Contacts, contacts, and more contacts :-)

The never ending discussion, what type of contacts do I want to train? I can tell you the thought process goes through my head numerous times a day! Well, whatever you decide, running, moving, 2on/2off it is crucial that you know what you are teaching, how you are going to teach it, and, why you are teaching all of the various steps. Do "you" understand the process, the means to the end? I think a lot of people teach things because they are told to by their instructors, peers, etc... They do not fully understand what they are teaching, without understanding why you are teaching something, without understanding what you are teaching, the steps involved etc... you cannot be successful. Every method of contact performance must be taught, consistent running contact performance cannot be achieved by osmosis, often when a person feels that 2on/2off is not working, or, they get tired of the supposed tedium involved they decide to go to running. Running contacts do not magically happen because you do not like or understand the training process for 2on/2off :-) The same is true for 2on/2off, just deciding that 2on/2off is what you would like the criteria to be does not make it magically happen. Believe it or not this post is really not about running contacts, but, 2on/2off. As fashionable as running contacts are right now, there are still a lot of people who are just not the right fit for running contacts. 2on/2off contacts are not any more difficult to teach than running, as long as there is understanding of the process, consistent criteria, and, criteria maintenance. 2on/2off contacts get a bad rap for being hard on a dog physically, create slow, or, creepy contacts, or, break down. All of these things are true if they are not trained properly. There is a specific way to teach 2on/2off contacts that create speed, drive, accuracy, and proper body position to eliminate all of the above issues. Keeping in mind that any behavior is only as strong as it's foundation is a critical component, also remembering that reinforcing the most important part of the criteria is uber important! Dogs will only offer consistent performance of any behavior if the behavior you are asking for is more rewarding than what they would choose to offer on their own. Words to train by! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!