Tuesday, September 21, 2010

A close look at the Drop on Recall

A few weeks ago I was really wondering about how exactly the dogs move for the drop on recall. And then I thought about all the other parts. Unsurprisingly, the answer I got was, "It depends." Different dogs have different ways of dropping and there is more than one way to correctly drop. I haven't gotten any feedback as to whether there is a more efficient, effective, or preferred way.

I was unable to find any drop on recall videos in slow motion to look at how the dogs move. Thanks to the technology I didn't know my computer had and my new camera, here are some Downs with my dogs. Some of the Downs were from a standstill, others were in motion.

There are about 4-6 drops for each dog, the clip is about two minutes long. What parts do you see drop first? Do you see movement indicating the dog is about to halt? Watch the heads. Watch the placement of the legs. Watch how the dog stops. Watch how the body (and not the legs) moves as the dogs drop. I've watched this about twenty times already and I still don't know everything I'm seeing.



I would love to see slow motion videos of other dogs lying down, and especially any drop on recalls.

3 comments:

Crystal (Thompson) Barrera said...

Wow. Interesting!

My first thought was that they're dropping from the front first. I know I've heard that dogs should have a "fold back" down for the drop on recall, so that makes sense.

But... I really think that even when they're folding back, the back end moves first. It kind of moves up and under or tucks under the body, even when the front end gets lower first.

Are you seeing the same thing?

Laura and The Corgi, Toller, & Duck said...

ok, I compiled all of Lance's drop on recalls in a trial and made them as slow as my program would allow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfKzgC4MH-U

On some of his faster ones he seems to plant one of his front feet and then the back end kinda tucks up as he rocks back. Usually this type is the one done in practice and he might even slide forward on the ground a bit. He doesn't seem to lower his head at all but the front end lowers first. Obviously the biggest indicator that he is about to drop is his change in striding

Kristen said...

I would think it's easier on the dog and more efficient to stop by rocking with weight on the back rather than stopping with the front end, though Lance might be doing that in his best responses.

Last week I spent a session trying to see if I could get Griffin to shift his weight to the back to stop but it didn't go as planned.

Lance is much more consistent in his response than my dogs. And again... heads up sure looks better! Thanks for sharing, it's great to see another dog!