Running Contacts
No More Running Dog Walks
Those of you reading my blog on a regular basis knows that I've been retraining Poncho's 2on2off performance on the dog walk to a running contact during the winter. You might also know that Poncho is struggling with some muscular-skeletal problems.
Weaves and Contacts
I took advantage of the awesome weather we were having last weekend and painted the dog walk. During the week it dried enough for us to use it in training.
Back to those running contacts
I know. I said I was sticking to 2on2off on the dog walk, but I still suck at maintaining criteria in competition! So I spend the last two month retraining Poncho to a running Dog walk.
Manners Minder training session
After introducing the Manners Minder to Poncho's running contacts training, his rate of success has increased with 10 %! That is a pretty great progress.
Zap's Running A-frame 1
I decided to use Rachel Sander's box method with Zap. We've been working the box on the ground during the winter. Given his progress I tried adding the box to the A-frame.
Running A-Frame
Poncho's progress on the plank is amazing and I couldn't resist running him over the A-Frame. I wanted to see if he would generalize the behavior from the plank on to the A-frame.
Running Contacts 12: An improvement!
More videos. Definitely an improvement from session 11, but I still feel like the puppies would benefit from more groundwork without any height.
Running Contacts 11
Videos from our session 11. Notice the big difference between Poncho and Zap/Bob's performances. They have had the exact same amount of training, but Poncho has progressed through the initial stages much faster even though he's been retrained - talking about an operant dog!
Running Contacts 6-10: Reevaluating
I been doing a lot of thinking concerning our running contacts. Lately many people have been blogging running dog walks and whether or not the handler is fast enough to handle a running dog walk.
Running Contacts 1
I decided to defy the snow and went out to train the dogs. Because off the snow our running contact training has been proponed with almost two months, but I decided it was time for our very first session today.
Running Contacts 3: Manners Minder - Yes, please!
Did our third running contacts session today, and I do spot a trend I really don't like. Both Zap and Poncho anticipate where the reward is coming from, therefore they look over their shoulder to spot it. This means they aren't running at full speed across the plank.
Running Contacts 4: New Plank and Location
Just had our fourth session. Bob's second to be precise. Thought I might as well generalize the behavior from the beginning to other planks and environments.
Running Contacts 5: Don't Hit the Dog With the Reward!
It's snowing again. I would love to regain my childhood joy of snow, but it's nowhere to be found. Snow or no snow we had some running contact training to do and this time with height.
