Who's the one with the BIG brain?

I am trying desperately to figure out how it is that a species such as human beings that have created and evolved so many high tech gadgets that we can practically do our wash wirelessly from 10 miles away but we cannot seem to grasp the concept of "consistency" and "criteria maintainence." 

I am certain that I am a bit hyper sensitive to noticing the countless examples of inconsistency that occur in class, at seminars and in trials because I witness them on an almost daily basis, but, I find it amazing that the average individual training one, two, or, maybe even three dogs has absolutely no idea what it means to be consistent in maintaining the criteria taught to their dogs. 

I suppose it is equally surprising how many handlers do not even begin the whole process of training with any clear idea of what they want the criteria to be.

Now, you could say that if they are not teaching criteria to begin with then there is no criteria to maintain, this is true, however, it would then be only fair to accept that the dog has not been trained to be responsible for the obstacle performance and should smile and say "good dog" no matter what the performance is.

We all know this is not the way it happens. I was at a trial this past weekend that seemed to exemplify this issue to a level that left me quite sad for a large group of dogs.

I do not know if the level of dog blaming was at an all time high or it was just the fact that the trial was not exactly moving at a breakneck pace which left more than the usual amount of time to watch others compete.

Either way, I was really quite distressed at how many people used what I am certain were supposed to be cues relevant to a specific contact behavior that quite obviously did not happen. In some instances the handler simply ignored the lack of criteria and went on, this would be the least of the problems, or, would have the audacity to get visibly angry at the dog for not doing what the handler had cued without requiring numerous times prior to the actual missing of the contact.

I found a large number of handlers that allowed their dogs to blow off proper performance without incident as long as it was still resulting in a qualifying score, if the infraction would result in an NQ you bet there was a reaction from the handler, how incredibly sad!

In what I guess was an attempt to get our reward of the almighty Q the handlers would then resort to totally new and unrelated cues that I guess would surprise the dog into offering the behavior, quite the head scratcher says me :-)

I write this on a day that I find out that a friends 8 year old Golden literally fell over dead on Sat. and another friends BC died of Cancer yesterday and wonder what are we thinking?

Even if Agility was not meant to be a game we play with our dogs, even if agility was a known cure for cancer, or could pave the road to World Peace we would ultimately fail miserably because although we have the BIG brains and thumbs, we expect our dogs to sift through the crappola and be able to do what we want or need them to do to make us feel good without any real training, or, total disregard for maintaining the criteria we may have actually taught them.

I hear a lot of  "I am working on that", "I know I am not very consistent", etc... without any real plan for change. 

Far too many dogs are trialing far too early and pushed too hard to do things that they have not had nearly enough time to learn specifically enough to hold up in a stressful environment like a trial. Most dogs do not have a clear understanding in training of exactly what is required, let alone the understanding necessary for the show ring.

I am a human as well and am equally guilty of my own bouts of inconsistency, but, I better notice it, and fix it! It is my job to have a clear understanding of what the ideal performance of any given cue or behavior is and my job to teach my dog how to do it correctly. 

It is also my job to not create confusion by allowing the one behavior that I have taught to evolve into any number of other behaviors because I am not capable of paying attention to what my dog is doing and run a course at the same time, I MUST be aware of what my dog is doing and what I am allowing at all times. I have to reinforce the behaviors that I want and must not accept and certainly not reward the behaviors that I do not.

It is my dogs job to perform the behaviors that I ask for correctly, when I ask. It is not my dogs job to fix my inability to properly train or maintain the behaviors that are necessary to be successful in agility.

The dog cannot walk the course, read the rulebook, obsess over course maps, etc.. any information that your dog receives on course or in training comes from you, they are simply reacting to the information provided, you do the math.

OK, now that I have ranted and raved and beat all of my wonderful readers over the head, might I remind you that agility is FUN!!! It is a GAME!!! Enjoy the time you have with your wonderful canine companion, it is all too short.

The moral of the story, do not have greater expectations of your dog than you are capable of returning. Now, go TRAIN your dog! 

  

Is it the handler or is it the dog?

