Silvia Trkman seminar thoughts

I'm starting to recover from five days of work hosting a seminar at the school.  It was so worth it, most everyone enjoyed it and learned from it.

The Silvia Trkman seminar was fantastic!  She is so positive and has such a good eye for helping everyone.  I got some additional clarification and ideas to add to my training and teaching program.

I first saw Silvia in person a year and a half ago and I really learned a lot from her then.  Her handling style fits well with how I handle and teach handling.  That is an important consideration for me when bringing in someone to give a seminar.  The last thing I want to do is to confuse my students.  She also really wants to give the dogs as much information as possible so they can not only turn tightly but not injure themselves in the process.  Many dogs are injured because of lack of information or late information regarding turns.

Where Silvia competes in Europe they have very tight courses and the courses have lots of turns on them.  This is what she trains for with her dogs.  Here in the states we don't see courses like these on a regular basis.  Those people wanting to be on a World Team will want to train and prepare for these European style courses.  For most of us these courses are just good training exercises.  It can help improve your course times if your dog's turns are tighter and if the your dog has more information ahead of time.  Dogs without a lot of flat ground speed can make up a lot of time with tight turns on a course.  It also reduces the chance of injury when your dog has time to prepare for a turn on course.

In her "Turns" seminar I got a much better idea of the level of detail she has in the training of tight turns with her dogs and what specifically she is looking for when training turns.  These exercises are ones that I am going to incorporate into the training of my own dogs and that of my students.  She noted that Sinco has good tight turns that are cued by body language.  She suggested I add verbal cues to those tight turns to allow me to handle her when I can't physically get to a spot where I need a tight turn.  I have already started it and it is making a huge difference.  These cues are much more than just "left" and "right"  - there is much more to it than that and I'm glad to finally understand her detailed system of training turns much better. As part of Tay's rehab and conditioning I am going to teach her turns in this manner.  It will be very important that she be able to make turns safely and that she knows she is turning well in advance in order to keep her front end sound.  I will definitely be adding detailed verbal cues to her training. 

The Tricks seminar was excellent because she showed how she does a number of tricks and we got to see some experienced trick trainers and some new to trick training working with their dogs.  As a result there will be a lot more trick training added to our Sports Foundations classes that will help to build confidence and body awareness, and to help condition the dogs.  However for me the most informative was to be able to observe Silvia at her lunch and dinner breaks interacting with her 9 month old puppy and to see how many new tricks she taught her puppy during her stay here.  It was very inspiring and great to see how to utilize short blocks of time to do training and conditioning at the same time with a dog.  Her techniques were interesting to watch.  I've already started to do even more shaping exercises with my puppy and her comprehension of some of exercises has improved greatly.  I had been frustrated that the luring was not working as well with her - she was going through the motions but she is so toy driven that I felt she was not thinking enough.  So now I am shaping them with a clicker and treats and the light bulb has gone on and she has it so much faster.   I shape a lot of behaviors but there have been a couple that I used to think were easier for me and for students to do with luring but now I am rethinking that approach.

The handling sessions were very interesting and challenging.  Personally I like to be challenged when I go to a seminar and I like to leave with some sense of success but also with some things to work on for "homework."  If I can do everything easily then I am not being pushed to be a better trainer and handler.  Seminars are for learning and not for showing off what we know, in my opinion.  She was fabulous in finding something positive to say about every handler and run and finding something to work on for everyone.  We can all get in a rut in our training and tend to do that which is easy and fun and not push ourselves outside of our comfort zone.  I think everyone was pushed outside of their comfort zone but in a positive way.  Silvia had some great expressions to help bring humor to situations that could otherwise be awkward.

The running contacts session was very well attended.  Silvia is well known for training running contacts.  I found it interesting when she said that more Americans are training running contacts than Europeans and when you watch FCI videos it looks like most Europeans at that level are doing running contacts.  There are "true running contacts" and there are "modified running contacts."  Most people have some form of "modified running contacts" and few have true running contacts.  True running contacts take a lot of work and require a gradual progression in training and access to boards and eventually a dogwalk and aframe to use on a regular basis.   The larger the dog the harder it is for a running dogwalk - not only for hitting the contact zone but also for having turns after the contact.  She said she does very few aframes and she trains it on the dogwalk mainly and the aframe is "free."  However she is very athletic and she can keep up with her fast dogs.  Many of us are not able to keep up with our fast dogs and a running dogwalk can be hard to keep up with on a course.  Running aframes are usually easier to train but still can take a lot of work to get a natural relaxed stride across it.  She noted something that I've observed but have not put my finger on it.  That raising the aframe slowly puts it at a height where it is hard for dogs to be successful so she goes up about several inches at a time.  That was good to hear because I've observed that as well and wondered about it.  I've successfully trained true running dogwalks and aframes with my small dogs and some of my students dogs. Training small dogs can be hard work and is not for the faint of heart.  It takes a long time to get the rhythm needed.  However it was reassuring to hear Silvia say that dogs don't always stride across the dogwalk the same way and nothing can change that and to obsess over it will only stress everyone out.  That was a relief because I've noticed that myself and yet so many people obsess that the number of strides needs to be the same every time but that is not realistic.  The striding will change depending on where they are coming from and where they are going to next from the dogwalk.  She also doesn't obsess over where in the yellow they touch and focuses on hind feet rather than front feet which is also much easier. Training larger dogs to do running aframes has been more difficult and more frustrating for students.  I am still struggling with that when the dogwalk is a stop. Teaching two on two off is much easier for me and most of my students on the dogwalk.  Many of us have a hard time keeping up with a fast dog on the dogwalk.   Carmine will be my first personal experience of training true running dogwalk and aframe with a larger dog.  She is currently 20" at the shoulder.  It is my motivation to get in to better shape to keep up with her because her ground speed is very fast.  She will know two on two off on a board as an exercise like Silvia teaches all her dogs.  So in worst case I will be able to do that.  I will also be teaching Carmine verbal cues for all aspects of turning. 

It was also good to hear how slowly she goes with her training.  I feel there is so much to train a dog in agility and I don't understand why so many want to rush it and are willing to skip steps in their training.  Every dog and handler is different and will progress at their own rate.  I try to assign homework to my students.  Training turns and jumps is the most important training and yet it is the one that we often have the least patience for doing.  Watching her with her pup and doing exercises with poles on the grounds was inspiring and it makes so much sense to have tight turns and speed with poles on the ground on jumps before adding height.  I have done this with my young dogs and my students dogs for years.   I do a lot of these kinds of things using hoops (like NADAC style hoops) because they are easy to move around, there are not poles to go rolling across the floor and yet there is still the concept of two standards for the dog to go through.  Using these to teach wraps, front and rear crosses, 270s, serpentines, sends and boxes is so easy and it teaches dog and handler about handling and about how to turn with speed.  As a bonus, if someone decides to do NADAC when their dog is older they have no problem with hoops because their dog saw them as a puppy/youngster. 

