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Gemma was recently asked to write an article for the Agility magazine 'The Voice'. We thought you may benefit from reading it, so for your perusal, here it is! When Virginia asked me to write an article on ‘How to train fast contacts’ I firstly replied, well I can tell you how I trained mine… I genuinely believe that what works for one trainer/ dog may not work for another so the following article is about consistency and aims rather than a specific method. The first thing I always plan in
agility when teaching a new behavior, is how I want the performance to be
executed. When I run training days/ begin new courses with Agility handlers, 90%
of the time this question is met with a blank stare. On prompting, “Well what
do you expect your dog to do, when you send it Next I look to what speed I want to achieve. For stopped contacts the following speeds are pretty much what I am looking for. Dogwalk 1.8, Seesaw 1.0 and AFrame 1.3. These are timed from when front feet hit the equipment until front feet hit the floor. Finally I look at how I will achieve this. I strongly believe that Confidence + Understanding = Speed! So I start with where most confusion is met- Final Position (FP). My Method Both my dogs learnt their final position with a target (a small circle of plexiglas/ clear plastic). Boo was originally taught a foot touch. After a year of competing with him, I made the decision to retrain to a nose touch, as he could target with his foot but run down the ramp staring at me and I really wanted him focused forward until he hit FP. I took him away from competition for around six months and retrained using the target method which is a method show to be by Greg Derrett and Susan Garrett. Hoax (my baby dog) was also taught using the same method. However, I realised when I began writing this article that I could never explain the full method without either missing out huge chunks or using the whole magazine! After retraining Boo, he became faster and much more independent of me. I eventually decided to drop the target behavior at the end for various reasons but continued to reinforce the position itself. He now has pretty consistently fast contacts regardless of where I am legging it off to on the course, therefore I decided that I wanted Hoax to learn exactly the same way. What makes a dog fast across its contacts? Personally I don’t think this is so much dependent on the method, more so on how the method is applied. If I look at my dream team of fast contacts in the UK each dog has been taught differently. Now apologies if I get anything wrong but I think the following are about right… ‘Kite’ Dawkins (two on two off stopped contact, down position). ‘Popi’ Langman (stopped contact, repeat nose target), ‘Barbie’ Flower (running: Sylvia Trkman method), ‘Dobby’ Munnings (two on two off stopped contact, loaded target, e.g. food on target). So what do these dogs all have in common? Criteria and consistency The reasons these dogs are so quick across their contacts is they have total clarity of what is expected of them. The trainers have decided on the method, trained it totally and regularly, rewarded correct behavior consistently and corrected sloppy or slow performance. The other things these dogs will have in common are a motivator: either food or toys. Most methods use food to begin with and eventually switch to toys. Personally I have found that food tends to build accuracy and thoughtfulness, and the toy brings out the chase instinct and SPEED! J Why do I have slow contacts? There are a number of reasons a dog has slow or inaccurate contacts. Each dog is different therefore I have just listed, what I feel are the most common reasons… Verbal/ Physical Punishment for missing or self releasing I see time and time again poor Gonzo creeping down to his contact position… he gets slower and slower then finally jumps off before reaching the yellow OR he reaches position but veeeeery sloooowly. If Gonzo leaves the equipment without being released, the owner either grabs poor Gonzo and puts him back on, or, Shouts “No” or lets out a “grrr” type sound. Gonzo A/ does not know the position well enough and B/ has come to associate the end of the contact with Mom or Dad being mad. Of course Gonzo wants to stay away from the scary yellow bit! Lack of Reinforcement These are the dogs that pretty much know the position but have no real reason to get there fast. They tootle across the planks, stop in position and look to Mom… “See I’m here, happy”? You pat poochies head and off you go. Poochie accelerates off to the fun bits! Poochie just needs a reason to do the contact FAST. He probably needs a higher level of reward from you. I stick by what I said before about toys building speed. Have a peek at http://www.clickerdogs.com/createamotivatingtoy.htm for tips. There are also other games you can play such as quick releases and restrained (someone holding your dog) recalls. Reliance on the handlers’ body cues Boomer comes down the plank a little sideways and staring for Mom. Sorry, but Boomer CANNOT run as fast with his head cranked to the side as he can when he is focused forward. There are VERY few dogs on the circuit that are totally independent of their handler over contacts. I can almost guarantee that if either Toni Dawkins or Greg Derrett tested Boomers contact independence; you would find Boomer stopping short of his position or releasing himself. This is the same reason that the dog slows across the down of the plank, they are only as fast as you! Can you run the length of a dogwalk in under 1.5 