As I travel all over doing seminars, camps, workshops, etc... I spend a great deal of time teaching people how to better handle their dogs. I also spend a great deal of time trying to impress upon said handlers the incredible importance of foundation training.

I think everyone out there understands that foundation training is super important but I also think that there is still a lot of confusion about what foundation training really is, and, how it applies to the overall big picture in agility.

I just returned from an awesome seminar in Minnesota during which this seemed to be a pervasive theme running through my head. 

Copious amounts of time was spent on trying to help people achieve the perfectly timed front cross, while even if the side change was indeed timed "perfectly" there was still a less than desirable outcome :-) 

The problem is that for so many people, even if they are perfect the dog is still not contributing to the overall process. It sounds here like I am "blaming" the dog but I am not...

Who teaches the dog their part or their responsibilities on course? That, of course, would be the handler :-) It always comes back to us, doesn't it?

I was finally able to really put my finger on the overall issue yesterday when I was doing a lesson with a very talented handler and there was a section in the exercise that called for 2 front crosses in succession, we cleaned up the handlers timing nicely but it still was not quite right.

I kept thinking about how I had run it that same morning and did not have the problem that was occurring, which was that the dog was over running the handlers side change. 

These were front crosses that required the handler to move through the side changes in order to make them both, however, in this case if the handler did not stop at the initiation of the cross the dog would over run her.

The main issue here is that no matter how "perfect" the handler is, the dog must also know what their responsibility is in all of this.

So, what was missing? This particular dog does not truly understand the value of the extraneous cues involved in the front cross. He is not bending to the handlers hand signal, he extends through a front cross without converging on the handlers path. 

He does understand that if mom decellerates and begins to rotate that he should come back to her but he is still extends over the jumps and turns back on the flat "after" the jump instead of flexing over the jump.

When a side change of any type is cued in a timely fashion the dog should never extend or have a straight body posture over the previous obstacle, there should be collection and flexion.

It is really important to practice timing and learn to "read" the dog and their position, etc.. However, in the meantime do not forget about the dogs part.

The dog has to be taught about collection, flexion, cue specifics, etc.. 

My style of training and handling focuses primarily on shaping "natural behaviors" into specific behaviors relevant to what I am going to need to be competitive on the agility field. It makes perfect sense to me to capitalize on things that are innate to my dog and add a few tweaks here and there to make these behaviors more specific to agility in general, however, the problem is this, because these are "natural" behaviors first and foremost we can easily forget to spend the necessary time to create the specifics that we need.

For example, one of the things that my dogs absolutely must learn is to find and maintain a path parallel to me, if my expectations are that my dog will follow me around a course reading my cues then don't I need to teach my dog to follow the direction "I" will be taking? If a dog is just willy nilly running across my feet or behind my back I will spend more time trying to keep the dog next to me and watching to be sure that he/she is next to me that I will not be able to get the course cues out in a timely manner or at all for that matter.

I need to be able to count on my dog understanding that their job is to always seek out a path parallel to me, this takes time and training as well as a handler who makes sure to notice if what they are teaching, (and you are always teaching), is what I want my dog to learn.

I start every exercise, even 1 jump work, with my dog parallel to me, I make it my mission to practice the correct cues, handling, position, etc.. whenever I am training and whatever I am training.

Pop quiz, does your dog know how to line up next to you on a start line in a parallel position without you physically manipulating them? If not, there is a big hole right there. If they cannot find this position while not in motion how are they to know to find it when you are running around a course?

I know there are not a lot of great foundation training resources out there at present but even just taking a step back and taking inventory of what cues you use and what they are supposed to mean to the dog is a great way to start to get a handle on what you have available in your tool box and what tools you need to acquire. 

Short list: 

Does my dog know parallel path?

Does my dog know and understand hand signals?

Does my dog know how to interpret the various hand signals?

Does my dog know how to interpret the variations in body cues, speed, etc..

Do I use these cues in a correct and consistent manner?

Does my dog know and understand how to pay attention through all levels of distraction?

These questions should get you started :-) I am sure there are many more that each of us could ask ourselves but 1 thing at a time....

To answer the question in the topic line of this post, it is both!

