Wednesday's Work

This may look like proprioception work but I was actually doing my obedience class homework:  "stand stays" in various positions.  I held each of these "stands" for approximately one minute.

Proprioception: Backwards & Upwards

I've been trying to walk backwards and place my rear feet onto the balance discs/pods but because of their small size it is too easy for me to step around them and therefore misunderstand what is being asked of me.  Today, the old sofa cushions were transformed into giant balance squares and voila!  Not only did I figure out that I was supposed to walk straight backward and step up onto something but in just a few tries I reversed up 3 levels.

(The loud cartoons you hear in the background serve as distractions as we work.)

Proprioception Pods

Who shrunk the balance discs?

Proof that one can successfully work a clicker
and a camera held in the same hand
(now, if only someone would create a solution to "white eye")

Proprioception 360

Here I am sitting on (well, mostly on) the wobbly disc.

To learn "hind-end awareness," I turn 360 degrees in both directions on the balance disc. It was -5 and the reason the balance disc is blurry is that I breathed on the camera and my breath created an icy film on the lense (as opposed to a smudge). The camera hound's fingers were sooo cold that she had trouble dispensing treats properly and her "clickering" was a bit off (not sure if she was clicking my foot movements or her own!).

The Big Yellow Peanut

On Tuesday, I met the big yellow peanut (FitPAWS Canine Conditioning Equipment - www.balldynamics.com).  According to FitPAWS, working on the peanut will:

- improve reaction and control

- increase trunk and core strength

- stabilize weak areas

- improve balance and proprioception

- increase range of motion in joints and elongation in the muscles

- improve sensory and body awareness

Of course, as I am still a puppy, I will only be doing short sessions and exercises on the peanut that are safe for growing puppies.

I like it already - it comes with treats

Standing while extending neck to reach for a treat

Balancing on 2 legs while I change direction

In a down

Sitting up straight

As this was just supposed to be a "meet and greet," Mom wasn't fully prepared to videotape (wow, is she ever going to take a lot of training!).  As the instructions say that it may take a puppy/dog several sessions to be comfortable on the peanut, it didn't occur to her that I would be up on the peanut and twirling around (unaided) in under a minute.  I initially scrambled up onto the peanut (and jumped off) a few times as she was snapping stills but when I started leaping onto it, she finally came out of her daze and hit the video button.  Here's a really short video of me leaping onto the peanut.  You can see how much the peanut moves even though one end is being stabilized.

Proprioception

Proprioception:  "The unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself."   (thefreedictionary.com)

Here I am familiarizing myself with balance discs.  Working with balance discs will help improve my proprioception.  Better proprioception = better coordination = better balance = more efficient athlete.  Performing low-impact exercises on discs is puppy-safe and is good preparation for future agility training (when I am much older).

Jiggly wiggly - balancing with all 4 paws

I did it!  (Do 3 paws still count?)