seconds? Boomer can, if he is waiting for you, he HAS to slow himself down. Inconsistency and early release This is usually the dog that has been competing a short time, ‘Turbo’ flies across the contact equipment, nearly reaches the yellow then starts to look at Mom… is this far enough..? No? Ok another step… this?... this?? If you have ever released your dog before they hit their Final Position then you are guilty of this! Most people do it and don’t even realise. In my eyes, ‘Turbo’ should always have to hit final position before being released: that is a pause in whatever position you have selected. Releasing as his feet are just hitting is an early release and releasing as soon as feet hit the yellow certainly is! Ok, so if I am running in the Olympia final I might be naughty and early release Boo, but that is on a rare occasion, not every single week. Release cue issues The dog that slows down or jumps off early, may simply not understand their release well enough. Your release cue should be a single word that allows the dog to know they can go. Again this should be totally independent of your body movements. Try the following: Run your dog (as normal) over the contact equipment and wait till they hit final position, praise/ reward them, leave them at the bottom, in final position and walk about six foot out in front of them. Put your hands behind your back, stay facing away from your dog, make no eye contact and don’t move a muscle and say your release. They should know this well enough to come firing straight off the equipment to you. Poor or no understanding of Final Position Rover runs onto the dogwalk/ AFrame then either slows early, creeps to position, leaps off and stares at Mom etc. This is a biggie and really pretty common still. Many people rush onto doing the full courses and sequences before the dog understands totally what to do at the end of a contact. Mom should be able to run around in circles, wave her arms, laugh and throw toys, all while Rover waits patiently, and gets rewarded lots on the end of the plank. Fixing it! Well obviously this isn’t simple. But the following will certainly help. Ø Method: Choose a method, discuss it with friends, and people who use it. Decide exactly how to apply it and what you would do if the behavior broke down after using it for a while. Most importantly, be consistent and STICK TO ONE METHOD! Ø Reinforcement: Whatever reward you use, your dog must LOVE it. I would always suggest using toys over food to build speed. If your dog doesn’t go crazy for toys then train him to! (See above link) Ø Consistency: Don’t sometimes accept your dog stopping short, remember a release is as good as a reward. So if you release before they have stopped in that final position, it’s as good as you rushing back to Rover when they have stopped two foot short of the contact and saying “GOOD BOY ROVER” while shoving rewards into them and playing a good game of catch afterwards! Ø Clear Criteria: You should know EXACTLY how your dog should execute his contact behavior, and you should have trained your dog to well enough to understand this totally. Ø Independence: Whatever method you choose, you need to train your dog to do it totally independent from you. Throwing toys helps, as do targets. If you can’t think of a way to use that method and make the dog independent, maybe you should look for a different method. Ø Punishment: The only punishment I give my dogs is withholding their reward (toy, food or progression to next obstacle) I don’t say anything and just allow the dog to try again. No more shouting “NO” at poor Poochie when he releases himself please!!! Ø Verbal Release: This is really part of consistency. You should have a single, simple and consistent verbal release. Your dog should release on this one word without you moving a muscle. If you don’t have a word, choose one. I like ‘Go’, ‘Ok’, ‘Yes’ and another good one is ‘Break’ Not so simple I know! But that’s why those coveted contact performances aren’t enjoyed by all of us. All in all, find a method that suits you and your dog that you believe you can implement. Running contacts for the seventy year old, arthritic handler and her ‘Turbo Diesel’ puppy might not be the best choice- although she does have all that retirement time to put into training! The same as, two on two off stopped contacts might not be what’s best for a seventeen year old handler with fast legs and a little Papillion! So to finalise the long article (sorry V)! Here are some of the most popular methods at the moment and where you can find more information on them... Stopped Contacts 2on 2off Repeat Nose Target (Susan Garrett) http://www.clickerdogs.com/ UK Contact: Greg Derrett http://www.gtagility.com/ 4 on the floor http://www.pawsonthewind.com/media/proof_11_12_FourOnTheFloora.pdf 1RTO (one rear toe on) http://awesomepaws.us/pdf/junglegymteeter.pdf Running Contacts Sylvia Trkman method http://www.silvia.trkman.net/ Hit it board (Ali Roukas Canova) http://www.dogsportsvideo.com/phpcart/view_product.php?pcode=ALI1 |
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onto
a Dogwalk, AFrame or Seesaw”? The usual reply is: “Er touch the yellow
bit?”. The answer that I am looking for, is a full, perfect picture, in your
head, of what you expect the dog to do. Mine is as follows: For my dog to run
across the equipment as fast as they can, and stop with their two front feet on
the floor and two rear feet still in contact with the down plank and hold this
position until the verbal release of “Yes” is given. I want this entire chain of
behaviors totally independently of my body position.