FAQ: My running contacts

Well, this is certainly most frequently asked question that I get: how do I get those famous fast running contacts?

In a way, it's very easy, but it does take lots of time and repetition, so it's not a method that I would advice to everyone. As every method, it has its advantages and disadvantages: the most obvious advantage is that it's the fastest way to do the contacts and the disadvantage is that it takes longer to get there as with more widely used methods such as 2on2off. I use 2on2off for most of my students too since not many are ready to work as much as needed to get a running contact.

I chose to try to get La to run her contacts after not being satisfied with Lo’s contact performance. So, I was thinking: if I can teach a dog to find a weave-pole entry, to sit or to lie down… Why couldn’t I teach her to run? I couldn’t find any objection why not to, I just needed to think of a way to make a dog succeed and then do enough of successful repetitions… And how to make a dog succeed? Well, the obvious reason why dogs jump contacts is that it’s the fastest and easiest way to do it because of an angle of a plank. Just as dogs don’t jump on a ground or on a horizontal dog-walk plank, they would have no reason to jump if you put a plank on a floor…

So that’s exactly what I did.

Step 1

I put a plank on a floor, left bowl with food about 5 meters away from the end of the plank, restrained puppy La before a plank and then let her run over the plank to her bowl. At this stage, a dog has no reason to jump and you should be getting 100% of running, clicking the running at the end of the plank and letting a dog get a reward about 5 meters away from a plank, so that he doesn’t need to slow down on a plank in order to get a reward and is still running full speed. Your goal at this stage should be to get a dog run full speed over the plank, focusing ahead without checking where you are.

Problem shooting

You shouldn’t encounter any problems at this stage, with a possible exception of dogs that are being retrained: those dogs might choose to jump because of being confused about what is expected from them. With those dogs, start with just running to a bowl/toy on a floor and then start using a plank that looks as much different from dog-walk plank as possible: try to use very thin and wide plank in order not to remind a dog of a dog-walk. Until a plank is on a floor, too thick plank will create too much of a height difference with floor anyway, so it also goes for puppies and small dogs: use a very thin plank! For a dog, running on plank at this stage should be the same as running on the ground.

Step 2

After a couple of weeks (maybe more for dogs, being retrained) of just running over the plank on the floor, set your plank on a very low object that will create a little bit of an angle. Send a dog over the plank to that object that must be big enough that he can turn there easily to come back running down the plank. It’s important a dog can easily turn, so that he already starts off with good speed and can achieve full speed by the end of  plank. Click the running at the end of a plank and reward about 5 meters after a plank: you can either sit there and reward from your hand, or, you can also stay closer to a plank and reward by throwing something in the right direction. If a dog jumps, ignore or say indifferent “ups” and try again. If he jumps again, lower a plank for a next try. You don’t want too big % of jumping at any point.

Problem shooting

-         If a dog doesn’t want to send on a plank, have a helper at the other end of a plank to call a dog and reward him at the object at the beginning. Soon, a dog will get the idea that if he wants a reward for coming down, he needs to go up first, even if there is no reward for going up.

-         Wherever you choose to stay (you can also run if you can still see what your dog is doing while you’re running), make sure your dog is focusing ahead: if he is looking back at you, he is not running full speed. By positioning yourself ahead, you can avoid this problem (that’s what I do), but you will of course have to face it when you start running normal dog-walk. Your choice when you want to face it.

Step 3

When you get 100% of running for three or four days at one angle, make an angle of a plank bigger and bigger by making your object higher and higher: by 5, max. 10 cm at the time. Each time you do it, your % of jumping will grow: if it grows over 30%, immediately make it easier by making it lower. After your % of jumping drops back to 0 and stays there for some days, progress to next height and continue like that until you get to the same angle as a dog walk has.

For this step, you can of course use lowered dog-walk instead of a plank, but again, you will need to deal with a problem with focusing ahead already now then. I prefer to use a plank because

1. it takes less room and

2. I can be sitting at one place all the time of a training and

3. it means less running for a dog, so you can do more repetitions before you tire him

Problem shooting

No matter how good it looks, don’t progress too fast or you will regret later. Repetition is a key to success. But: don’t repeat jumping. If a dog jumps twice in a row, don’t hesitate to make things easier again. Unsuccessful try now and then doesn’t hurt, it just makes a dog to see a difference, but your success rate should never be lower as 70%.

