TrulyReady Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 I have been training Truly on running contact for about 5 months now. She picked up on the concept super quickly and I was really amazed a how much easier it was (so I thought) than I had first anticipated it would be. We had had a 80-90% success rate for months and usually only had misses when we had wonky stuff following the aframe or a bad approach to the frame. The past month or so of trailing we've been more hit and miss and our last trial we were probably at a 40% success rate for the trial. At practice though we are still holding at 90% success and I have seen NO change for the worse in our performance at practice. I have been trying to up the difficulty in practice with turns off the frame etc and she still has done well. Can anyone else with a running aframe give me some ideas on how to proof my running A-frames for compatition? I have been trying to mark incorrect A-frames at trials but depending on how far the next obstical is since Truly is so stinking fast she is sometimes over the next obstical before my brain processes as a miss. Any ideas or experiences would be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted March 13, 2013 Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 How did you train your running A-Frame to begin with? What was the initial criteria that you identified for your dog? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrulyReady Posted March 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2013 I did not use a particular "meathod" to train it, we train with Stuart Mah when we can and he's helped me with my running contacts. I would compare the process i used with Daisy Peel or Terkman, starting with a low/ flat peice of equipment with a target and then moving to a toy reward and marking the dog moving fluidly through the yellow to the bottom of the board then rewarding and gradually moving up in height and difficulty. My criteria is the dog must have a solid hit with a full stride to through the bottom of the board (as if running a flat plank) I know part of my problem is when trialling while she was getting her contacts letting her get away with hits that were in the yellow but higher in the contact zone then my criteria was in practice but I'm not sure how to rework this since our problem seems to only be in the ring and not on the practice field (even with distractions, pushing her hard over the frame etc). Her running aframe is beautiful in practice and I know letting my trail criteria slip started the issues but not sure how to go back and fix it since I can't seem to recreate it outside of the trial environment. We have only had this issue for two trials and I would like to fix it before the problem continues to grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChantalB Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Its not a performance issue, its a criteria one. Sign up for fun trials, get your friends together and have 'mock' trial practices (make it as real as possible) so your dog doesn't descriminate that trial environments mean no tug/ball/cookie reinforcement, so why bother to do the contact. Also, for this one you will need to run feo at real trials, or be prepared to step out of the ring for a missed contact, and getting disqualified for rewarding a contact (can't bring toys into the ring, but you can touch and wrestle and happy dance reward your dog and run to the pre planned spot where fun toy is hiding). In practice we withold reinforcement for a missed contact. In trials we reward missed contacts by letting the dog take the next obstacle which is reinforcing in itself. All about criteria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum24dog Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Its not a performance issue, its a criteria one. My thoughts too. 90% in training isn't a high enough criterion to stand the test of competition whichever contact method is being used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted March 14, 2013 Report Share Posted March 14, 2013 Also, based on what you describe, it sounds like the specific criteria for the contact may not be clear to your dog. You obviously know that you were reinforcing for the dog going to the end of the board, but the dog could have perceived the reinforcer just for running across the equipment. I would look for a way to clarify exactly what is being reinforced to the dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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