Like most who have ever trained running contacts, I just LOVE to talk contacts :) And through running contacts I've met a lot of really neat people who have went down this same road or who are currently still in the middle of their running contacts journey. Naturally, we talk about the emotional roller coaster RCs tend to offer us to leap on and of course that includes the challenges and the sweet victories encountered as we take that journey in training and beginning trialing with them. I know for me, personally, I spent sooo much time searching the internet for YouTube videos and training blogs just trying to get a better understanding of what I was doing and aiming for in our training. I did not have the funds, nor the video/editing equipment, to take one of Silvia's online classes so we understandably spent more time than most likely do trying to get on the right track. My hope here is to offer a basic example of an outline for training purposes based off what I have personally learned while training my two girls. Please realize this is only based off my own experience with my girls and that we undoubtedly have a lot more to learn. Every dog offers to bring something new to the table and this outline is not meant to be the absolute or only way to go about training running contacts. It's simply meant to offer help on the steps that might generally be taken when working through the training proccess. This outline is based on the method I went with for training RCs and I went with Silvia Trkman's method and tweaked it for my individual girls (something Silvia is really great about). Considering just how much information Silvia offers free of charge on her website and over the internet I feel confident she won't mind my sharing what we've learned and experienced. While I might be vaguely familiar with other RC training methods (Peel, Damm, Sanders, Weaver) I am in no way even going to attempt to touch on the steps taken for those methods as 1) I have not attempted them myself and I don't believe I would do them any justice if I tried explaining about them and 2) they do not appear to offer details on their methods nearly as openly as Silvia does so I'll respect their decision on that. Therefore, those are two good reasons I'll just stick with Trkman's method here ;) If you want to just skip straight to the training steps, you can find the example of a training outline at the bottom of this page, otherwise...
I spent about 2 years trying to learn running contacts. The first year was full of mistakes after even more mistakes and lots of starting back at ground zero. The second year I built an adjustable DW so that I could put away my "makeshift" DW that kept falling apart when the girls would try to run over it (not very safe). We began that second year at ground level again but this time with the focus on keeping things SIMPLE. And after we figured out that simple was the key we finally started to make some actual progress and began trialing with our RCs a year later :) I feel blessed in that I had the opportunity to learn RCs with both my 2o2o retrain (Doodle) and my "fresh" girl (Tess) at the same time. Doodle's a party lover who we had to really work hard to figure out how to get her to learn how to notice her striding and then how to actually adjust her strides, while Tess is more sensitive and extremely thoughtful. Tess learned early on how to adjust her strides and what the goals for hitting quality were, however we had/have to work much harder on not thinking so much. Just driving and running and not worrying about the edge. With Doodle I can handle her a little while she's still on the DW so long as I keep supporting her extending down the ramp and with Tess I've learned that to keep confidence up she needs me to handle her on the flat after the DW, otherwise she will attempt to react to my handling while collecting her strides and leaving early. We're still attempting to learn verbal turns off the dogwalk but that might prove to be a very long journey. However, in all of this and the many many differences these two girls have I have been able to learn a lot from opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to training needs for the different personalities. And I fully believe that we have a lot more we'll learn together about RCs and that every next dog will bring a whole new equation to the table :)
Here's to hoping this outline might save a few people from all the difficulty and mistakes we went through while trying to figure the basic things out :) Running contacts are fully worth the roller coaster ride, trust me!! They are fun and exhilarating and challenging all at once. I'd say if you're considering training them, first load up on an unrelenting determination and you won't regret jumping on this ride :)
Trkman Method RCs Simplified Training Outline:
Stage 1-RUNNING
The goal in this stage is to find what really drives your dog wild. Does he prefer toys or food or maybe just you? Running to? Or chasing after? We want to find what makes your dog race full out. No caution, no reserve, just RUNNING. If your dog is bouncing along he probably isn't running as fast as he can actually go. You might find your dog needs work on his motivation level like my Doodle did. She was a "medium drive" dog for toys until we started actually training to build her toy drive. Now she's a tugging maniac and will pull and pull on restrained fetching trying to get to her toy. That took a lot of work but the change in her toy drive is unbelievable! We started this by teaching her in order to get her reward she had to pull against her harness restraint before she'd be released to maul her reward. We started with food and taught it as a trick. Then we moved on to toys where I'd be holding her harness in one hand and the dancing toy in another hand, teasing her. As soon as she'd put pressure against her harness trying to reach/grab for her toy I'd release her harness and we'd party with the toy. Once she started offering to pull on her harness more we started working toward me throwing her toy and as soon as she'd pull she'd be released to fetch it. We put this on a verbal cue and started transfering it to pulling toward trees to wrap around before chasing me or a thrown toy and once we had her pulling toward trees it was simple enough to transfer that to obstacles :) Working on her toy drive strengthened both her obstacle drive and her love for running fast. But when your dog is running, get video and play it back slowly, is his back staying pretty steady or does it keep going up and down like a rocking horse? Aim for steady. Are his rear feet landing in front of his front feet? That's what we're looking for. Ideally we want him chasing something. That could be a thrown ball or food pouch. Maybe he's chasing after you or a fuzzy critter toy attached to a string you're dragging at full speed... Learn how to know what your dog looks like at full speed vs less than that. Once you've trained your eye and can get pretty consistent full speed running on a verbal cue you've got stage 1 down :)