 

The 4 star was a 5 star :-)

OK, I know it has been ages again since I have actually updated the blog! I realized it was time to actually find time to sit down and write when several people actually asked me about Riesen and how she was doing, it was at this point that I realized that I had not let anyone out there know the great news! Although she had 3 mammary glands removed the "tumors" were all benign!! A downright miracle I would say.

Auntie Julie is of course taking the very best care of her and she is happy as a pig in mud, wrestling and tugging with, and, on her cousin Crush. What a life!!

I can say in all honesty that I have had very little chance to do much training since my last entry but I have worked a bit more on Mergers A-Frame. I have barely begun the dog walk training but if his progress on the A-Frame is any indicator, I think the dog walk will turn out as well.

Merger is definitely getting the hang of the additional "hit" at the base of the A-Frame and is genuinely seeking it out I am proud to say :-)

I am currently in Minnesota to teach at a 3 day seminar for Annelise Allan and Agile Canines, near the twin cities. When I get home I will do another video session and show you our progress! And, yes I really will put the videos up, I realize I have yet to download the SoBe fun match videos :-) OK, another thing to put on the to do list for when I get home.

SoBe is on vacation with auntie Deb this week as I opted to not take her to the Wasatch USDAA 4 Star event. A very good decision on my part as the show was very busy and the weather very unpredictable. The show itself was FANTASTIC! 

Let's talk about SoBe first, and about making decisions that impact the remainder of our dogs careers. SoBe occupies my thoughts a lot these days, not just because she is the spoiled little miss Princess SoBe that my World revolves around, but, also because I absolutely, positively know the potential that little dog has and I am consumed with trying to figure out how to get it out of her :-) 

As you all know I am certainly not referring to drive, she has that oozing out of every pore, I am, of course, referring to her need to take control of every situation. I firmly believe that is truly the crux of the issue, she is a control freak!!! 

I suppose it takes one to know one but if that is the case then "I" need to be in control. 

It does not need to be pointed out to me that the degree to which she has been spoiled does not exactly help this situation, but, I spoil all of my dogs and it has never come back to bite me in the butt with the ferocity that it has with SoBe.

I am a firm believer in picking battles, because of this I am rather lax when it comes to household rules. 

I am not even remotely lax in my expectations when I am training, so, it is a bit hard to take when there is a dog for whom the lines seem to blur.

It is quite obvious to me that SoBe is going to have to be "required" to be more responsible around the house if I am ever going to get her to be responsible on course, this will be tricky for me but I will do what needs to be be done to get everything out of her that there is to give.

I guess SoBe is going to have to join the rank and file of dogs that actually have to wait in their crate while the door is opened and actually stay there until released! I surely hope this new and improved household dog training does not kill one or the both of us :-)

One thing is for certain, at the upcoming USDAA trial she will hold her stays or she will not run, she will do her contacts properly or she will be escorted off of the course, she will do her weave poles from start to finish or she will be escorted off the course, and, she will not be entered in another trial until we have proofed all of these things to withstand, earthquakes, tornadoes, or any other force of nature in a training and fun match environment.

You see, it is one of the hardest things to do, pulling a dog from competition. It is also impossible for me to imagine spending this entire dogs career fighting with her in the ring when I can spend a few months or even a year getting it right. :-)

There are just some things that cannot be "fixed" in the ring and I believe that SoBe and I need to come to an agreement about who does what when and where, ultimately it is going to be awesome, right now it is going to be tough...

Next topic, the Wasatch 4 star USDAA event!! It was great! My friend Colleen Hawker puts on the most amazing trials and is very fortunate to have great workers and because of her dedication to the sport and the wonderful trials she puts on people come out of the woodwork to volunteer!

I would definitely give this 4 star event, 5 stars! The weather was a little weird at times but overall it was great. The trial was held at one of my all time favorite agility venues, outdoors on fabulous grass with a tree line surrounding the rings that provide tons of shade. We RV onsite and myself and a bunch of friends always have yearly bocci ball tourneys, (I think it is the bocci ball that draws us :-). We were semi rained out this year though and had to cut the games pretty short :-(

However, what made this event so awesome was the great competition that showed up, lots of people from different areas of the country that you just do not get to see anymore except at the big events.