So now that the dust is settling after the seminar I am processing all that I learned and I am planning what things I will incorporate into my agility foundations and advanced level training that will be complimentary to what we already do and I will see what I want to add to my own training program.  When I go to seminars I don't like to totally change everything I do in my training and teaching program because I feel that is counterproductive.  I like to add things that will enhance my program and/or will "fix" problems I have had.  My program is pretty stable and I like to improve it all the time and make sure it grows as agility knowledge and training grows.  I like to try out new training techniques on my own dogs first before teaching it to students so I have some idea of the pitfalls there may be and the effectiveness of it.  I'm lucky to have a few dogs who have very different personalities and learning styles to work with when I want to try something new.

Agility in the US is much more diverse and open to a wider range of breeds and sizes than in Europe.  There are so many agility organizations that it is easy to find one where any given dog and handler can be successful.  We are fortunate to have more agility options here.  Just as we have diverse agility organizations we have diverse requirements in agility training.  In the US we have many more classes and organizations with distance type challenges on the courses so we tend to focus more on distance training here than in Europe.  I feel it is important to also train distance at an early age with puppies because we have a lot of distance requirements in our courses.  So for us there needs to be a balance between lots of tight turns and handler focus and distance and sends to obstacles at large distances.  This is why I am careful about what I add to my training/teaching program so that it will still fit with our trialing requirements.  We also need to have reliable contacts at a distance - 20-50 feet for some of us - that requires very special training. 

So when you are processing information from a seminar or an instructor you really want to look at how it fits in with the other things you need/want to train for success in agility.  Be thoughtful about what will work and fit into your existing program.

Puppy Training or What I Know Now that I Wish I Had Known Then!

Having a puppy around is always a time of reflection for me on my training techniques - what I want to do differently with this puppy, what this puppy needs done differently than others and what I can learn from this puppy.




Right now at ACTS we have a lot of puppies in various stages of training to be agility dogs. It is an exciting time. We are working on improving and growing our "sports foundations" program to see how we can best prepare students for the intricacies and demands of agility training as well as for the rigors of daily life training. So right now I'm spending a lot of time listening to my students, getting their feedback, tweaking the program and watching students and puppies. We are trying to do our training as much as possible without training aids such as prong collars, gentle leaders or choke collars. However there may be times when these will be needed in certain circumstances or for short periods of time. Our goal is to help students wean off of these training aids as much as possible. They can't be used in competitive sports so they need to be weaned off at some point and sooner is better. They can become crutches for the handlers if used too long and can be a poor substitute for good training if used for too long.





We try hard to help students master the art and science of shaping or what is more popularly known as clicker training. Too often students use the clicker as a positive marker for existing behaviors that have been lured. To really develop the skill of capturing a behavior takes a lot of practice. It is a really fun thing to do once the skill is developed. Thinking about an end behavior and then breaking it down into the component pieces is very helpful for training but a difficult skill to learn. It really makes you think about how many stages there are in learning a particular behavior. Getting stuck in a spot is a common problem and there are many ways to work out of it. Using tools like strategic placement of reward can be very helpful.





It is really important for my puppies and my student's puppies to learn to eagerly go and interact with objects. I find that dogs who are willing to do this and are not afraid to make mistakes will have a much easier time learning agility and learning to do it independently. If a dog has to be lured across a board, or lured through weave poles the dog is going to be thinking more about the food in the hand than about what they are doing. The food then has to be faded. A dog that is eager to go offer behaviors is more likely to be willing to walk across a board in order to get a treat or try to go through weaves to get the treat or toy. These dogs will be easier to teach to do obstacles at a distance when they are trained this way from the beginning. Will their performance be a little sloppy at first - yes. But with any of my training I would rather have a lot of enthusiasm and sloppiness than a lot of worry and carefulness. It is much easier to refine a dog's behavior who has a lot of enthusiasm and sloppiness than it is to excite a worried and careful dog. The worried dog may gain confidence over time and with that gain speed with the right training but the training has to be done with careful planning to ensure that happens and is more work for the handler.





I've been shaping behavior with dogs since the early 90s. I graduated from college with a degrees in Psychology and Biology with an emphasis in Animal Learning and Behavior and then went on to get a Masters in Educational Psychology focusing on Adult Development and Learning. Before getting into dog training I had a lot of experience with the "science" of learning. It is different from real life learning and training but it has been helpful to have worked with animals like rats, pigeons, mice and chameleons and to apply what worked with them to dogs. The big difference is that dogs live with us every day and all day. They don't live in cages 24 hours a day. So it is really important for dogs to have structure and boundaries in their lives. While some of this can be taught with operant/shaping techniques, much of it can not be. So there needs to be a balance and a thoughtful use of different types of training techniques for different situations. It would be nice to think we could do everything with shaping - click and treat but the reality in my 20 years of experience working with dogs and their humans is that does not provide enough structure for most dogs. Dogs do have free will. Dogs do have minds of their own. There are times when a dog will choose for very good reasons (in their mind) to not follow a cue/command. It is our job as the human part of the team to discern whether that reason was due to a high level of stress, due to high level of distraction, due to a lack of understanding of the cue, due to the dog's desire/preference to do something else or due to the dog's physical inability to do it (due to soreness or illness). It is this analysis that a human has to learn to do very quickly in order to determine how to respond. Sometimes we get it wrong and sometimes we are totally confused. If a dog is choosing to not follow our cues/commands because of free will then there may need to be consequences. However I never impose consequences on something UNLESS and UNTIL I am sure the dog understands the cue and can do the cue with fluency and with distractions and/or distance. Too often students want to introduce corrections before a dog has even learned the behavior by saying "no" or "eh eh" to the dog while they are teaching them something. Not only is this not fair to the dog but it can also lessen the impact of your negative marker when it is over used. I use clearing my throat as my negative marker - it is hard for that to slip out accidentally but I don't use it until I'm very certain the dog can do what I ask in the situation I am asking for it. If the distraction level is too high then I need to work more on that behavior with distractions before I can correct it.