Step 4

When you get 100% of running on a plank that has the same angle as normal dog-walk, progress to normal dog-walk. To make it look more like your plank, put your dog on a higher end of down plank, restrain it and then run with him towards a bowl or food, set 5 meters after the end of dog-walk (and make sure a dog knows it’s there). At the beginning, you might want to have a helper to remove a reward if a dog jumps. Keep doing it until you have 90% of running for two days. Then, just start with normal dog-walk, still with a bowl/toy after it, but vary positions where you are (ahead-behind, close-far, left-right…).

Problem shooting

For most dogs, this step is an easy one. You can expect more problems if

1. you’re retraining

If you’re retraining, you should stop doing normal dog-walk the old way at least a month or two before you take a running contact from a plank to normal dog-walk. Try to make it look as much as a plank as possible, maybe use an actual dog-walk plank for last few steps of your plank work, so that a dog doesn’t go back to old way of doing a dog-walk.

2. your dog is shy and timid kind of a dog and might be afraid of a dog-walk

You normally don’t encounter this problem since a dog did so much plank work that he is totally used to high, narrow things by now. Still, it might be a problem with some dogs, so your % of jumping might grow significantly because a dog will be trying to get off that thing. You can only continue with your training when he feels more comfortable on a dog-walk and even then, you’ll still be encountering problems with new, different dog-walks. As always with this type of dogs: patience is a key to success.

3. your dog is so crazy about agility that can’t think when on agility field

Take dog-walk off agility field. Or, for the beginning, you can use a stride regulator at the top of down-plank to make a dog more aware of his striding. Don’t make a dog hit a contact as such by using low stride regulator: use one at the top, just to make a dog think about his striding.

Step 5

When you have 100% of running on normal dog-walk with a bowl/toy 5 meters after it, with no regard to your position, try to use a different way to focus a dog ahead. For Bu, it was a tunnel: first in the place of a bowl, then after one jump, then after two, three, four… - not necessary in a straight line anymore. With La, I kept using a bowl, but further and further away (after one jump, two, three, four… not necessary in a straight line anymore).

Problem shooting

As with any other place on a course, a dog should be always focusing ahead: until being told otherwise. With the speed your dog will be coming off the dog-walk, it’s especially important that he does pay attention when being told to change focus, otherwise you might have problems with turning him after dog-walk. If you have this problem, solve it first on other obstacles – when you do so, turning a dog after a dog-walk won’t be any more difficult as it is after a straight tunnel.

So much for training steps of running contacts… Now some copy-paste from my correspondences with people, starting to use this method or thinking to start use it or questioning it or whatever… So, some FAQ on my running contacts:

- How do you handle a difficult sequence after a running contact?

The same as any sequence that isn’t at the beginning of a course and therefore doesn’t allow you the advantage of a lead-out. Just because it’s easier to handle a dog if we’re well ahead, it’s not our goal to slow down a dog enough for us to be well ahead of him all the time, is it? Yeap, just as I don’t stop a dog after a straight tunnel, I don’t stop a dog after dog-walk, but can still handle a sequence after it. If I don’t, it doesn’t mean there is something wrong with running contact method, but that there is something wrong with either my handling after it or training a dog to respond to that handling. So yes, handling a difficult sequence when a dog is coming there with full speed as opposed to from a stop is more difficult. But my goal is not to make things easy, but to make them as fast and fluent as I can. Easy is boring, I love training challenges!

- How do you turn a dog after a running contacts?

Just the same as you turn him after a straight tunnel… And again: yes, it’s easier to turn a stopped dog as a dog, running full speed, but again: easy is not my goal. I can prepare La for a turn already on a contact and she can turn just as tight after dog-walk as 2on2off dogs can. Bu has different style and can’t turn as tight, but speed is so much better that I’m still gaining in comparison to dogs that are stopped on a contact.

- So how do you train turns after dog-walk?

