kirisox

If you want to meet up with any other agility people at shows for a gossip and coffee, add a post to this thread saying what shows you are going to (with a date and location if they are not already listed) and I will keep editing the list so we can see who will be where and when SEPTEMBER Chippenham 8th September cabbagepatch88 8th September, UKA show at Dogs Trust, Evesham. Amaranth Gillingham 9th September cabbagepatch88 WBSDS 15/16th September cabbagepatch88 Suffolk Five Rivers 22/23rd Sept Paula kirisox Tenterden 22nd September cabbagepatch88 Akitas South Downs 30th September cabbagepatch88 OCTOBER Norfolk 6/7th October kirisox Mid Downs 7th October Akitas Downland 28th October kirisox

Me That is a good idea, I will start the thread now with what shows I have entered so far and then if you all post below when you know where you will be I will edit the first post so we get a list of people who will be at certain shows

Well there certainly are lots and lots of different contact training opinions! I worry this thread may become a bit confusing for Wombat, as none of us really have any idea how her dog is performing on the contacts; the only people who do are Wombat herself and the trainers at her club. I see you are near Newbury Wombat, where do you train (PM me if you prefer)? So much depends, as has already been said, on the type of dog being trained, and the level you hope to reach with your dog. For example, Patch has suggested that (sorry to pick on you Patch, it's just an example!) Many dogs are so quick that to attempt to be with them at every contact is just not possible, thus the dog must be taught to perform as independently from the handler as possible (see Crazymasey videos here as an example), and if competing, courses will be set to test the dogs' ability to do the contacts independently. So while the method suggested may work for Patch's dogs, for someone else's dog it may not be so great; the same applies for any of the suggested methods. I think I agree with Dizzycharm that perhaps Wombat should ask someone perhaps at her club or at a show whose contacts you admire and see how they trained them. But again, all they can tell you is what worked for them! I am at most South East shows if you ever want to say hi!

If he is running round to the target you need to make sure someone is there to stand on the target so he does not get the treat. He should then learn that there is no reward unless he des it right. When are you giving your target command? I found with Jay that it took him a while to manage to stop from speed in the correct position. Just by being consistent, putting him back on in the correct position, tugging the collar to make sure he knew to stay put and practising the 2o-2o posistion on the stairs at home (and later a contact trainer) helped build his muscles up to enable him to hold the position. Also, perhaps the target is a bit too close to the contact?

Good luck with Gizmo, i'm sure you will both do great

Ian's staffies are great, I always enjoy watching him run them

I think it depends on whether you have access to contact equipment at home. With access to the equipment all the time (several times a day), back-chaining should work very well, however I do not think it works as well if you are only able to do it once or twice a week at club. Jay was was originally taught using your number 3 method (walking over on lead and making him stop at the bottom and putting him back on if he got off). I was not happy with the resultant contacts, it was very hit and miss and as he is a fast, high drive dog who likes to take control I needed something more, to control him. I have now retrained him from scratch using a target on the down which he had to touch his nose on to get into the 2 on, 2 off position. The dog must know about targeting away from agility before you introduce them at agility. Place the target about a foot away from the down contact, maybe slightly less. Then give your 'target' command as they are coming down the contact. Your target command then becomes the contact command. The target makes them keep their head down and aim for the floor which should result in a dog that is less likely to 'ping' the contacts. The dog should not move from the position until you have given their release command. To reinforce this I gently tug his collar (without releasing him), and if he moves I just re-position him. I firmly believe that an element of muscle memory/strengthening is required in order to hold the dog stable, particularly on the a-frame, until they have developed this they may try to stop with the front end but cannot quite hold the back end and they will appear to 'slump' off the contact. Once Jay was firm in his 2o-2o position with his nose on the target, I began to run past him into the position I would like to be in during a competition and make sure he stays on the contact. If he does move, I just put him back on. If he stays there, I go straight back and praise him, and release him. Also run diagonally away from the dog, and try hanging back too. Once that is rock-solid (and only when), I begin introducing the occasional running contact (by using an early release command). A good way to do this is to set up 'grids' where you do a circle of jumps with a contact as part of the circle, and go round and round, running some contacts, holding others. Always finish with a held contact.] I faded the target by gradually using smaller targets, and then just chicken on the floor. I did this as soon as I was confident Jay knew what to do on the contacts (get to the end and stay in position until told). This will take different amounts of time depending on the dog. If I was training a new dog now, I would not compete until I could do all of the above. The best way to lose your contacts is to go in the ring under pressure before your dog is ready. Just to add, I think that perfectionism is the best way to get great contacts. Decide on what you what you want the dog to do and always insist on it. Make it as blacka dn white for the dog as possible - "if you stop here in this position you will get praise in some form. If you don't stop in this position, you don't." Some dogs will be so eager to get on with the course that they will stop with perhaps one foot on the contact - "Oh i really am trying hard mummy" - but if you want 2o-2o position, go to them and put them in the position and then praise them. My dog sees contacts as a great game with rules - he tries to push the rules sometimes (as above) and then enjoys trying to prove that he can get it right! I hope that makes sense, I may have missed stuff out so please ask if it doesn't make sense!

Hi Sophie, I think Lynda's suggestion sounds good, especially if you have access to a seesaw outside your classes, as it may be a bit difficult to spend so much time shaping in a class environment. What has your instructor suggested? How is he with the dogwalk?

Some more Agility web resources Agilitynet Agility Eye Agility Addicts Clean Run Crazymaesy contact videos Dogs In Need Agility Society

Jay is "Shady Character"

Here is a link to the Agility Club step-by-step guide to agility for anyone who may be interested The Agility Club

Hi, Jay and I do agility, we compete and are now at Senior level which is rather scary I train twice a week and also at home in the summer, and go to training days sometimes. I also teach a group at one of my clubs. From April we will be at shows most weekends, and depending on uni work I will hopefully get to a couple of week long shows. Jay loves it so much, he really comes alive when running! I love teaching him and watching him improve, and I have made some really good friends from all over the UK There is a video of Jay here, it is pretty poor quality and a few jumps are missing, but you should be able to get the idea :lol: Nicola xx

Are you back to Knebworth this year Jayne?