Running Contacts 3: Manners Minder - Yes, please!

Third running contacts session today, and I do spot a trend I really don't like. Both Zap and Poncho anticipate where the reward is coming from, therefore they look over their shoulder to spot it. This means they aren't running at full speed across the plank.

I don't want the reward placed out in front of the plank because if they jump they'll get the reward anyway and I would be rewarding an incorrect response. I thought of an alternative; Tupper wear container with food to get them focused ahead. It did help, but when I marked the correct behavior with a Yes or a click both dogs would hit the breaks and turned toward me. Hmm.

So I did some research and found out I wasn't the only one experiencing this problem and here's thing that's going to solve it:

Manners Minder - a remote controlled food dispenser!

When the dog runs across the contact you press the remote and a treat is delivered in the dispenser placed in front of the plank. So when Tim is leaving for Las Vegas with out me I might convince him to bring one home for me (Please Tim - we got room for one more dog training item in our tiny apartment :))

Besides from the annoying looking-over-shoulder-to-spot-toy-trend today's session went really well. Great success rate.