O.k., time for your first homework!
1. find a way to make your dog run as fast as he can, tape him from the side and study his striding in slow motion or even frame by frame: how far apart his hind feet are, how far forward hind feet reach over front feet, how long and high the stride is, how his back looks like and where his head is: many people think you want low head for running contacts, but in fact, you want the head look exactly the same as when running full speed in the fields 🙂
2. have a dog run over the plank, tape him from the side and compare it with the video above - tape it at the height you're currently at. If you're just starting, restrain the dog before your plank, carpet or whatever you're using, throw a toy and release. Slowly bring the dog further away from the plank to really have them come to the plank with full speed. Mark anything that looks like running in the fields from the first video, jackpot when feet are hitting at the end of a plank/carpet (where the contact will be), but reward anything that is running. Don't forget to click it or at least mark it with your voice! I prefer clicking, but you can also first use a voice and start clicking later, when you know your dog's stride better and can predict it better.
This is a good check-up for those who are already running their dogs on a raised plank and a good stride-study that will help you see and mark the correct striding better for those just starting. Once you see your dog is running nicely, with an even stride, hind feet separation and hind feet reaching further from front feet, you can put a brick or something under one end of the plank and have them run over slightly raised plank - I'll tell you when you're ready based on the videos you'll send.
And yes, we're for now throwing a toy in advance, letting the dog chase it, in order to get full speed. So yes, the dog is rewarded every time with a ball - so make sure that you really make the best tries even more special, use excitement in your voice, a play of tug on his favourite toy or food if that's his real preference - in short: make a party about the really good ones and don't worry about not so good ones - just throw that ball again! 🙂
3. to make it easier for the dog to understand what you're clicking for on that plank, we'll be teaching some tricks that are important to help them understand how to use their feet and that you might be clicking them for using them. The two things you will try this time is cavaletti work - walking the dog over drawers or boxes on the floor - and teaching the dog to step with front feet on an object and clicking for any movements of hind feet: the final goal is a full circle in both directions, but first click even for just a weight shift and then go from there.
Post a video with all 3 assignments, first two in slow motion please!!! - But PLEASE cut out all the parts where I can't see the dog: because seeing just the plank, and that is slow motion, is absolutely no fun - and you can't imagine how many planks in slow motion I saw by now!
Also, read all the comments and see as many videos as possible, you can learn A LOT through videos and comments of others, that's why we do it in a class form in a first place!
Two pictures showing what I mean by hind feet reach: hind feet must land further ahead from where front feet were:
Two pictures showing what I mean by hind feet separation: hind feet must be hitting two different spots as far apart as possible (vs. staying parallel, hitting the same spot).
To take the explanation of hind feet separation and reach forward even further, here is a discussion we had with a first class on it, this is my comment to those two videos:
Experimenting with a full low dogwalk
Experimenting with throwing his toy
My comment: he doesn’t run fast enough 
– That’s my answer to 90% of problems with running contacts, so you will probably hear that a lot in next few months Any BC, running full speed, is deep down the contact if doing two strides on a dog-walk ramp, period. Even my PyrShep who is 37cm (14.5″) does the down ramp in two hits and I even know a Papillon that is trying to, despite we would prefer him to do 3 hits Meaning that if a BC does 2 hits and is too high, he is not running enough. That’s some general info for everybody, I’m just using your videos to discuss this topic as they show some very nice tries and some “not running enough” tries.
On most tries, you can see his hind feet come just shortly more forward from where the front feet where. Normally, when the dog runs full speed, hind feet will land significantly further ahead from where front feet were – just like you can see in “experimenting with the toy” video at 1:16, 2:16 and 2:27 tries for example – those were very nice!!!
The faster the dog is moving, the further ahead from front feet hind feet will be landing and as a consequence, you will have MUCH bigger length covered as if hind feet hit where front feet were – meaning that if Bi’s front feet are above the contact, her first hind foot will be in the middle of the contact and the second one will be right at it’s bottom. - While if the dog’s hind feet only come to where front feet were, he is missing the contact in this situation - instead of getting a perfect one
That’s exactly why I always get suspicious when I hear people saying their dog is hitting with 4 feet. With a BC size dog, running full speed with good hind feet separation, it’s pretty much impossible to fit all 4 feet in. 3 is possible, but if they can fit all 4 feet in that small area, they don’t cover enough of an area and when they will be higher, all 4 feet will be out of the contact. Bi on the other hand is a typical example of the dog covering LOTS of an area, meaning that even if her front feet are landing in the middle of the down ramp (yeah, she desperately wants to do it in one hit), the second hind foot will be in the contact, as you can see in this video:
Complicated? Don't worry, it gets easier when you start to see the dog's stride 🙂
Hi Silvia- just wondering, are we able to use the thin 2cm plank for the whole process (once we start raising it) or do we need to get a thicker plank too?