I truly enjoyed going to a local trial and treating it like a Regional, it was a blast to have that kind of adrenaline pumping through me at a local trial :-) 

I also have to mention how fantastic my "students" in Utah are doing and what a great job they did at the trial, way to go guys!

Oh yea, I had the pleasure of running my student LaVar's fantastic sheltie Nic in the GP and we qualified!!!! I gave the Steeplechase a try but Nic had gotten wise and realized that dad was there and when he rounded the first major turn at the top of the course Nic decided to keep turning and head right out of the ring to dad! Thanks LaVar for the opportunity I had a great time!  

 

   

Tracking the Training

Today was a very good day! I still have a couple of dogs to work later tonight but we actually had almost a full day with no rain, a little thunder storm this afternoon was all, but mostly clouds with actual sun poking out!

I also got to ride my new horse for a couple of hours. Yes, I got a new horse! I have not ridden other than a trail ride in Costa Rica and a few other vacation spots in years and I thought it was time to revisit that hobby.

I already own 2 horses but neither of which would be safe for a rather noviceish, self employed, need to stay sound dog trainer :-)

I did take these facts into serious consideration before I made the decision to buy "another" horse. You see those of us whose job is also their hobby do find themselves a little tired of it from time to time, don't get me wrong I LOVE agility and I LOVE dog training but sometimes a person just needs something else.

Well, I find myself unable to truly embrace anything that is not somehow animal related and I also know that whatever I choose to do in my "downtime" needs to be either close to, or, at home because I really miss that as well, so, I looked for a horse that was as bomb proof as they come and I ended up with "Ruler" a 15 year old sorrel quarter horse gelding that was the family pet and main transportation to a 15 year old girl. 

She sold him because he was just too quiet and she was looking for more of a challenge! Sounds like the perfect old lady horse to me :-)

So, after a couple of test drives and a thorough vet exam I bought my more whoa than go horse.

He arrived on Friday and on Sat. I took him for a "short" ride to get acclimated, well I met up with my neighbors who joined me for this "short" ride and 6 hours later I was back home wondering if I would ever walk normally again!

So, today was our second ride and I managed to keep it much shorter but he is PERFECT! Never shies, spooks or is bothered by anything. We have traversed all sorts of terrain and surfaces and he handled it all like a champ. I am so excited about my new hobby! I will get a couple of pictures of him and post them with the videos.

Now, onto the dog training. I am so pleased with both Merger and SoBe's progress, it just goes to show you how a little consistent training goes a long way!

The weather was terrible again yesterday so I was not able to get to the fun match I was planning on going to but we got some good training in during the day anyway.

Yesterday was all about contacts and I am pleased to say that SoBe is keeping up her end of the bargain, we have a trial this weekend so we will see how it goes. 

I am loving the running contact method I have devised for Merger and he is really starting to understand what I am looking for. I have not, nor will I even think about fading any props for quite some time but he is actively working at adding the stride at the bottom of the contacts.

Today, he did the old flying wallenda off of the A-frame so I withheld his toy and we went back around to do it again, this time he was perfect, he is truly starting to get it. 

He also on one attempt ignored the broad jump board at the base of the A-frame, I once again withheld the reward and before I could turn around he looked to his left and went between the board and the A-frame and jumped it!

I have added 2 stride regulators to the dog walk and am asking for the same behavior as the A-frame, we just started this so it was not as clear as his A-frame performance but we did end on 2 very successful attempts.

Tonight was weave pole night for SoBe, Maze, and, Merger.  I was setting up lots of really difficult entries for SoBe  and Maze and I put the gates on the entries and exits of the channel poles for Merger, they all did extremely well I am happy to report.

I try hard to sort of compartmentalize my training sessions with the dogs to place emphasis on specific skill sets, this makes it a lot easier to track our progress.

The next big issue to tackle with Merger is body awareness over jumps and how to figure it out when sequencing.

I put him on a straight line sequence of jumps out of a pinwheel yesterday, wow, what a disaster! The spacing between jumps was all over the map and the big boy was completely clueless as to how to adjust his mammoth stride within randomly spaced jumps.