I don't obsess over turns after contacts too much (guess I obsess over turns on jumps enough already:). I first work only on independent dog-walk performance, so that I can position myself well for a turn (meaning that I can run diagonal away from a dog-walk, hang back or run ahead to do a front cross after a dog-walk - but I'm not very often fast enough to do that, though...), but still reward by throwing something straight on - and only then actually start turning a dog. It's actually very easy if you can position yourself well and if a dog understands left&right or at least "come":).

 

- How reliable are running contacts?

Depends on how much training you put into it… La was pretty much 100% for 5 years of intensive competing - when all of the sudden, she started to jump – just 10 days before WC in Basel! I tried to quick fix it, but only created a conflict and made it even worse, so her contacts were as bad as 50-50 at that time. Later, we found out she was reluctant to put that front leg down because of a pain in a shoulder… Poor doggy. We’re slowly getting back to old % now…

With Bu, I had more problems because she is afraid of unknown dog-walks and therefore slower, so her striding is totally off and I did have problems first on new dog-walks. I’m lucky to be able to train on many different dog-walks during my seminars, so the problem was pretty much solved before she started to compete, but her speed over new dog-walks is still not s good as on ours.

- My trainer doesn't let me train running contacts as he says he saw many dogs (I will left out the names) with running contacts in WCs that were missing them. 

My running contact method is, from the dogs that we've seen in WC so far, used by exactly two dogs: my La and Mudi Sja from Polona Bonac from Slovenian team. That's the only two dogs that I feel responsible for their contacts. I also know all other dogs you mention and I can assure you they DON'T train any kind of running contact. Most of the dogs you mention have 2on2off, but are being released early on WC. The others that you mention have "luck or no luck" contacts as I call it.

So... I'm afraid your trainer made some conclusion on completely wrong facts. The only two dogs we've seen in WC so far with my running contacts are Sja (running in WC 2005 and 2007, winning EO 2007 etc.) and La (running every year since 2003 when she won the first time) who are also the very first two dogs, trained by my method. The other 60, max. 80 of existing dogs, trained by this method, are all too young for WC - some might be ready for Finland, we'll see.

- What is your opinion on other running contact methods?

I don't know enough about them to have an opinion on them, I don't know even one dog, trained by one of those methods, so I can't say anything about it. But as always, I think that if it works for you, you should stick with it! That's also what I did: when I started La with my method, nobody else was training running contacts and now that they do, I see no reason to change as I'm very happy with the results my method is giving.

- How long does it take to train a dog a running contact with your method?

The record holder is a BC that got from a plank to 100% normal dog-walk in less than two months. On average, it takes four months of plank work to get to a normal dog-walk (if you work on your plank pretty much every day) and then another month or two to be able to use a dog-walk in sequences (if you work on normal dog-walk three times a week). It took even longer for me and La since I was still learning. With Bu, it went much faster.

 - Is it so simple as to train the plank with the criteria 2 paws hit the end of the plank & not jumping?

Pretty much, yes. Dogs will, however, find different ways to meet that criteria. La for example first meets the contact on the upper end with hind feet and then puts one front leg in last third of the contact. Bu comes with both front legs on first third of the contact and then pushes off with hind feet from last third of the contact. Bu's style is faster, but brings so much speed that she can't turn as tight as La can after a contact. While training, it's best to decide where you want what legs and then only click positioning of legs that meets your criteria.

La ad Bu, showing two different styles
 

 -  Are you happy with less speed first and then add that factor or you work with full speed from the beginning and if so, how do you get it on a short plank?

I aim to get full speed right from the beginning. Adding speed later changes the situation so much that you're then practically training a completely new behaviour, so it doesn't make any sense. I had no problems getting full speed on my plank, but it's true that Bu was still a puppy, so it meant more strides for her as it would have meant now. Most of us started with puppies, but just now, a friend of mine succeeded with her BC that she started on plank at 12 months. She used a down plank of dog-walk, set on big enough object that he could turn at full speed and was so able to get good speed down the plank. He is a current record holder in how fast he got the idea and is running normal size dog-walk 2 months later with 100% reliability. If you have enough place, it's also a good idea to send a dog into the tunnel or cik/cap around a wing first to get full speed before he even gets on a plank and let him jump on an object that holds a plank - until an object is low enough to allow that, of course.