I spend a lot of time analyzing my dog's behavior in many situations and trying to determine the underlying cause of a behavioral problem so I can determine how to best "fix it." This is when it is important to spend time getting to know a puppy. Finding out who they are, how they think, what they like, what they don't like, how they learn and how they feel physically is so important. I don't expect my dogs to respond the same even if they are the same breed or even closely related. They are all individuals. It is important to distinguish whether a dog/puppy is stressed or not. Sometimes people are too quick to say a dog is "blowing me off" when the dog is really stressed and doing what dogs do when they are stressed - sniff! Sometimes a dog is too excited in the situation to be able to focus on the desired behavior. A student needs to look at how much have they trained and proofed the dog to be able to do that behavior with a lot of distractions. Often we don't look honestly at our training programs to determine how well have we taught a given behavior. Dogs don't generalize well so they need to have lots of different experiences in order to generalize. Dogs get excited and need to know how to have self-control in stimulating environments. This all starts when they are puppies. Learn the signs of stress in your dog. Licking lips is another common sign of stress. I see it a lot in dogs on agility courses but the table, teeter and weaves. If you slow down a video of a dog in the weaves very often you can see them licking their lips. This is a huge sign of stress and should be a concern. A very low level of stress is common and should not interfere with learning but it also should not produce a lot of outward signs. The more visible the signs of stress the higher the level is.



Having this litter of 9 puppies was one of the most educational dog experiences of my life. I could see first hand what kinds of things come "hard wired" in a dog by how they responded to things within the first two weeks. No formal learning from a human was taking place - only their own learning and interaction with the environment and processing that information was happening. I learned so much about how puppies develop and how they think and how they interact with novel stimuli and familiar stimuli from day to day. I was able to see one of the puppies was very sound sensitive and easily stressed in new places with lots of people. I immediately did a lot of intervention with this puppy to help him overcome these things. I made sure his owner new of my concerns so she could work with him from the very beginning to build his confidence. I knew which two puppies were almost over the top in energy level as they would be the only two still running and playing after two hours at a puppy party. I knew which ones were going to be easy to handle and which ones didn't like to be touched physically and were going to need lots of work with this. I knew which ones were more independent and which ones were likely going to be "one person" dogs and which ones would be good with kids and families. It was really an incredible experience. Over the course of 9 - 10 weeks I could see as they got older how they learned. I could see which ones were leaders in exploring new things, which ones were followers and which ones were watchers. As I get to see a couple of the puppies on a regular basis and work with their owners I can see how different they are and I can also see similarities to their mother - but different similarities between the puppies.


While it may be hard to see now, many people have forgotten what Sinco was like for the first two years. She was a boisterous puppy. She had a hard time with mistakes and would run around and act silly when she thought she had made a mistake or she would freeze up. However every experienced person I took her to for lessons said she was "high drive." I often shook my head because I couldn't see it since she would freeze up in learning because of her fear of being wrong. Even though I had never used even as much as a negative marker with her in training. She had a hard time with shaping. She would be reluctant to offer behaviors. I would get frustrated and lure her a couple of times and then she would get going. When she was older, about three, I started shaping games with her again and she was much more confident and much less worried and now I can shape things and she will eagerly go interact with an object if I tell her "show me something else."



Now when Carmine and I started shaping I saw her do some of the same things as Sinco. Fortunately I was at Michelle Pouliout seminar when I saw it happen. Michelle had some great ideas (I wish I had known when Sinco was a puppy). She suggested tying a string to the box or object I was trying to get Carmine to interact with and move it a bit and when she showed interest click and treat for it. She also suggested changing the object frequently and have 2-3 objects around at a time to keep it interesting. Within a week of using these different things I had a puppy who was wildly interacting with any object and not at all afraid of making a mistake. She is now an incredibly fast learner with a clicker in hand.





The other lesson I learned from my Border Collie Bryce is to put shaped behaviors on cue as soon as possible. He would offer all kinds of behaviors to me in rapid succession. He was very fun to train but I had to get things on cue quickly to prevent him from always offering his repertoire. I am having to do that with Carmine now and I've reduced how many things I teach her at a time and put things on cue before adding new things to the "list."





Tay reminded me that dogs can learn differently and have different kinds and levels of intelligence. Tay loves shaping exercises. However she is very dependent on kinesthetic learning and having an object present is a much more salient cue to her than any thing verbal or my body language. She has a hard time focusing on my body language or my verbal cues to do a behavior. She can learn very well a set behavior with a certain object. It is very hard to get her to do something different with the same object. For example I taught her to jump on a chair as an exercise to do after a run so she can get her treats. It is almost impossible to get her to do anything else with a chair present and she has generalized this to ANY chair she sees ANY time. She has a very hard time with behaviors that stand alone without any objects in the vicinity. Stay is a very hard concept for her except on a platform or a mat. She has the most reliable and awesome door behavior of any of my dogs - EVERY door she goes through she turns toward me. I rarely reinforce it with a treat but she does it almost every time.



Spring has taught me about "show me the money" games. Michelle Pouliout in her seminar talked about not having dogs see you put the food in your pockets when you are getting ready to train. Spring is definitely one of these dogs. If he sees me go for the treat jar or my pocket he will be right there with me. But he plays games at home and at trials where he won't come when called. It pushes my buttons to have a dog not come when called. It is especially strange because he and I have a great relationship otherwise. He is very fun to train and to run at trials except for the table in AKC. He has been taught "go leash" which he will do and 90 percent of the time it is rewarded with treats pretty soon after at trials or in training. So as long as I say "let's go leash" at the end of the run he will come running over and put his head in his slip lead. I make him go to the treats on leash. At home, only when he knows I'm loading up the van to go somewhere, will he play "I am going to run outside through the pet door when you call me" game. It is ironic because he loves to be a lap dog, loves to be cuddled, loves to be held, loves to have his neck scratched and he loves to go places with me. If he knows I have treats he won't play the game. But if he knows I don't have treats like in a trial, he plays the game. So I have taken to being very careful around him about what I am doing with regard to my treats. It is clearly a game. It is very different from when other dogs won't come. He is watching me the entire time, if I go out of sight he will slowly follow me and watch me and if I turn toward him he darts away. It is in his mind a very interactive game of cat and mouse. I have never seen anything quite like it and now it has carried over to trials where the table is involved. So I am trying to connect these two things and I think if I can resolve the problem game at home then I will be able to solve it at a trial. I've had a lot of advice from "walking him down" and grabbing his ruff to using air cookies. I am not fond of any of these because I don't think it will solve this kind of problem. He will go into his crate any time and any where, he will come when called in many other situations very readily. He is at my feet most of the time wanting my attention.





So I am extremely careful with puppies now to make sure they don't know when I have treats and when I don't for recalls. Often I call a puppy in and they have to run into their crate and then I will go and get a treat for them. I don't want to ever show them I have a treat when I'm calling them.


