Set Point

I've started introducing Rammy to jumping (I did do a bit of the LM one jump work previously). I'm using Susan Salo's Foundation Jumping exercises because I'm a huge fan. I'm a huge fan because I have no other point of reference for jumping skills. I also trained Icon using Susan Salo's foundation grid work and he's a pretty good jumper, so it must work, right??

I'm a bit more concerned about Rampage's jumping than I was about Icon's though. Rammy SEEMS to have great rear end awareness at times, has done tonnes of balance work and he can back up with the best of them, but sometimes his rear end just seems to move out of sync with the rest of him, which might just result in dropped bars. I also know that some of his brothers struggle with bars so I want to give him the best jumping foundation we are capable of and then we'll see where we end up :).

So this weekend i watched the 4-disk DVD set of Susan Salo's foundation jumping. The first four exercises were identical to the ones I did with Icon, but this dvd added the progression grid and bend work. For the first couple of weeks I'm just going to be working Rampage on the first 3 exercises: Set point, Straight line equi-distance grid and straigh line equi-distance grid with height. I'll eventually add in the other three. I'm looking forward to adding the distance grid because I remember Icon and I had lots of fun with that one (I know, you're thinking, 'Fun with GRIDS??' Well it's possible!)

So today we did our first Set Point exercise. I'll have to go somewhere else for the other two grids because my yard isn't quite big enough (well, if I took down the dogwalk it would be).

Rampage seemed to do well on his first Set Point exercise. The only thing I noticed is that as I raised the jumps and then lowered them again, he started overjumping the lower heights. Of course Susan Salo mentions nothing about what to do about overjumping or what the cause is. Hmph.

112209 - Rammy Set Point from Agility Dogs on Vimeo.