Stage 2- REWARD VALUES
In this stage we want to figure out what your dog values the most from his rewards. Maybe your dog likes toys. You've decided on throwing a ball to get full speed running. Fetching that ball IS NOT the reward! The ball is a lure, a motivator to run full speed ahead. The reward happens AFTER they get the ball. Experiment and find out what your dog likes, loves, and goes crazy for! My Tess loves toys so we use a thrown ball as her lure. However I know that just fetching the ball and returning it to me for a treat is good, she likes that. Fetching it and tugging with it is even better, she loves that. But what she goes crazy for is a game we call triple fetch... she chases down the first ball and as she runs back to me I toss out a second ball for her to chase down, and as she chases it down and starts coming back I throw out a third ball for her to run after instead, meanwhile I'm running back to the first ball to throw it again. My Doodle thinks with her stomach, she prefers food rewards yet she won't run full speed for food like she does for a toy. Therefore we use a thrown toy as her lure and we throw a party with lots of petting and noise-making on her okay tries. On her good tries we do lots of tugging with that toy as she really gets into tugging. And on her great tries we eat kibble after she returns with the toy and on her exceptional tries we get to eat lots and lots of cheese/meat/etc.The rewards your dog likes will become lower value rewards, to be used on okay tries. The rewards your dog loves will become higher value rewards for good tries. And the rewards your dog goes crazy for will be jackpot rewards for his great and exceptional tries! Once you start experimenting and using different value rewards for the different qualities of tries you might just find there can easily be 20 different value levels. The more the better! Know your dog. Some dogs can bring back the lure without any actual reward afterward if their try wasn't very good. So long as they're happy to keep trying with enthusiasm and speed that's fine and might work best to make an impression for what tries aren't what we're hoping for. Most dogs though need a reward after every try, no matter if it was not very good. For these dogs you can never let them know they didn't get it right. They are ALWAYS right, but sometimes they're even more exceptional than other times!! Know what your dog requires to stay full speed, high drive and enthusiastic. Once you've figured out rewards you're ready to move on to actually starting to train your contacts :)
Stage 3 - TRAINING PHASES
Phase 1: Running over a flat, thin, wide board or carpet, at least 12 feet long. Goal is to get and reward normal full speed running without leaping, creeping, skipping, over-reaching, etc on the end. *Missing* the end is perfectly fine just so long as their gait remains normal. It's NOT their job to hit any contacts yet, that comes later. For now just concentrate on consistent full speed running over the board/carpet. If using carpet you will want to put the carpet runner over top of a board before moving on to the next phase. Don't worry about proofing handler position or turns yet, concentrate on what's easy and simple, usually running straight off the board. Make sure you've thrown the lure well before the dog reaches the board. We don't want headchecks and we already want them running full speed by the time they reach the board.
Phase 2: Experimenting with starting distances/setups. Once you have around 100% normal running start experimenting with finding the *perfect* starting distance from the board so that their stride will naturally land them in the bottom 2-3 feet of the board. Again, this is not their job. They get rewarded for normal running. It is *your* job to find a starting distance that naturally has them hitting the end of the board. You can also experiment with different starting setups at this point. Does your dog have more speed down the board if he starts from a stay, a tunnel, wrapping a cone/wing? Once you find a distance/setup that is giving you consistent "hits" in the bottom 2-3 feet of the board you stick with it until you hit 3-4 sessions in a row of around 100% normal running and around 80% natural striding through the contact. Remember to reward good running, nice rear feet separation, etc. not where they are hitting at this phase.
Phase 3- Building height. After you've hit the 100%/80% for 3-4 sessions straight add a little height to your setup. Usually going up 2-6 inches at a time is fine. If you find your dog is suddenly leaping off the board or over the end at any point after building height don't be afraid to drop back down in height some. Now repeat phase 2 and realize that every time you change height you will probably need to tweak their starting distance/setup again to find the new perfect spot. At some point the board will get tall enough that you'll need to create a middle ramp and maybe even an upramp for your dog so as to keep them safe and not regulate their striding inappropriately from leaping up onto the board every time at such a height. From here you can remain on a table/bench/etc setup until full height or you can switch to a lowered DW at this point.
Phase 4: Adding an obstacle after the low DW (or board setup). Set out a jump or straight open tunnel for the dog to run through as they chase down their reward. You can backchain them from running through the obstacle to slowly running from the DW through the obstacle if needed. If the reward is stationary it shouldn't be too difficult to make sure they run straight through the obstacle to it. If you're throwing the reward make sure to practice your aim so that your dog will take the obstacle.
