Expecting a Baby...A-Frame!

Something very exciting is brewing!  Since Husband Vince is never busy with enough (yeah right!), I began the begging process for me and Molly to have our very own baby A-frame built for us.
"Where will we keep it?"
"How big is that going to be!?"
"How much will that cost?"
"Exactly how much dog stuff do you need?!?"

A lot, Vince.  A lot.

And since the year is coming to an end, I thought I would do a little Thank You post to my long suffering husband for all of the things that he has built for us this year!

3 Bar Jumps!
These jumps are in constant use.  I drag them around in the car to places, I even took them camping with us.  I taught Ein the Directed Jump with them.  I do countless handling sequences with Molly.  I have worked hard to build Perri's confidence on jumping with these.  I trained the Recall Over Bar Jump with these.  On and on and on...a bar jump is what any doggie sport girl and her dogs needs and we have three!

6 Weave Poles (Channel-Style)!
Molly, Perri and I practice our weave poles all the time.  Molly needs to learn independent weaving, and Perri needs to learn confidence.  Having a set of poles of our own is a necessary resource for accomplishing our goals.  When it comes to teaching weave poles from the ground up, there is no other method but the channel method in my opinion.
Where are we now?  Molly and I are taking a step back and opening the channel to work on proper entry and independence.  Molly needs to learn that the weave poles are an obstacle that she performs and my body is not involved.
And as for Perri, we need to move her weaving out of my garage.  Step one...weave in the yard.
I cannot imagine not having a set of weave poles to practice on whenever we want!

High Jump!

One of these days, Perri is going to be retrieving the dumbbell.  Over a high jump.  We haven't broken our high jump out much but Vince built a beautiful one for us.  I was impressed by his wood working ability on this project because to my brain, it seemed very difficult!  The times that we did try to work on the high jump, Perri seemed very intimidated by going over the solid jump at 24".  Having a high jump to build her confidence with will be a great start, not to mention the long road to proofing a dumbbell retrieve over this "very intimidating" jump.  

Broad Jump!

This is another of the Open Obedience exercises that will need proofing!  Perri will have to Sit-Stay in front of the broad jump...then take the jump on command...then come to Front.  It will take a lot of practice and I cannot imagine how we could possibly proof the exercise without having a broad jump of our own.  The photo shows the beginnings of our Broad Jump exercise, with a low bar jump in the middle to encourage jumping high and not "ticking" the jump with paws.

(The Broad jump is also seen in agility, so it is good to have one around for that as well.  "Broad jump ticking" is not in Molly's vocabulary, however...)

The A-frame will be a montrosity in size compared to our other goodies, but I am already fantasizing about the good it could do us.  Molly will gain confidence.  I can teach her running contacts and have access to a Frame that I can work her on in as many sessions as I like.  I will of course start with the baby Frame flat and raise it as slowly as I like.  I can teach Molly the "back tunnel" command.  I can practice sequencing with the Frame.   And of course, Perri can only benefit from having an A-frame to practice on!

I have wanted an A-frame for months now and I am so grateful to have Vince...(sort of ) willing to build me a mini A-frame at a fraction of the cost and zero shipping fees.

(And I also need to make a little wobble board for Perri!  And purchase a storage shed with an acre of land to set it all up on.  Oh wait, that's not gonna happen... But the baby A-frame is!)