Clean Run - February 2018 - 21

Darcey (Whippet) is happily running
out to her front-paw target so I have put
this on the end of the plank which she is
very happy with. She adores the Treat &
Train and will happily work for it. I'm not
so worried about collection and back
feet for Darcey as she is tiny and well
balanced. Once she got the idea of stopping from speed-as a pup she was lethal on recalls-she kept it and collects
easily and naturally. She also turns easily
and well at speed so I think a front-paw
target will work well for her.

Dexi (small deaf crossbreed) is running
along his piece of carpet, as I want his
eyes forward, so there's no real way for
me to mark the behavior. The carpet is
long enough that it's hard for him to
miss, but is still shorter than the length
of the contact. He's happily running
across it out to his food ball. It's looking good, so I'm going with it at the
moment.

Training Contact obstacles
As we begin equipment training, I
thought I'd explain my attitude towards
the various methods available. My first
rule is "get the behavior" and I'll get my
behavior any way I can, with the proviso that it doesn't upset or in any way
hurt the animal I'm working with. Luring in some circles is almost a criminal
offence, with all sorts of studies done
to show that it inhibits learning. I love
luring, and I also understand what luring does.

Darcey is happily running to her
front-paw target on the plank.

When I choose to lure I'm dealing with
"gross" behaviors. For example, if I
place a toy out and send Shady out to
it, he hasn't gained an intellectual understanding of a sendaway. What he's
done is gained the confidence to drive
away from me at speed. He's also made
an association: going away from me
is fun and exciting. If I want an intellectual understanding, I'll shape it. But
shaping deals with tiny pieces of behavior so it's not always convenient or

Just
clip or
slip!
February 18 | Clean Run

desirable to shape every behavior we
need. Not only that, shaping encourages thoughtful behavior. By and large, it
is my experience that if you teach a dog
to do something slowly, then that is
how he'll do it. If you have a high-drive
Border Collie that defaults to speed,
then you are fine and your results will
be good. He can learn what you want
him to slowly and he will naturally
speed things up as he goes along. If
you're dealing with a lower drive Border Collie, or indeed any other breed
for that matter, then their first impression of an obstacle is vitally important.
You often see dogs revert to their first
learning in stressful situations.
For agility, Shady will always be sending to something; i.e., an obstacle. So
sending to a toy works well as a basis
for distance work. For working trials,
he will always be sending to a boundary, in most cases a hedge or a fence, so
again sending to a toy works well. He is
building the association that I need and
an intellectual understanding is redundant. On the other hand, for placing his
back feet on a target he needs an exact intellectual understanding, as it's a
precise behavior that will be performed
at speed. Before I put his target on the
actual dogwalk, Shady will be taught to
go as fast as possible across it, with no
concern for contact behaviors as I want
the first impression or association to
be that dogwalks are equipment to be
done at speed.

These dual leads convert easily
from a snap lead to a slip lead

cleanrun.com

http://www.cleanrun.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - February 2018