co-ordination and balance

I took Sizzle to Hannah's co-ordination and balance course in December. It was a brilliant course and I enjoyed learning with Sizzle from Hannah. I must admit I wasn't on form that day, I've just got back the day before from China visiting my brother and I was very tired, exhausted and felt very emotional leaving my poor brother fighting for his life.

Sizzle was a good little boy. I love taking my dogs out to somewhere new to learn something. It is good to see if he is confidence when he gets to a different environment, meeting new people and new dogs. Sizzle was very brave, nothing put him off.

We did some ladder work, different types of wobber board, cone work, cavaletti exercises, walk up and down a plank, elephant tricks and walking on the back legs with a fitness ball. As I was very tired and worried, I actually calm down a lot when I did all the exercises with Sizzle. Noramlly, I am a hyper person when I do any training with the boys. I like to get them excited and at the same time, I myself gone over the top of everything. This is not such a good thing, I know that but I just can't control myself!

When I was calm and steady, Sizzle and I performed better. His ladder work was very good, all his legs were so co-ordinated and he didn't put a foot wrong. There were three different type of wobble baords. I only have a very small piece of wobble board made by Jim. I used to make Sizzle go over the board when he was very young and didn't do much about that later. He was very confidence on the two square wobble boards, I even got him to do some tricks on the board. He looked a bit wobbly when turning left and right but that's ok, the main reason is to make sure he is confidence on the wobbly bit. There was also a big round wobble board, it was very wobbly and unsteady. Sizzle was ok when he first got on it but at the second go, he actually chicken out. I didn't want to force him, so we leave that out for time being but hopefully I will have more chance later to practise.

We also did some cone work, going around the cones and figure of 8. We also did some cavaletti exercises, we calmly walked over all the bars in straightline and as well as in the star shape. Sizzle lost a bit of his balance when we went around the star for the first time but then he picked up immediately. Elephant trick? No problem.

Nearer the end, Hannah showed us this (picture below):

The dog needs to put his two front legs on this fitness ball and hopefully they get the idea and roll the ball with the front legs and at the same time move the back legs. I have never seen this before so I have a great interest in it. It took a while to get Sizzle to push the ball and I think he kinda get the idea but because there was only one fitness ball, so I can't take up all others' time. I am thinking to get one and play with it at home.

this video was taken on Hannah's training day, it is not great in quality but just gave you an idea what we were doing with the ball:

I've managed to find one on ebay and it arrived this morning. I can't wait to try it on with all the boys ... again, Sing proves to be the cleverest and the smartest among the six, with the support on a chair (stop the ball from rolling), he balance himself very well on the ball and he actually trying to do his "beg" trick.

he starts offering me with his wave

... and here he goes, begging. Sorry for this headless photo

Saturn seems to be the keenest of all, he was so keen to offer me whatever he thinks I want him to do. Surprisingly, he is the one that co-ordinate very well with two front legs rolling the ball and moving his back legs at the same time.

Titan and Sizzle being the smallest, they balance themselves very well by jumping up the ball. Both Titan and Sizzle can do the left right turn on the ball. That is just amazing for being we only have the ball for less than an hour.

Seagull was also trying very hard but he was so figitive, he wouldn't want to stay still on the ball, he just want to jump on top and then leap off. I did get him to push the ball but he thinks I am rather weird!

Skye is a real whimp on this exercise. He is so scare to touch the ball. I have tried to put the ball in between two chairs to stop it moving but he just ran away when he sees it!

Anyone who is interested in Hannah's course, here is her blog: http://agilitydogsfitness.blogspot.com/2008/12/co-ordination-and-balance-course.html, she will have another course in February.