Agility training is difficult to prepare for because there are a lot of complex skills that are also somewhat abstract. An ideal agility dog will be able to have focus and speed at the same time and to have self-control and a willingness to work independently (meaning not overly dependent on a handler for cues or to have to be in close proximity to the handler). These can at first appear to be conflicting skills. They are in fact difficult skills for young puppies to master and definitely difficult for them to have all of them operating at the same time. All of this must be kept in mind. I play a variety of games with my puppies to turn them "on" and turn them "off." I want them to learn to self-modulate depending on various cues from me. I rev them up and then turn them off (very briefly at first) and then rev them up and turn them off. Some dogs have more natural self-control and need more help revving up and others get revved up easily and need more help with self-control. That is why it is important to work on both of these skills early and often. The games we teach in sports foundations help to develop these skills. I also have some games that teach focused speed too. I had a dog with a lot of speed and very little focus and it was a lot of work out there on an agility course to get through a course. He would see his own set of obstacles and he couldn't focus on his handler for cues at times or focus on his job in performing obstacles correctly. So focus with speed is important to develop early.




Most puppies in our classes are on average 9 months old when they move from "sports foundations" to "agility foundations." In agility foundations we do a lot of flatwork for the first 8 weeks. We do shadow handling, targeting/distance exercises, more focus and speed exercises, backing-up and learning to work with distractions. Actual agility equipment is not introduced until they are close to a year old. They have seen wobble boards, played on narrow boards, gone through hoops and around gates at this point. Developing a good working relationship and laying the groundwork for handling skills is so very important. Teaching the individual obstacles is the easy part. Building teamwork takes much longer so it is important to start that early and work on it often.


Usually by 7-9 months I can tell if a given puppy is going to have issues reacting to the motion around them of an agility class. I manage the puppies in agility foundations to minimize the stimulation and keep arousal levels down. However I am watching them for signs of problems with that and I want to intervene as early as possible if I see a puppy having trouble focusing with dogs running around. Then I feel it is best to stop agility training and work on some of the Control Unleashed/Click to Calm exercises and maybe even take our Focus in Motion class to really work on that. If a dog is getting aroused around motion there is no point in training them. They will have too much adrenaline in their system to be able to learn anything properly.




The other thing is that puppies do not fully physically mature until at least a year of age - no matter what breed. Some tiny breeds may physically be done growing earlier than that. The mental maturity in most dogs takes even longer to develop. There is no point in doing actual full size agility equipment until a dog is both physically and mentally mature. Too often I see dogs who started weave training at six months of age. They will come to me when the dogs are 12 months old or 18 months old wondering why their dog can't weave. Their bodies change, even though they may be done growing in terms of height, they still will need to fill out, their chests "drop" and muscles get stronger. These changes seriously affect things like weave poles and running contacts which rely on muscle memory. So I see no point in starting the training of these obstacles early - they will only have to be retrained in a few months or a year because their bodies have changed along the way. You may also cause undue physical and emotional stress on a dog training them this young to do complex behaviors that require a lot of balance and coordination.



Right now my puppy knows a number of tricks, she is great at interacting and offering behaviors with any object, she loves to retrieve any object (not on cue yet), she knows "ready 1-2-3" and "ready-steady" games, she has a stay on a mat, she can do a stand stay on a platform, she does recalls through my legs, she knows "sit" and "down" from a stand, she can send to a target 20 feet away, she does hand targeting, she is learning "choose to heel" and loose leash walking, she has done some cone turns (to stay one step ahead of her contemporaries so she can demo!) she is learning to be calm when greeting people and their dogs, she loves crate games, she has awesome toy drive, she can be quiet in a crate while I'm teaching class and she is learning to ride a skate board and play on the wobble board. She is over 7 months old. That is all she knows. She has yet to get on a formal piece of agility equipment.

 What she will be taught in the next few months is the foundation for a two on/two off as well as the foundation for running contacts. I plan to try to train her to do running contacts but will teach her two on/two off on a board as a back-up plan. She has a very long body and long stride so I'm not sure how well the running contacts will go but I need a new challenge. I've taught two small dogs so now to try a big dog and she is a big girl! She will learn some cone turns and shadow handling. She will do some shadow handling with cones and then with hoops. She will do some puppy jump chutes. She will learn "out" with gates and targets.




I know I will learn new things from Carmine and make new mistakes... That is what makes dog training fun for me. Sometimes the learning is harder than I want and sometimes it is not as fun as I want it to be but when we come out the other end of the tunnel it is almost always very rewarding. So I can hardly wait to see what lessons are in store for me now!

How to make the best use of agility class time or why having an agility coach is helpful

Too often we want to run the entire agility course set up in class or at run-thrus because it is there and we want to see if we can "do it"! 

However we know what our own weaknesses are as a team and that there are specific things we really should focus on when in class.  This is especially important during Minnesota winters when we can't be outside to do our own training.  We have to make the best of the class or run-thru situation. 

I have attended group classes at a number of agility schools and I have always been allowed to do part of a course and reward my dog where I wanted to reward my dog.  I've also been allowed to continue on at that point or to repeat part of it and then continue on.  This is how our dogs will learn that we like what they are doing - when we spontaneously reinforce them for what we like.  This is also a time to use a positive reward marker/word.  It is also important for us to have positive reward markers like the word "yes!" that we can take into trial competition and use with our dogs. It means that the word/marker needs to have been paired with a primary reinforcer like food or toys many many times in training before using it in a trial. I use this with my dogs and invariably they will get faster and happier when they hear that word in a trial setting. I use it a lot with contact/tunnel discriminations to let my dogs know they got it right. 

Sadly we usually are more willing to correct our dogs for missed contacts, weave pole or jump in group classes and are less willing to reward our dogs when they do a contact perfectly the first time, or do a difficult weave entry the first time, or do a hard tight turn between obstacles, or send out away from us to do an obstacle on the first cue, or they stay at the start line the first time.  We tend to wait for the mistake to happen, correct it and then sometimes we reward it when they do it right after the correction and sometimes we don't.  It would be so much more effective to reward the dog when the dog does it right the FIRST time!  We all know when we walk a course what the hard parts are for us and for our dogs and so we really do know what we should reward when our dog does it brilliantly the first time! 

Coming back to using class time wisely... it is so important to positively mark the behaviors you like whenever you are training your dog. I very rarely do an entire course or even as many as 10 obstacles without stopping to reward my dog. When things are going well on a course or sequence that is the exact time to stop and reward. Far too often I see beautiful sequences go unrewarded (in spite of my loud pleadings to a student to stop and reward!) and then a bar goes down, a contact or weave is missed and negative reinforcement follows. Meanwhile the beautiful part goes unrecognized and that is the part we want the dog to remember to do again next time!

