Running Contacts 6-10: Reevaluating
I been doing a lot of thinking concerning our running contacts. Lately many people have been blogging running dog walks and whether or not the handler is fast enough to handle a running dog walk. Both Steve from agility nerd and Gary who blogs about running contacts training has blogged about the subject. Gary has even made a running dog walk calculator. With this app you can calculate if you are fast enough to handle a running dog walk.
I've been wondering if my short legs would be able to keep up with my dogs specially on the dog walk therefore we haven't been training much. I almost changed my mind and decided to teach 2on2off on the dog walk instead, but as I said earlier a stop contact behavior just doesn't fit my way of handling.
I've been studying courses from trials and I'm sticking with my running contacts on both the A-frame and dog walk. We might win some and we might lose some on that account. Some courses might be hard to handle with a running dog walk but I rather have a criteria I can maintain in both training and trail.
Since all the snow is gone we have been training a couple of times this week. Poncho is so great - it is hard to believe that he's being retrained. His speed and accuracy is fascinating. This video is from his very first try on a plank with height. The plank is now about 60 cm from the ground and he has a success rate of 100 %.
I waited a little long before I raising the plank with Bob and Zap. It's now raised about 30 cm from the ground. They are doing great, but their success rate is a bit lower than Poncho's. I want to be able to run along with them and do sends and recalls before I raise the plank again.
Zap is such a funny dog to train. What some times makes it a bit difficult for me is that he works better for treats than toys. I'm used to dogs who would kill of a game of tug, but Zap chooses food over toy any time. He has a great tug drive, but if he had the choice he would choose food.
Even though I only get to train Bob every once in awhile we have a great connection. He loves to train with me and the feeling is mutual. That dog has so much potential.
Hopefully I'll get a video of their progress during the weekend.