Clean Run - July 2011 - 38

end of the board that your dog is still running once he is off the board (about 20'-25' for small dogs, a longer distance for bigger dogs). Step 9 Continue repeating steps 7 and 8 until the table is up to 16". At this point, you can use a curved tunnel to generate speed toward the table as seen in Figure 2. But I do not recommend doing this with a table higher than 16" because your dog may misjudge the table and crash into it. Step 10 You can begin to add your own motion into the picture at this point. Remember that your dog will naturally respond to your deceleration and acceleration cues. Your job on the contact is to teach him, to a certain extent, to ignore those cues until he has finished the board. This means if you decelerate or stop suddenly, he must continue without you. And if you accelerate suddenly, he must maintain focus forward toward the Manners Minder. Step 11 Move up to a low, full-length dogwalk. Note: When you do this, the number of repetitions you can accomplish in a 2-3 minute training session will decrease dramatically. If you can, continue to work on the last third of the dogwalk for a while. Once you start doing a full-length dogwalk,
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it will take longer, because the board itself is now longer. Step 12 Fade out the Manners Minder by putting it on the other end of a short, straight tunnel. Continue to mark the running behavior, though, when the dog is running through the contact. Step 13 Switch the tunnel to a jump. You may want to start with the jump lower than full height, as jumping just after a running dogwalk can be a difficult task. Your dog’s jumping skills need to be sharp! Doubles, triples, and tires are even more difficult than single jumps, so they should be dealt with after your dog can successfully navigate the dogwalk and clear the next jump. At this point, you may want to define success as running through the contact and keeping the bar up. The jump should be no closer than the closest distance you ever expect it to be; keep things simple at this point. Step 14 Start moving the jump to different locations after the dogwalk, or have multiple jumps after the dogwalk, so your dog begins to learn that your location has some relevance to the next obstacle after the dogwalk as in Figure 3. At first, you may want to lead out to these locations, since your motion into or out of these locations will likely distract your dog.
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However, you’ll need to introduce motion as your dog can cope with it. Also, be sure to repeat this exercise on both sides. In Summary At this point, your dog’s running contacts are coming along fairly well. From here on, you need to experiment with how to handle a running contact, which is an entirely different matter. Much of your training has centered around your dog running down the board without any supporting motion cues from you. But when you head into the ring to compete, you’ll want to give as many supporting motion cues as you can until your dog becomes as comfortable in the ring as he is at home. Dogwalks, like jumps, can vary dramatically in how they feel and look to your dog so mistakes are inevitable. Although your dog may be able to deal with obstacles set off to the side of the dogwalk at home, in competition you may want to continue giving forward cues until he is on the flat; at least until you’re confident he understands he needs to drive off the board before turning. Do not expect your running contact training to ever really be finished; it will always be like a living thing, subject to change at any moment. Hopefully, this condensed list has illuminated some details of the process of training running contacts for you. My own training and understanding of running contacts continues to change as I gain more experience, so while I think the above list is a good general guideline, I also think you should expect the process to vary somewhat from dog to dog. Happy training! D

You can use a curved tunnel to generate speed. But don't do this if the table is higher than 16" because your dog could misjudge the table and hit it.

You can lead out to show your dog that your location has relevance to where the next obstacle is. Do this before introducing motion into or out of these locations, because your motion tends to distract your dog from his job.

Daisy Peel has competed in agility since 1998. She is a five-time Regional champion (USDAA), a four-time National champion (AKC, USDAA), and a three-time AKC/USA World Team member. Daisy currently competes with her dogs Solar and Jester. Before becoming a full time agility instructor, she was a high school chemistry teacher. Visit her website: www. daisypeel.com. Clean Run | July 11

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Clean Run - July 2011

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