Phase 5: Reaching 24" high. At this point you're halfway there!! Here is probably about the time you might want to start asking the dog to start noticing his own striding and begin making small adjustments so as to hit nicely. Up until now you've made it your job to set him up for success and pattern train him to feel right when hitting deep in his contact. Now we're going to challenge his understanding a little at a time to start handing some of that responsibility over to him. I've found 2 ways to start this. If you're starting your dog from a stay or a restrained start then simply start your dog from a little further back of a starting distance, not moving more than 6-12" back at a time and reward according to the quality of his hits or the 2nd approach to this is to send them around a cone or wing or through a nice "C" shaped tunnel or around a bush, etc. Something that mostly starts their distance off the same but allows them to enter the DW at different stages of their stride and from slightly different approaches as sometimes they'll come off straight and other times a little wider when wrapping the obstacle before taking the DW. My girls both did much better with this second option than they did with the first because it allowed them to have the most speed when entering the downramp but each to his own. Since you're asking them to adjust their striding it's now up to you to reward them based on the quality of their hits, while always keeping normal running through the contact first on your priority list. Rewarding with different values according to the quality of their hits is how they learn not only to adjust but also on what makes a safe hit vs an unsafe hit (too close to a miss). *I do have some pointers as to hit quality and easily identifying it below. Continue with gently challenging their understanding and rewarding accordingly until you reach the 100%/80% for 3-4 sessions straight.
Phase 6: Adding more height and introducing the aframe. Continue adding height when you're reaching the correct percentages and at some point introduce the aframe. Start with it a little low, just so the dog is confident running up and down it and start your dog with relatively little speed to avoid flying unsafely over the apex. Reward for hits in the contact and don't worry about getting them super deep. It's okay if they're high so long as they're always in. Build height quickly on the aframe and continue rewarding for rear feet separation. Slowly allow more and more speed on the approach to the aframe. If you start getting airy apexs don't be afraid to reduce how much speed you are allowing on the approach for a while.
Phase 7: Adding other challenges. At some point between 24" and full height you can start adding extra challenges such as starting speeds, entry angles, exit options, driving to various obstacles as well as practicing some "into nothings". Practice different handling options such as crosses and being ahead vs behind, etc but ones that always encourage remaining in extension. If a handling maneuver or exiting path encourages collection practice that separately after you've begun addressing turns training. Just remember to only focus on 1 new training challenge at a time in any given session. You don't want to frustrate a dog who's still just figuring out to adjust when you decide to also change his exiting path on him, etc. Personally I'd probably wait until about 3 foot before introducing challenges beyond adjusting his own stride if he's still having to concentrate a lot on the stride adjustments aspect of his contacts.
Phase 8: *Training Turns* - somewhere in here you'll probably want to start looking into turns training. I won't comment on the basic idea for training these turns as I have yet to find an actual training method that works wonders for Tess, and Doodle doesn't require that I train her turns. I simply support extension while I might softly call her name to let her know to follow my handling as she comes down the down ramp.
Phase 9: Putting it in sequences. Now begin adding more and more obstacles before the DW. And slowly begin adding a few more obstacles after the dogwalk before stopping to reward. Build up to running full courses.
Phase 10: Trialing! Now you're ready for trials. If I were you I'd make the decision on if running contacts are worth some likely NQs in the beginning *before* you decide which trials to enter. If not, then go into the trial knowing that you'll only want to try the running contacts on easy setups or at familiar equipment locations, etc. Otherwise, if you're ready to trial them and are willing to allow experience to simply bring you the Qs and aren't worried over some missed contacts while the dog is figuring things out at trials then go for it! Run hard and celebrate big over every attempt they make. Everything is a learning opportunity if they feel confident enough to explore their options. And yes, the faster you run, the more they drive, the better their contacts will get :) It was an exhilarating experience for me the first time Doodle NQd before we reached her DW so we just let it rip and I realized that running safely does not actually give you "safer" contacts with this method. Just run straight, run hard and don't worry about the yellow, just GO!! :) Sets the mood for the whole course in my book ;)
*Suggestions on determining hit quality and how to quickly decide what you saw (if training on a 36" contact):
- No matter where they hit in the contact, if there is no/little separation that means it was not a good hit = NR (or reward only according to what your dog requires to keep happy & confident)
- Unsafe hit if only hitting within 6” of the top or the bottom of the contact = NR
- JP hits within the bottom 2ft of contact (so long as not unsafe or poor separation)
- R hits falling in other categories.
- I found taping 6 inches from the top and bottom of the contact with 1 color and also taping 1foot from the top (to mark the bottom 2feet) with another color very helpful to quickly define what sort of reward was earned during the repetitions or if the hit was "unsafe".
- Does not matter if it’s front or rear feet or a mixture for the hit, unless dog has a strong front foot preference (I think around 75%or higher is a good number to start worrying about FF preference but just pulled that number out of the air so who knows).
- We don’t need to reward based off of the number of feet that hit (go for separation and where they hit over how many feet hit), 4 feet in does not necessarily mean a great or even good hit. 2 or 3 feet is best however 1 foot is R so long as not unsafe and JP if it’s in the center of the contact.
- If you have difficulty training your eye to see the quality of separation your dog is giving you try taping or wrapping their feet in bright colors. And record your sessions as watching your video later in slow-motion is EXTREMELY helpful in learning what you are seeing :)
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