- I started my puppy on a plank on the floor, but she doesn't run full speed towards a stationary object. I can only make her run if I run with her and throw her a toy.

When starting a puppy on a board on the floor, I usually have two people, each on one end (that is, 5m away from the end), calling a puppy from one to another (it's good for practicing recalls too!:). If I'm alone, I put a bowl or a toy there, but still restrain a puppy, wait for her to really want to go and then race her towards a bowl. I refill that bowl then, hold a puppy again and race towards the other bowl, refill and race back again. I guess you were just standing still and that's why you got trotting? You can also throw a toy, but I would do it when a puppy is still running (as a lure), as you're risking a dog will be looking at you, waiting for a reward, otherwise. I only start rewarding by throwing a toy after clicking a contact when a dog is already well focused ahead and there is no risk she will be waiting for me or turning into me. 

 

- Where do you reward?

 
You have to reward so that you don't make a dog slow down already on a plank in order to get a reward, meaning that if you have something on a ground you have to set it far enough or, you can also throw a toy, but always ahead. I only rewarded from my hand if I was well-ahead (while still doing the plank work). When I started to run normal dog-walk, I had a bowl with food placed well after dog-walk in order to focus a dog ahead even if I'm behind. Later, I started to use tunnel and jumps for that reason or I just threw a toy after I clicked.

- How much and how do you reward after a behaviour is trained?

Still a lot, but I’m also in general very generous about rewarding my dogs. For a reward, I use what is most rewarding for my dogs, meaning food for La and a tunnel for BuJ.

 - I guess you started with a low A-frame and dog-walk about the same time
outside?  Or did you focus mainly on the dog-walk to start with?

Our dog-walk can't be lowered, so I went directly from a plank to a normal dog-walk. Before that, I already occasionally worked low A-frame, but always at least as low as my plank was at that time and only occasionally because a low A-frame promotes flying over the top too much.. After I was happy with dog-walk performance, I started to use normal size A-frame, but never really specifically train it, I just started to use it in sequences and never encountered any problems with it with any of the dogs, trained that way on a dog-walk.

- Are you saying you pretty much start with an A-frame already on a full height?

Pretty much yes. I start with an A-frame somewhat higher from a dog-walk angle and move to the final height within 10 repetitions. I noticed that when people obsess too much over A-frame and work on a low one for too long, dogs don't see a reason to do additional stride on a down side and prefer to land on a contact, but that gets ugly when A-frame gets steeper. Another problem another friend had was that she taught her dogs to go too low and when it got steeper, the dogs were always falling on their shoulders after running all the way down and eventually started to jump to avoid that, so... Keeping it simple and just run was what proved to be the best option. I even very rarely reward it (probably just when I forget where to go next:).

- What do you think of this A-frame? Looks like he generalized the behaviour from a dog-walk really well, no?

 My only concern about your A-frame is that it looks too good:). We only have had problems with dogs that went all the way down at the beginning and then later on realized it's really not comfortable and started to jump... That's why I actually don't want them to transfer the bahaviour to the A-frame all that much and I actually use different commands for the two obstacles. If you see the end of this video, there are several A-frames in slow motion by Bu. As you can see, she is very, very high. BUT she is ALWAYS there, have never missed an A-frame contact in her life. I noticed that with dogs that go all the way down, it's either perfect or really ugly, so I actually prefer Bu's style. Anything deeper than middle of the contact is physically very hard for them. So... I don't really train A-frame systematically, but simply include it in sequences and just run, I don't really reward A-frames, but would correct (redo) misses if those ever happened.

- Do you use different commands for dog-walk and A-frame then?

Yes, I do.

- Does a size matter?

Maybe a little, but not much. A record holder is a tall, male BC and I think La (37cm) took the longest to learn it… It’s more a question of how much of a thinker a dog is, how well he understands a click and how good you’re at clicking at the right time and for the right things...

- My dog has reliable 2on2off contacts. Should I retrain?