I feel it is my job as the agility instructor and coach to help students learn the proper time to reinforce their dogs as well as to correct their dogs.   Unfortunately people seem to be more quick to correct their dog than to reward them. This is as much a part of the class as helping them with handling strategies.  I feel strongly that learning proper timing of reinforcement is a huge key to successful agility training.  I try to verbally mark positively when students do things correctly (they don't always hear me but usually others in the class do and add to the cheers). 


Unfortunately I think it is human nature that we are much more comfortable with negative reinforcement than with positive reinforcement.  We are like this with each other, with our children and with our pets.  Even as humans we seem to want more negative reinforcement and are uncomfortable with the positive reinforcement.  This is a sad commentary on our own socialization. 

Think about the "terms of endearment" you have for your dogs when you are training them.  Do you refer to them as dumb, dufus, brainless, goofy, slow or other terms with negative connotations that refer to personality rather than behavior?  I try to use as many positive terms with my dogs when I'm training them and let them know that I think they are smart, brilliant, fast, cute and other descriptors that have a positive meaning.  This may seem like being picky but lots of studies have been done on how our bodies and minds respond to positive terms versus negative terms no matter how sarcastic or funny we think we mean them to be.  It becomes an overall reflection on how your feel about your dog and can affect your overall relationship with your dog.  Too often I hear people refer to their dogs in subtle negative ways which I feel can undermine the self-esteem of the relationship in the long run. 

It is clear that I am able to run entire courses will all of my dogs at trials even though I very rarely practice entire courses.  If the handler needs to practice doing all of the obstacles on a course they should do a lot of it without their dog and use the walk through time in class for that.  In some cases I have had students run their imaginary dog through a difficult sequence so they learn the sequence and handling without bothering the dog.  This is useful for students who get lost on courses.   The dogs when trained well will not have trouble putting an entire course together - it is the human who has trouble putting it all together.  Too often dogs lose motivation and drive while the human is struggling to do too many things on a course. 

I've watched many of the top agility trainers in the country train their own dogs and the most successful ones are the ones who reward what they like when they are training and don't try to get through an entire course without rewarding their dogs.  When rewarding only at the end of the course time after time it is saying that the last obstacle on the course is the one that matters most.  This is why I will often "make lemonade" out of a non-qualifying run by finding something good to mark and leave the ring immediately to reward.  For example with Feisty, if we ever NQ before the table and then she gets on the table and stays we leave the ring then to a jackpot right away to make the table associated with rewards in a trial setting.  If we have NQ'd due to my miscues or due to the dog being stressed I will often find a good note to leave on so I can find something positive for rewarding the dog. 

That isn't to say that I have times when my dogs are really wound up and they get so excited they are not paying close attention to me and do things I don't expect out there at trials on course.  So sometimes we leave early because my dog is too wired to be able to be a teammate and I'll leave early so we don't practice more of the lack of teamwork.  Sensitive dogs do not need much of this and I am usually just smiling and saying "you are naughty!" as we leave.  With a tougher dog who has more of  a tendency to be independent on a course then I will be firmer about taking them off the course to remind them that it is a team sport.  Every dog is different and I respond differently to each dog - treating them as individuals.  However even the toughest dog needs positive rewards on course and I don't let obstacles serve as rewards.  The best reward needs to come from me at all times.  I want to build value in agility obstacles but I will still have a higher value than the obstacles by using high value toys or treats as rewards.  This is really important for the teamwork.  If the obstacles have higher value than the teammate then why should the dog work with the teammate and the dog can just go and do whatever obstacles they want and will be self-rewarded.

Doing these things at a trial means we did a short course at a trial! So my dogs really never figure out that 20 obstacles is an entire course.  Whether we left for good reasons or not so good reasons my dogs only did part of the entire course. My dogs will have done a lot of short courses for one reason or another at trials as well as playing games like snooker which can force us to have short courses!  So I avoid the pitfalls of having a dog start out slow at the start line and finishing fast on obstacles 18-19-20.  I also keep the performance fresh on the various obstacles with the random reinforcement in both training and trialing.  This philosophy has been a huge part of Feisty's training and why now she is doing the table more reliably at trials when she used to avoid doing it at all in trials. 

Going to agility classes, remember it is your money for the class and it is up to you to get your money's worth from class and make your training as effective as possible for your canine teammate.  No one else knows your dog as well as you do.

Tay - the light at the end of the tunnel - literally!

Tay's surgery went well.  The biceps tendon was 80% torn so it was severed in surgery today.  What is amazing to me is that he said it was very badly damaged and he had to do a lot of cleaning in there and yet she only seemed lame to a well trained eye who was really looking for it.  When her activity was restricted it was very hard to tell she was sore.  When her front leg was stretched back there was no apparent pain response.  The only pain response was when the tendon was directly palpated.  When she tried to do agility she would show lameness.  I tried to rest and rehab her twice with no success because the tendon was torn and not just strained as originally thought/hoped.

So often our dogs will be limping briefly and then the limp "goes away" and we assume that the pain is gone and therefore the injury is gone.  This is often not the case.  When our dogs are repeatedly sore after activity is a very likely there is a serious underlying injury causing it.  Soft tissue injuries can be so hard to diagnose.  Dogs are very stoic - part of their survival instinct. 

I took her to the University of Missouri Vet School for the consult and surgery - I explored other options but needed something that would have a doable rehab (no hobbles) and not cost a small fortune.  As some of you know, Tay is a special dog.  She use spinning and pacing as part of her self-calming rituals.  She is prone to worry and anxiety about things that are hard to control like strong odors.  Hobbling her would most likely cause her psychological damage.  Some of my other dogs would handle it fine but not her. The vet there was able to use ultrasound for the diagnostics (not an MRI) and digital x-rays which is much more cost effective.  He had excellent client service and genuine understanding of dogs and totally understood Tay's fears of going to the vet and was very respectful of that.

For the initial consult I had a thundershirt on Tay, had given her valium, had her stone collars on her and left her in the car until they were really ready for her to come in.  I had very high value treats with me too.  When I brought her in the volunteer came over and was really nice to her and talking to her.  Tay actually walked through the double glass doors and walked into the exam room which she rarely does at any vet's office.  In fact she has generalized double glass doors as scary. 


Tay liked the third year vet student (even in her white coat) and without any treats.  The student said "She knows I don't have my degree yet."  Tay licked her face which she does not do at the vet's office. When the surgeon came in Tay was afraid of him and he was great - no white coat, very soft in his approach and met her on her terms.  He got on the floor with her and was very gentle. She still was afraid.  I said "she knows he has his degree" and he said "I have no doubt she knows :)"  Even the second day Tay still really liked the student so that made me feel good because Tay was not too happy about being there.