He was so on his forehand that by jump 2 of the straight line he was pretty much offering a handstand over the jump. I use the term over loosely as he basically crashed through the jumps.

Moral of the story, Merger needs grid work to help create a proper jumping style. Then we will move on to evenly spaced jump chutes and then on to a more random arrangement. Until we get there we will still do our single jump work which is always a good thing.

From a jumping standpoint, the Sobster needs collection work, I am sure you can guess what her overall attitude towards collection is. :-)

Maze did beautifully with his weave pole entries and jump work tonight, Wally got the night off.

Vandal is growing up and starting to run his contacts and learn more impulse control as well as low jumps. Stay tuned for updates.

In conclusion, there was a comment after the video post about SoBe's sit at the bottom of the contacts. The question was how did I teach that or was it her own invention, the answer is SoBe came up with the sit all on her own. I really like it because it causes her to rock back on the bottom of her contacts very nicely which is much kinder to her physically but it also helps keep her from being on her forehand literally pulling her off the contacts before release.

 

The Fun Match was FUN!

On Sunday I did something I rarely ever get a chance to do and that was go to a fun match. I took SoBe, Wally and Maze and we had a great time! 

This was my opportunity to get SoBe on contact equipment and weave poles in a "trial" situation. It was time well spent! 

SoBe is such a driven little imp that she was absolutely clueless that we were in a training environment and delivered exactly the performance that I knew she would.

I signed her up for 3 runs and the great news is that they got progressively better each run. I am posting the videos in the order that she ran.

The first run she broke her start and was appalled to find out that I would actually pick her up and carry her back to the start line! SoBe is definitely not a fan of being airborne without a plane :-)

She stayed after this and following the jump we had our first opportunity at the A-frame. We lowered the A-frame before she ran as I have yet to ask her for her 2on/2off contact performance on a full height A-frame. 

She offered a beautiful running contact performance that would have been great if that were the criteria that i asked for :-) I replaced her on the bottom of the A-frame, released her and asked for it again, at speed, she stopped beautifully!!!

Next it was time to fight the weave pole battle, this was almost a fight to the death, but, eventually I won and, as I said earlier she got better in each consecutive run. I consciously chose to skip the poles in run 3 as she had improved so much from the first to the second run. There is something to be said for quitting while you are ahead. I am also a huge believer in the concept of latent learning therefore we stopped with success in the poles.

I did add another "complex" obstacle in run 3 in lieu of the weave poles and that was the table, which interestingly enough she does really well :-)

Once we got through the weave poles successfully she settled in and offered beautiful dog walk and teeter performances, YEA SoBe!

We did not even get into "handling" as I was focused on complex behaviors and helping SoBe realize that even though you are running fast, you can still think. This is a very difficult concept for a doer!

SoBe's jumping was amazing as always, she did not drop a single bar and rarely does, she is a very athletic little girl!

It was my hope to get to another match tonight, but, it is raining cats and dogs, again!!! Colorado is no longer a desert as far as I am concerned! I do have the opportunity to get to another match next Monday evening and SoBe is entered in an AKC trial this coming weekend which I will absolutely use as an opportunity to train. 

Any lead out will be short and her potential inability to control herself no the contacts will result in a hasty exodus from the ring. 

Well, as I was uploading the videos, which were sent to me via email, a message popped up that it was not able to upload and I should call 1-800-computers suck! 

Instead, I will just be leaving you all on pins and needles until Deb. comes over and brings her Flip! camera and I will download them right on to the computer from the camera which has always worked in the past.

Anyway, I do have a very interesting observation about the fun match on Sunday... as I said earlier, I have not been to very many, it has been years probably since my last match, anyway, my interpretation of a fun match is a show setting with the energy, people, adrenaline, etc.. but also with the opportunity to fix problems that have a tendency to show themselves in the show setting almost exclusively.

It was certainly my intention to utilize this rare opportunity to put SoBes contacts, weaves, and stat lines to the test and I took full advantage of that opportunity by correcting the behaviors that I did not want and rewarding the ones I did. 

What was so interesting was the number of people that I watched become paralyzed by show mentality and ring nerves and allow the same inconsistent behaviors and lack of criteria they allow at a real trial. What is the point??