No. You should avoid retraining as much as possible: more you retrain, more you’re confusing your dog. If you do decide for retraining anyway, be prepared that as every retrain, it takes longer as when training a fresh dog and might bring more problems. If you’re well aware of that, then you can go into it, but you’ll have to stop competing for at least two, three months, maybe more if things don’t go exactly as planned. So think twice before you go into it, especially if you have fast, reliable 2on2off.

- I started the plank work, but my dog is very shy&sensitive, a kind of like your Lo, and will slow down completely when I say "no" when she jumps at the end of a plank.

Oh, no, my Lo is lion brave in comparison to Bu... She had many traumas as the puppy, but she never shuts down like you describe - it's not Lo-like at all, when Lo has a feeling something is not quite right, she only gets louder and more hysterical, but will never shut down: more you frustrate her, more energy she'll be putting into it. What you describe is very Bu-like.

First thing you should do is to stop saying "no". I don't know how soft or not you say it, but I use very soft and almost happy "ups" - it shouldn't sound like "no, don't do that", but like "what a great joke, but you're still not getting a reward for that". HOWEVER, with extremely soft, sensitive, Bu-like dogs, even that is too much. So what I did when contact was not as good as I wanted was to simply send her around me and back to a plank, with a happy excited voice, but no click&no reward. Also, when starting with normal dog-walk, I just ignored the jumps, didn't stop her but continue a sequence so that it took me back to dog-walk eventually and when it was good, went absolutely frantic about how great she is. The funny thing with Bu is that even if you click& reward, she will sometimes not believe you she did good enough and starts to worry, so you really need to act as the happiest person in the world for like 10 minutes before she believes it. I was never so tired as I am after every training with her, I sure do miss La's attitude: "it's your fault, we all know I'm perfect". If your dog is a worrier, make sure you don't give him any reason to worry!

With Bu-like dogs, you can't afford too many mistakes + you can't afford marking them, so
1. don't say anything, stay happy, send her back happily
2. heave it even less as you do: one by one centimetre if it's needed for her to succeed

At this stage, you shouldn't be getting much jumping anyway, your plank should be so low that it should still be natural for her to just run. If positioning of the legs is not perfect, don't worry about it, reward everything that is not actual jump (meaning prolonging a stride at the end or making it higher). You will work on positioning of legs later.

- I measured my dog's stride length and it's about 1.2m, meaning that if she just runs, she will miss the contact sometimes.

You're too scientific for this method:). You need to be more philosophical:).

In initial phases of training, my only focus is that a dog runs full speed, with constant stride length, no prolonging of a stride at the end or making it higher or whatever. Later on, when you have more of an angle, dogs seem to choose to take a last stride from the middle of the contact on their own, I think it's most comfortable to them. Of course, they sometimes don't get there, so you then just don't reward those and eventually, with lots of practice, they learn how to adjust their striding to get there. But it does take some time, since they need to learn how to get there no matter what their speed over the dog-walk is: coming to dog-walk from an angle or straight etc. It's normal your dog can't do it after few days of plank work!

Bu adjusts her stride at the point where horizontal ramp meets a down ramp: she will stretch out there just as much as necessary to get on a contact. It's only on new, strange dog-walks that sometimes she won't feel comfortable to stretch enough and in those cases, contact won't be just as nice. Every next try on new dog-walk is then better.

- What exactly is your definition of jumping? For example, on this video, would you reward all tries? 

From this video, I would reward all tries yes, but would jackpot/reward more enthusiastically those that are very low. For me, a dog is jumping when the last stride is higher or longer as his normal stride. That earns no reward. All other tries do, if you're too picky about foot placement, you loose some speed and frustrate some dogs, so I prefer to be more generous with my rewards. Foot placement is more easily trained when you already have some angle (as it's more visible where the end is) and they learn it somewhere on a way anyway, because of jackpotting the best ones, without any special focus on it right from the beginning.
 

- I only reward hits in a bottom third of a contact, is that right or am I being too picky?

I think that's too picky yes. If you limit a dog to such a small space, you limit his options on how to get there and make it too hard, sometimes even impossible without slowing down. All I ask for is a foot in bottom two thirds and with Bu, I get all possible variations of that, depending on approach and exit from a dog-walk. La is stuck to one particular way of doing it (front foot on bottom third of a contact) - and is less reliable and slower on a dog-walk as Bu, so I would loosen that criteria up a little bit if I were you. The easiest the behaviour is for a dog to do, the easiest it is for you to maintain it as it doesn't need much reinforcing once it's trained.
 