The next day when I had to drop her off for surgery I thought she'd be in the waiting room for just a few minutes and they'd come and get her.  I couldn't give her any food and I didn't have any thing on her since I thought she wouldn't have to wait long.  As it turned out we had to wait 40 minutes because everyone was busy in surgery.  Fortunately the waiting room was really quiet and I did lots and lots of T-Touch on her.  It was all I had.  After about 15 minutes her breathing slowed and she laid on the bench next to me.  That is huge for her at the vet hospital. It is good to have a variety of stress relieving tools available.

Over the years with all of the different stress issues I've had with dogs I carry lots of "tools" in my toolbox because I never know what I will need.  I highly recommend learning T-Touch - it came in handy for me when I could not use anything else to help calm her down.   It took about 15 minutes before she calmed down.  Thundershirts are based on concepts from T-Touch body wraps.

Anyway all of this has given me a lot to think about.  The surgeon thinks it was a "jump down" injury and not a repetitive or turn injury and probably happened when the tendon was luxated.  Very plausible given that Tay is obsessed about jumping into chairs (thanks to Leslie Renaud's idea to give stressed dogs a place to go at trials!) and she has a "running" aframe which when she is excited can be more of a leaping aframe - usually not over the yellow but more of a leap off than a striding off.  "Running" contacts can be injurious too.  Tay's tendon was luxated in the surgery and the surgeon can't be sure whether it was luxated before it was injured or not.  However she has sporadic lameness on the other shoulder which is not typical with biceps tendons.  Usually only the dominant leg is affected with a biceps injury UNLESS they are genetically predisposed to luxating tendons.  That means the tendon rolls out of place and makes it more prone to injury.  I am contemplating having him scope the right shoulder to see if that tendon is luxated and if it is then he can "tack" it down to hold it in place.  He scoped both elbows and ultrasounded both shoulders and the right shoulder tendon looks to be in good shape and no sign of problems in the right elbow.  She is painful in both elbows so the concern is where is that pain coming from in the right leg.  I have a follow-up appointment in Missouri in January and I'm leaning towards having him check out her right leg at that time just to be sure.

In the meantime we have lots of leash walks ahead of us.










 

Day 2 - Lemonade has been served!

Today was a much better day on the Feisty roller coaster ride! She demonstrated that she does in fact love agility and she is starting to love it more and more in public.  She ran two perfect runs today and ran them well enough to earn 2nd place in both runs!

Her first run was JWW and it was jump weaves for the start - not a very fast start for us and she was a bit cautious the first third of the course.  But then she turned on the afterburners and she was back!  It was a blast!  We ran in the morning today and there were a lot more people around the rings so much more background noise to drown out the clicking of cameras.

For Standard - always our hardest class - the table was in the exact same place it was yesterday.  It was a tough course for her with an off course tunnel at the end of the dogwalk and needing to turn a sharp right turn to a jump instead.  All of our hard obstacles were done by the time we got to the table.  After the table it was a fast sequence of jumps, tunnels and aframe - all of which are fun and easy for us.  Feisty was ready to run when I got her out for standard.  I had lots of time to let her hang out with me and I massaged her a bit while we waited.  She was up and happy and we did our usual obedience warm-up routine.  Then about two seconds before we entered the ring she put her tail down and tried to pull me away from the ring.  I immediately scooped her up and did something I rarely do with her - I blew in her face.  She hates it but it served to distract her.  Then I goosed her in my arms and kept talking to her about how great she is and how it is just the two of us out there.  This course also required walking into the middle - yes the middle - of the ring to start and we started from the middle going out toward the crowd but it was a tunnel there.  So by the time we walked out there she was squirming (good sign!) and I took her leash off and then put her down and didn't ask for a stay.  We just took off running and she flew!!!  I had to call her name a lot after the dogwalk but she came with me.  She did a great table down and then part way through the count stood up and shook (I am VERY glad for the new rules where no position is required on the table!) but she stayed on it until the "go".  Then we flew!  It was a blast of a run!

So I actually feel this double Q today is a personal Q because it shows we (Feisty especially) have come a long way where we can recover from a horrible experience one day to run spectacularly the next day.  That is huge progress since three years ago that would not have happened.  It also shows that I have done my homework with her and banked enough positive experiences in agility that today she was able to draw upon them and trust me.  She started to shut down right before the run and I was able to think on my feet and jazz her up and go with it. I was worried that yesterday she felt a violation of trust but fortunately for me I think she thought "God" or the "sky" was falling and it had nothing to do with me or agility (PHEW!!!!!!!).  It is also a really good thing and example that dogs do NOT generalize well. 

One day I'm crying with frustration and literally the next day crying with joy - all with the same little grey dog!  For me the more they challenge me the more they reward me!  She keeps me on my toes and keeps me thinking all the time!

Trying hard to make lemonade today

I had one of the hardest agility trialing days I've had since I retired Tobie.  That may sound surprising given the ups and downs Feisty and have over the last 4 years.  However today I had a melt down.

What brought me to that point?  Well I'm in St. Louis trialing in a place that none of my dogs have been to before.  We have done a lot of road trips recently and they are getting into the routine of these pretty well.  Today we started with Ex JWW and I ran Sinco first.  She had a nice run but missed her weave entry in spite of my collecting to help her.  No biggie.  Then Spring ran and he popped out of pole 10 and so I had him redo them and did them all and we left the ring to a party right away.  No biggie.  Then Feisty had her turn.  I wanted to warm her up a the warm up jump located between the two rings so she could feel the energy in the arena.  While waiting for the jump she went from tail up and happy to tail tucked and shivering and not wanting to move.  She did this once before a couple of weeks ago and I got her over it but never figured out what caused it.  This time I left the area immediately and went to my crating space and got the high value treats out.  We worked on tricks and waited by the start gate and her tail came up and she looked ok again.  I figured it would be like last time - she'd work through it.

Well we went to the start line and as soon as I took off the leash she wanted to leave the ring.  I tried a couple of times to get her to come with me and finally said "thank you" and we left the ring.  I had no idea what caused it.  I called Pam and asked her to do some healing touch long distance for her.  I kept her out and let her walk around outside to shake it off.  I assumed it was bad vibes.  So I had downtime before our next run.  There were only a few dogs left in the JWW ring and most of the people were over by the other ring.  I walked Feisty around the outside of the JWW ring.  The only place she freaked was where the only person was - the photographer.  I tried to give her treats close to him.  Then I had a flashback to the summer.

This summer I was taking lots of photos of puppies and she was around one time when the flash was going off.  She obviously thought it was lightning and she looked like she did during a thunderstorm.  The thunder never came.  I didn't worry much about it and I thought it was just the flash and eventually she'd realize that no thunder followed. 