It is incredible to me how easily people create situations that allow for one set of criteria in training and a completely different set of criteria in trials. The more differentiate the requirements of a training situation from the trials you bigger the gap becomes between the two and the harder it will be to bridge that gap.

If you go to a fun match, show and go, whatever, use it for what it was intended, to bridge the training and trialing gap, not increase it! 

One last note, as I said I took Wally and Maze as well, my intention for Wally was to proof the stride collection work I have been doing on the dog walk, well I did but it was easy because the Wallymeister cannot be fooled and knew immediately we ere not at a trial, even though I went through our pre run rituals and everything! He is such a smart boy!

Maze came because I thought he would enjoy a run :-) He was pretty much perfect as I expected, also a very good boy!

So, in conclusion, try to sleep at night while you wait for SoBe's videos from the match.

Videos!!!

I promised videos and here they are :-) To begin with there is a video of SoBe hitting "and" sticking each of the 3 contacts just to show everyone that she really can! Sorry about the down time between contacts and the motion sickness potential as I move between them, I have not yet mastered the edit feature :-) 

She managed to do all of these contacts at speed, with me continuing to run and throwing her toy! What a good girl! Now we have to see these fantastic contacts in competition, or at least at the fun match on Sunday.

I am still working the 2on/2off on a low A-frame but she is working really hard to stick it as she comes flying over the top. She has actually missed stopping a couple of times allowing me to correct the behavior which is good in a training environment. 

SoBe does not back off even a little bit on the speed and because of this she is displaying her superior understanding of the behavior since she exhibits the apropriate behavior even though she is  moving into the position at a very high rate of speed! Yea SoBe!! 

This just hardens my resolve to keep and maintain the 2on/2off with princess SoBe, she has the best 2on/2off performance start to finish of any dog I have ever trained!~

Next video, I was proofing Mergers "Bang" behavior and asked him to start though a tunnel to build speed, straight to a jump beside the A-frame immediately offering the "Bang" at the completion of the jump.

The tunnel is set in a "U" shape approx. 9 feet from the jump/A-Frame exercise. Merger is expected to jump, hit the floor, bounce onto the A-frame hitting once before assuming the 2on/2off position. He is of course expected to maintain the position until released.

 

In the next video, I was playing around with running the A-frame with Merge. It was a lot of fun to try different things to get the striding I was looking for. Ultimately my goal was to get a 2 hit performance without a launch.

Initially Merger was using the stride regulator as a launch point which of course was not going to fly, pun intended!

I put a toy at the base of the A-frame to give him the idea that he needed to  go to the bottom, after I worked though this issue I added the Broad jump board to the bottom as a guide to hit the ground close to the end of the ramp. It took a bit if experimentation to determine a distance that would meet my expectations and remain comfortable for Merger. 

The first time or 2 I placed the toy between the A-frame ramp and the broad jump board to get him to put his feet down. 

Notice the orange gate, Merge also thought it was fun to come off sideways, I love gates! OK, that is a lot of props but by golly we got it to work. Notice Merger did on more than one occasion leap over the broad jump board without putting his feet down first, if he offered this option I simply withheld reward and he did it correctly each time after that. 

The stride regulator is just above the last colored slat and for Merge, the jump board is about 3 feet off of the bottom of the ramp. It is really fun to play with, definitely makes me think! There are 2 different videos of our trial and error session with the running A-Frame. I have not tried it with the dog walk...yet :-)

The last video is my baby boy, Vandal. As long as we were playing with running contacts it just made sense to give the Vandal a go :-) 

The only prop I am using with Vandal is the stride regulator, he seems to read it and honor it quite well.

As an aside, I am also working on a foot target with both Vandal and Merger. I am using the hit it board with my plan being, to ultimately remove the broad jump board in favor of a hit it board where I want the dogs to put their feet after the performance of the contact obstacle. The hit it board will be faded to a smaller and smaller item until it disappears altogether.

So, it appears I have modified the 4 on the floor method a bit more, so far I like it. It is clear criteria without slowing the dogs down, I also feel like it is something that the naked eye can pick up on to maintain consistency and proper criteria. Time will tell.

