Teaching contacts

How have you taught your dogs the contacts?

So far I have always just left some food on the downward contact.

With my new puppy Foxx I tried the 2on2off-method meaning he will always make a stop going downward and ask permission to proceed, the stop is made with his front paws on the ground and rear on contact. The advantage of this is that as he knows the reward awaits if he's real quick on the beam and offers to "2off" at the other end.

Also I think this was very easy for the dog to learn, even though he's still a puppy (3,5 months) we only had to repeat a couple of times and he understood I expect him to sit on the contact with his paws on the ground.

Of course I am assuming here that he will have no trouble with the contact going up as none of my other agility dogs have had any problems. Anyone having problems going up with mini schnauzers in particular?

Here is a video of Foxx taking the contact, I'm still uncertain whether this is a better way but at least this way he will always take it.

http://cid-8745639c9a8dd43c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Foxx/MOV01155.MPG

I asked my daughter, the agility "expert", about this, and she says you should try not to lure too much as the dog really doesn't learn from that. She uses clicker training to get the dog to offer the behavior as it comes down the obstacle, and eventually it will jump up on the contact from the side to offer the behavior. The distance from the top to the (2o2o) contact is gradually increased over time.

You also do NOT want the dog's head to come up on the contact as that is when the dog will start jumping the contact when running down the obstacle. Feed the dog low to keep the head lower, not high, after it does 2o2o. You want the dog to LOVE that position (2o2o), and think it is the best place to be (LOTS of jackpot treats). A release word is also extremely important so that the dog knows when it should leave that spot. Otherwise the dog may not hold the 2o2o and you might lose that in trials.

She is okay with the sit on there as that makes the dog rock its weight back onto its rear (otherwise they become a lawn dart at the bottom), but very few here (none of the big names) do a sit at the bottom.

Keep videotaping the dog as he goes along to see how he shifts his weight on the contacts. If he is landing on his front too much, it may screw up (damage) his front.

Terra was trained using 2o2o, and had to be retired at eight because of agility injuries. Katie is now training Cruise, the new dog, with running contacts.

Thank you Karen and Katie for the comments, they are valuable. I will definitely lure him less in the future, as said this was the first day we tried out the contact so the puppy is still a bit unsure of the whole thing. He is too young to be approved to take part in any official training so we are working at home alone. It's really easy to make mistakes one no one is watching and pointing them out.

I didn't realize this was his first day doing this. He is remarkable! Well... maybe not; he is a schnauzer, after all<G>.

He actually is a remarkable puppy. We got him two weeks ago from Russia, he's a son of our own male - his father is the only dog I know even remotely like this pup. My husband predicts this puppy will be playing the piano quite soon.

He is really good with contacts now, he needs no luring and in fact he will offer the contact without me saying anything, meaning he has realized he is not to leave any contact without a separate permission.

He has also learned to wait at the start until he gets a permission to GO and he needs very little of me, I can simply send him on track to do a few jumps or whatever as long as he has his toy waiting at the finish line. He is very independent which is something I am not very used to but like a lot.

Good job!

........

We tried remotes for the first time today, he worked ok even though I was behind the camera.

http://www.kaapiosnautseri.com/media/MOV01470.MPG

oh wow! he is remarkable and very smart!

Thanks, here he is about 5 months of age http://cid-8745639c9a8dd43c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Foxx/foxxtokarata.MPG

The contact from A was not very pretty but we are already working on him not sitting but squatting to same time on track.
He is now 6 months old so only one year to go before he is allowed in official competitions

We too love agility. It is a lot of dogs in our kennel run agility. At me standard, just beginning sportsman.
Here our swing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXHlYjYPXWQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxxj3RL-PR4

And here our running contacts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPBCDiZ-TLw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7ECbgb7j0

These are last competitions for beginners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmfaY2_uQnw

And it run mini our kennel:
b&s Lexus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn2uLBl8Pcs