- Why didn't you retrain Lo to running contacts?

Lo was the one that made me think in the direction of running contacts: she is great little dog that loves to run, but as it's written in her breed standard:), she has "maximum of nervous energy" and finds it very hard to be static, that's why she never liked stopped contacts and that's where we loose lots of time. My guess was that La won't like it any more as Lo, so I started her on a plank right from the beginning, despite not knowing for sure what I'll get. When I saw the method is really working and proved great in competition too, Lo was 7 years already. Not really old for a PyrShep, but her major problem is that she is afraid of height and I didn't quite see how to train running contacts since she would have a problem turning on a high object and I don't have an option to set a real dog-walk in my apartment. Also, while she might run on a low plank full speed, I don't think she could ever run full speed over a full-size dog-walk, especially not one that she doesn't know, so that would change the picture completely too. - That's why I decided not to go into it, I already retrained her contacts so many times that I don't want to confuse her with it any more than that. Retraining to running contacts is a long process anyway and for a dog with 7 years of experience of stopping on contacts (and leaping over it occasionally...) and is afraid of height, running contacts wouldn't be my advice anyway. As I mentioned before: you should think twice before you go into it.

- How long is your plank? I was told you need a real size equipment for training running contacts.

With my method, you don't need any real agility equipment, just a plank. I live in an apartment, so I can't afford much more than that anyway:). The length doesn't matter, as long as a dog can develop some speed on a plank and/or before it - what does matter is that a dog runs the plank with full speed. My plank is about 2/3 of dog-walk down ramp and my dogs performance of contacts doesn't change on different lengths of a ramp. They know how to adjust their striding to take the last one from the end and are not stuck with the same striding pattern over the whole obstacle.
 

- You say: "Don’t make a dog hit a contact as such by using low stride regulator: use one at the top, just to make a dog think about his striding." Why do you do think a low stride regulator is bad? Why do you think the stride regulator at the top helps that more than a low stride regulator?

I don't think that, I think it helps LESS and that's exactly why I put it there (IF I put it - I normally DON'T use it at all!). The catch is that I don't want to help the dog with stride regulations in a first place!!! If I did, I would be using "stride regulations" method, but I don't, I use my own method that is described above. Stride regulations have no or very, very little place in it. And no, I don't think stride regulations are bad, it’s just that in my training, I by all means avoid tools that would need to be faded. That’s why I don't like stride regulators, hoops, guides on weave-poles, whatever - that doesn't mean they're bad, I just personally don't like them. Small stride regulator at the top of a dog-walk is the only thing that I might sometimes use, but even that was used for 1 dog per 40, trained by this method.

- Where could I see some videos of dogs, being trained by that method and what are their dog-walk times?

Here is the video of 20 different dogs (10 large, 9 medium and 1 small), trained by my method, of La, turning after contacts, Bu,  running dog-walk, Bu, running A-frame and some more La and Bu on dog-walk (including Bu's 1.3s dog-walk) and A-frame. The fastest dog-walk of Bu that I have on video took her 1.335s and the fastest dog-walk of La on video is 1.462s (measured from the time when first paws make a contact with a plank to the time when the last leg leave it). Most of the dogs, trained by this method, have 1.5 to 1.6s, in maximum 1.7s dog-walks.

I don't have any video material on my dogs while in training (yeah, I'm an old-timer in agility, used to train in a mud, water and snow, with no help from internet, cameras and other modern stuff), so I'm publishing some links to videos of various dogs in various training stages, being trained (or retrained) by my method: PyrShep Luka, Poodle Chica, BC BlueBoy and BC Solar (several videos, showing the whole process), PyrShep Vigo, PyrShep Noun, BC Bilbo, BC Smitten,  BC Gorgeous,   BC Klepto, BC Rocket, BC Gyp, mix Jimmy, Mudi Pletyka, Croatian Sheepdog Kaj, PRT Skye, Sheltie Rici.

If you have more questions on my running method, feel free to mail me and I’ll be adding new answers to this page.