Well I decided to test my theory and we got a bunch of high value treats and went out to the van where I had my camera.  She likes to get in the van so that is a happy place. I got the camera out and clicked and she immediately froze up and wouldn't eat treats.  BINGO!  The interesting thing is that she is so convinced it is coming from sky that she is not afraid of the camera when it is quiet.  She has made NO association between the camera and the noise. 

So I started to formulate a plan for the standard run.  I talked to the photographer and asked him if he would please not take any pictures of any of my dogs because I had one who is very afraid of the camera click.  I was wearing a blue tie-dyed shirt so I thought he could remember me.  He said he would and he understood.  I kept a careful eye on him and he left the standard ring and went over the far side of the JWW ring.  I thought - great!  I ran Sinco and she missed the weaves again - hmmm...  Then it was Feisty's turn.  Still no photographer at the ring and we had a good spot on the far side.  We hung out and she was relaxed and happy.  About 5 dogs before us the photographer came back to the standard ring.  Well I still was not concerned because I had asked him not to shoot us and I kept Feisty out of range of the sound as long as possible.  I took my time setting up so the photographer would be ready. 

My plan was that if Feisty was squirrely I'd do one obstacle and leave.  If she was a bit squirrely but running I'd skip the table and keep going.  She started out on fire - she was fast, nailed the weaves, and so I went for the table.  The photographer was about 20 feet from the table.  As I released her from the table he clicked the camera and Feisty scooted around the chute - the next obstacle and I looked over at him and he was shooting her.  I said "Please stop taking pictures of her!" - by that point Feisty was half way to the exit which was directly opposite of the camera.  I was furious.  All of the work I've done with the table and to have this happen.  The melt down began.  I thought I was managing the situation as best I can given that have NO time to work on it.  Yes I realize it is a training issue but taking photos is optional.

So I recovered from my melt down and walked her around the rings - by this time most of the people were gone.  She seemed fine and happy.  She really treats the click sound like thunder and once it is gone she does fine.  Hopefully I can get the photographer to remember tomorrow to not photograph her.  

So I thought I could work on a bit in the hotel room.  I have her stone collar, a thundershirt, and beef liver (stopped at a pet store for some even better treats).  I have a business suite room since I have to be here for four days.  Even across the room 20-25 feet distance and she can't tolerate the click.  Even not having had dinner she was not hungry enough to work through it.  Again she likes the quiet camera just fine. 

There will be no portrait shoots for Feisty anytime soon.  If I could just show her that it is coming from the camera and not the sky she would be fine with it.  She is fine with clickers - for awhile I thought maybe the Iclick bothered her but it doesn't.  She is not bothered by any other types of clicks.

It is so disappointing to me because she had been running better than she ever has at trials and now to have a setback like this and something new to have to train/proof her for.  I am at a bit of a loss of how to begin with it but I think I will have to have someone else help and hold the camera 50 plus feet away - find a point where it clicks but she doesn't immediately go over threshold. 

Keep your fingers crossed that this has not added a new problem for the table!

Rambling thoughts on training

Poisoned cues and Names...

I've mentioned in previous posts how I had created the word "teeter" as a poisoned cue for Sinco's teeter performance 2-3 years ago.  I had to retrain her teeter for the third or fourth time and finally realized that if I changed the name to "bang it" she was much happier about doing the teeter.  I think she is finally over it now but it took awhile and she would avoid it or do it slowly if I forgot and said "teeter" - the cue I use for all the other dogs.  I do try to remember to say "bang it." 

Anyway the poisoned cue concept has reared its ugly head again.  I am having another mysterious training issue (I seem to get these with each and every dog I train!) and I am having trouble getting Spring to come when called in many different situations including at home as well as in training or trialing.  This is a life issue.  Jane Fallander watched me with Spring a couple of weeks ago to help me figure out what was wrong.  If I said "go leash" he would come happily to me and put his head in the loop of the leash.  If I said "Springy" or "Springaling" he would scoot AWAY from me.  If I show him the money by letting him know I have treat in my hand he would come back but he would not come without me showing him the money.  However he would do agility obstacles or go to his leash without showing him the money.  So the "aha" happened that his name has become a "poisoned cue" and no longer means what I want it to mean. 

He is a puzzle because he does like to be petted, to be held, he loves his neck and head scratched and his butt scratched and he likes to play hand games. He is not like some Shelties who don't like to be touched. He really likes the touch.  I've seen many Shelties (and many other breeds and mixed breeds) cower when the owner reaches toward them.  While we may like to hug and pet our dogs there are many dogs out there who really detest the hugging and petting.  Spring is not one of those dogs.  He relaxes and sits on my lap very often.  I never force dogs to snuggle with me.  If they choose to do so then great but if they want to be off by themselves that is fine too  and I don't take it personally (I've had Border Collies...).



So I've started to teach him "Bungee" means come to me and is his "training/trialing name".  It is not yet ready for prime-time but it is in the works.  He seems to really like the name and is coming to it without first seeing a treat is present. 

How the cue got poisoned is pretty clear.  While I love this dog he pushes my buttons more than any other dog I've ever owned.  He barks and spins right in front me in the hallway or at meal time or trying to get him to go somewhere.  I've almost fallen over him many times.  I spent awhile making him walk on leash down the hallway to go outside to help him stop the behavior.  I can try to reward an alternate behavior but it very much has to be lured since it is hardwired for him to do the bark and spin routine.  I don't think he is truly aware of what he is doing.  So as a result I've said his name "Spring" in vain many times and have probably used a harsher tone with his name which caused it to become a poisoned cue.  Usually I'm very careful how I use my dog's name especially as puppies to avoid that.  But like I said he pushes my buttons which causes me to forget my training rules!

Now I'm in the process of analyzing his perplexing table issues.  I seem to be plagued with table issues in agility these days.  I think in large part it is the one obstacle that is not offered at the trials where training in the ring is allowed (ASCA and NADAC) so I can't fix it there like I can most other obstacle/trial training issues.  I have also done CPE with him where I can't spend extra time having him stay on the table.  Spring has developed a tendency to bounce on and off and on and off and on and off the table at AKC trials.  I've been working on proofing it with people around it and people running dogs around it.  He doesn't appear to be stressed or worried about the judge.  I wondered if it was the judge but lately that doesn't seem to be it.  I have a hard time collecting him again - his name is a poisoned cue.  Again he is pushing my buttons on the table so I have to work hard to have my happy face on while I try to collect him to leave the ring.  I've planned table parties for him many times but he has yet to get on the table and stay there for more than a nanosecond since he entered Excellent A.  So the problem was not always there - it is new and getting worse.  Now the word "Table" may be a poisoned cue except that in training he gets on it just fine whereas his name as a cue didn't work in ANY location. 

