class, but she is faster still at trials and I start rushing my thinking and well that hasn't worked for me. I would like to do more with the hoops too.

I am fortunate I have a fairly large yard. DH has made our equip we have a teeter, he is working on how to make a smaller dog walk and A frame. I wouldn't care if they were UKC size or even a bit smaller, I need to focus on those contacts. My dream is channel weaves. That way we can have some inside in the winter too.
 

Last night in class we had a smaller group and all the dogs were running REALLY well so after doing 3 smaller pieces of a course our trainer let us put the whole thing together. It was the first time most of my class mates had seen Belle run a whole course. She was quite good (she makes me look good) I made a fatal error at the last jump, I said "go jump!" and then rotated my shoulders left to turn myself and not run into the jump and pulled her off! DARN!! At least I made that mistake in class so at a trial I will be aware of what I do. She watches EVERY move I make. We can't work with too much distance. She is a velcro dog but much improved. My classmates were quite impressed with her. At least those who have not seen her at a trial. I am very fortunate. 

I have talked with DH we are going to get whatever attachment it is we need so I can post my videos on you tube maybe soon you folks can meet Belle.