Vandal was having the very best time running his A-Frame! He has also been introduced to the dog walk and the teeter and so far seems quite unfazed by it all.

His tug drive has increased 150% since he has all of his adult teeth and of course we begin each training session with play, we play in between exercises and we always play at the end.

At the same time I am mixing up the behaviors that we are working on to keep it fresh. Vandal is learning to "go through" (figure 8 through my legs), heel and side, sit and down with short stays, running his contacts and playing. We do little bits of each every time we train with no rhyme or reason to how many of what or what order we do them in. It is always a small number of reps though, leave them wanting more is very true when dog training! Enjoy the videos.

Operation Contacts!

Yes, you read right, it is time to get serious about contact training! Who needs contact training you ask? Well, let's see here... 

"SoBe", she needs to understand that she MUST stop on her dog walk in competition as well as in training. That is the most difficult mission in operation contact for sure.

I was teaching a handling workshop at a friends house yesterday and so I took the doodle bug with me for a little off site training opportunity and lo and behold she was perfect! Even with multiple different and difficult proofing maneuvers she managed a perfect stop and hold several times! Looks like we will be hitting the local fun matches, Trish is it too late to sign up for Sat.?

Honestly, she has an amazing dog walk we just have to make the point that even with mega adrenaline she must do it properly.

SoBe's A-Frame is simply, yes I actually said simply, going to change to a 2on/2off performance to help her keep her brain together for all of the contacts.

"Merger", because of his gigantic size, I had the presence of mind to teach Merge a very solid 2 on/2off  behavior which we continue to work in an effort to proof and solidify the performance. 

Also, due to his enormity :-) I have been letting him run the contacts just to get an understanding of where is feet are. When I first started putting Merger over the contacts he was either nervous about the narrow dog walk or over thinking the bottom behavior that he thought he was supposed to offer, regardless of the reason I knew what he really needed was to just be able to run the contacts for a while. My friend Ann calls it teaching them the concept of "see wood run".

Well, the really good news is as of this writing Merger is absolutely flying over the contacts without hesitation, the bad news is now the work really starts, pairing the contact equipment with the stop behavior.

To do this I am going to begin with exercises that really test Mergers ability to drive into the 2on/2off and hold it. I will put a few of these on tape and add them to the next blog installment, which I will do in less than 10 days time :-)

Once I have really worked these it is time to put Merger on a low dog walk and ask for the behavior at speed, the proofing is reintroduced once Merger gets the "connection" of run to a stop. Not a very easy concept to wrap their minds around.

So, it has become apparent that I am referring to the A-Frame and dog walk and not the teeter, I do not consider the teeter to be one of the contact obstacles. Because of the nature of the teeter and the movement and noise, etc.. as far as I am concerned the teeter stands alone from a training and overall performance standard. The training of the teeter will be addressed separately.

"Wally", has a perfect A-Frame and teeter as far as I am concerned :-) But, there is still that pesky dog walk issue. The good news is that last weekend in an effort to guarantee a qualifying performance in GP I "sat" on Wally a bit on the dog walk and caused the addition of several strides yet he still took second place by less than 2/10ths of a second!! I must say it gives me tons of confidence going forward that even if I teach Wally to add a stride at the bottom of the dog walk we are still going to have winning times!

So, what's my plan? My plan is to teach a modified 4 on the floor for the dog walk. I am going to teach Wally and Vandal to drive to and drop on a mouse pad, towel, flat board, whatever immediately after leaving the plank in an effort to get stride collection with out the stop. I will fade the full stop at some point. Wally may have slightly different ideas about how all of this morphs, but, as long as we come to an agreement that suits both of us and the rule book I will be happy. 

"Vandal", I have not started any contact training with him other than a little see wood run stuff to check out his level of confidence. I am happy to report that he runs a full dog walk and a low A-Frame without hesitation! I have started to teach a 2on/2off on the flat board but i am leaning towards a stride collection and a "moving" contact on the dog walk and a full running A-Frame.

I am of the belief that to accomplish this I am going to have to commit to the process and do a really good job of logging progress, both in writing and on video. 

I will gladly share with everyone what I am doing and how it is going, starting today! Wish us luck!