I have tried to vary my position relative to the table to try to get success.  He has had lots of table rewards in training.  He is not a sensitive dog, he is very stoic and he is very tough.  He thinks very highly of himself and is more cocky than confident right now.  He has learned that I can't do much about what he does on the table at trials. He is ring-wise about the table at trials.  I've trained in the ring at ASCA trials with him with the other obstacles but they don't have the table on their courses.  There are not enough run thrus at convenient times/days to be able to work through it there.  At this point I don't really have a game plan for how to address the problem.  It is one I have not ever seen other dogs do at trials to the degree that he does it nor have I seen student's dogs do it.  It is a new behavioral problem for me.  Lucky me :)

Traveling and perspectives on training...

It has been a few years since I've had dogs ready to take "on the road" to trials outside of Minnesota.  This Fall I've been trialing in Iowa and Wisconsin and soon to Missouri in the hunt to qualify for AKC Nationals.  We are really fortunate here in Minnesota to have a canine massage therapist at almost every one of our trials.  In other parts of the country it is rare or even unheard of to have a massage therapist at a trial.  As a result participants are still not as aware of how much physical well-being is affecting their dog's agility performance.  Here in Minnesota we are getting trained to "rule out the physical" when a performance problem develops especially with weaves and jumping. 

We are also spoiled by the high quality of agility equipment we have at most of the area trials.  In Minnesota we are cutting edge with more of our clubs/groups getting rubber on the contacts, smaller slats on contacts, safer jumps, tunnel bag tunnel holders and 24" weave poles.  I lived in Wisconsin until 1993 and started my agility training there and for most of the 1990s went back to Wisconsin for trials.  I was surprised to see one of the clubs still has equipment that is from the 1990s and has not updated their jumps or contacts.  I'm very grateful to live in an agility community where we strive to keep the equipment safe and updated for the sake of the dogs safety and well-being.

Agility Foundations thoughts...

I'm so excited that we have so many puppies up and coming here at Agile Canines.  It seems to be a cycle every three years or so when many of us have puppies at the same time.  I am always striving to improve the foundation training for the puppies and those older dogs new to agility.  Jane Fallander has been incredibly patient as I've tried to train her in for how to work with agility students and how to best prepare their pups for performance sports.  She is an excellent clicker trainer and has taught students how to shape behaviors and use the clicker effectively which is something that I value in my training program.  I've been teaching her how to teach my favorite agility training games like "Ready-steady" and "Ready 1-2-3" which can be challenging to teach.  However because she has more time available we are able to get more puppies started and that has been very good.  This is the first year of trying our program this way and there will be "growing pains" and revisions made.  But the first group of "novice a" students - those who have never done agility before that graduated from Jane's classes are excelling and progressing so rapidly through agility foundations that I'm really encouraged by our program.

I'm discovering too that while agility foundations is something that has become a jargon term in the agility arena and it talked about a lot on various agility training lists and in various magazines it seems that it is still not actually taught at many schools.  I've recently had students come to me for training who started in agility in other parts of the country such as Chicago, Colorado, Arizona as well as other parts of Minnesota.  I always want to know how they started their dogs in agility.

The skills I want dogs and handlers to have before starting agility foundations are the following:

Dog management skills - able to get the dog in and out of doors without the dog lunging at the end of the leash and able to protect dog from dog running loose off leash.
Loose leash walking
Send to a target (plastic lid)
Send and stay on a mat
Able to be in a crate quietly during class
Able to play with toys and take treats with distractions
Able to stay and do a recall with distractions
"Ready" games
Able to shape new behaviors with a clicker easily
Wobble

You will see NO tunnels are listed.

The skills I teach in agility foundations:

Front and rear crosses
"Out" and "Go"
Start of contact training with a board
Teeter games
Serpentines, pinwheels, boxes, 270s, threadles and straight lines with hoops
Lead outs
Running with the handler with acceleration and deceleration cues
Puppy jump chutes

You will see no tunnels are listed.

Note: I teach tunnels near the end of the beginning agility obstacles so dogs learn to love other obstacles first and also because I feel that curved tunnels are slippery and can cause injury to young developing dogs as well as adult dogs!

Most of the foundations exercises are for the handlers as much as for the dogs.


Running Contacts or Two on - Two off?

I teach all of my students how to train a two on two off with a board they can use at home.  I feel that regardless of how their contact behavior ends up the process of teaching this the unique way that I do it really develops rear-end awareness in the dogs.  This awareness I feel is invaluable for agility dogs. 

Then as the puppies become fully developed and the handlers assess their physical condition I discuss with each one about the pros and cons of running contacts versus two on two off contacts.   Choices are based on size, structure, ability of the dog and the physical ability of the handler.  Keeping up with a running dogwalk can be very difficult.  It is possible to have one criteria for the dogwalk and a different one for the aframe which many of my students have done successfully.  Some of my students have tried the running contacts and found it to really have pit falls and have opted to return to a two on two off which is easy to do since the dogs were taught that on a board initially.  Others have opted for what I call a "modified running contact" after a couple of years of doing a two on two off they introduce a "quick release" on the contact.  This can be very effective for a running contact and still have the independent performance desired.

Training a "true" running contact that has no sign of deceleration in it on the part of the dog, that hits the yellow zone consistently every time requires hundreds of repetitions.  The aframe is usually a bit easier than the dogwalk.  While it may on the surface seem easier than a two on two off it is really based on muscle memory and getting the dog to have the same speed and striding each and every time over the contact is much more difficult than it appears. 

Dogs taught a two on two off actually need FEWER repetitions on the contacts to train and maintain the behavior than those doing a running contact.  When a trainer is consistent the dog will actually do fewer contact performances for a two on two off.  I do get concerned about the impact of a two on two off on the aframe for many breeds of dogs and yet a running contact may be very difficult to achieve.  I encourage my students to do as few aframes as possible when they have the desired behavior and have a two on two off.  I have one dog now who does a two on and two off and she has done far fewer aframes in her lifetime compared to my Sheltie and Pyr Shep who have running aframes and have needed lots of reps.  I also will try to avoid the aframe in gamblers if I can and places where I can avoid it I will to minimize the frequency of impact.  I also am careful about the surface I run my dogs on. 

As an aside, more dogs are being injured in curved tunnels and poorly timed/cued turns on jumps but the injury often shows itself on the aframe or weave poles but may have occurred elsewhere.  I have a dog with a running aframe - never been asked to stop and she has a shoulder injury that most likely happened on a slippery turn between jumps or in a curved tunnel.  Tunnels are much more slippery than many realize.  But the aframe is often the one blamed for shoulder injuries when the turns are more hazardous.

Enough of my rambling thoughts from the last few weeks!