🙂
You can do everything on a thin one, you just need to support it well on one or two places so that it doesn’t bounce as the dog is running over.
Can someone please recommend really easy video editing software I can use with a Canon camcorder? It came with conversion software but no editing capabilities.
I use Videowave…it’s a video editing program in the Roxio Creator 2011 program. Very easy to use and lots of other features/programs included with the Roxio package. With Videowave I can view frame by frame while editing my video and then create whatever segments I want in slow motion. then it also has a one click to post to places like YouTube/Facebook etc. Although I find it much faster to upload to Youtube if I export the video as a .wmv to a file and then just upload that .wmv file to Youtube.
Hi Everyone,
I have audited the first running contacts course but due to unforeseen circumstances have not been able to keep up with it. So here I am signed up for the second course.
I am training two border collies, the one who I will post video of I have had endless trouble with getting her to run instead of jump! My dogs are raised with the understanding that a toy is a reward and no toy is ‘try harder’ so it took weeks of running on the plank for me to realise they didn’t understand that sometimes when they got the toy it wasn’t what I wanted. I made no progress during this time! I got brave and actually started to call the dogs off the toy when they didn’t run and click and let them run to the toy when they did. I finally made progress after much frustration.
Here is the link to the plank work -- the second session I had increased the distance that I started her from for the first time and she had lots of misses at first. I will organise and post the other videos asap.
Charlotte
I would definitely change the set up. After jumping on the table, her first stride takes her so deep on the plank that it’s very hard to do another stride (only if she shortens it -- but also too hard to get in with one stride only. And yes, of course it was o.k. to reward 5, it’s front feet hit, but that’s o.k. too -- also 4 of 2nd session was o.k.
Try double table set-up or, even better, low DW.
Thanks Silvia, I will set up the low dogwalk today. I had seen on the last course that some people had the plank on top of the dogwalk down plank should I do this or just use the dogwalk plank?
Thanks.
I would go with the easier set up first, like two ramps and a table or a low DW.
Hi Silvia and classmates,
I tried tunnels with Nessa and because she is so crazy for tunnels her running became very disorganized and she didn’t have a desire to stay on the planks. She also seems to prefer the left hand side of tunnels as one time instead of taking the right end that was in front of her she took the left. So decided to try something different. I sat her about 5 paces from the start of the plank, put a jump 6.5 paces from the end of the plank and a toy after the jump. This improved her focus and she stayed on the board. I think that her running is better too than it was in the last video with a thrown toy in the previous RC class. The difference between reward and jackpot is minor in the video (I say good girl versus excellent in a more excited tone). Sometimes it isn’t clear to me afterwards which I should have done. I did find that I need to make sure that the stationary toy is exciting (I did that after 27 as she seemed slower in 27).
I thought that I would update you on Taari as well. Taari on the other hand seemed to be better with tunnels but only when they were in a certain configuration (almost a straight tunnel close to the start of the plank) and I wonder if it is related to how I was running. She seems to be still trying to avoid the end but if I am running along with her she doesn’t get much air. Her stride increases in length along the plank. I think that the times she has gotten close to the end of the plank were “accidents” in her mind and she is trying to avoid it. Wondering if I need to start with her moving more slowly and rewarding her when she is at the end. Then get her moving faster so that she starts to see that the end of the plank is good. Somehow I need to get her like the end of the plank again.
Looks good, definitely no airy in comparison to what we had before 🙂 If you can get 5 sessions like that in a row, I would raise it some. With Taari, you can try that way first… Another idea would be to train turns first with her, like shown in 5th lesson: that way, you’re only doing end of the plank anyway and you’re doing lots of rewarding for it, so maybe that would help?
Hi Silvia,
Question concerning the tricks. How far apart are the boxes/drawers, and how high should they be? Can one use low poles for the cavaletti in place of boxes? With the front feet on a box where should the handler be positioned? At the head of the dog, beside the dog, some place else, or doesn’t it matter?
Thanks
Sure, you can use low poles, ladders, chair or similar for cavaletti. The height and distance depends on the height of the dog… -- try to improvize, send what you got and I’ll tell you if it’s o.k. or not. The handler is static, so his position is changing relatively to the dog 🙂 -- Starting position is chosen by the dog too: just sit down, relax and click 🙂
Continuing on with Chip from the first session of classes.
From your last suggestion, we went back to the plank set up instead of a low dogwalk. Also working on him running to a jump after the plank.
The last time we used this set up (just two 16 inch tables) we were very unsuccessful, he was leaping from the middle of the plank. Previously we used a book under the plank, so it sat up a few inches higher that tables…we were much more successful.
So going back to the plank work now….I decided to try it without the book, and he was very successful!!
Finding a jump after was no problem for him, he always has great forward focus in jump handling. In the video, reps 1-4 had a stationary toy after a jump, as well as the first rep of session 2.
I really think being able to withhold the reward will help him understand.
We will continue to work this set up and proof more!
Great!!! Looks much more like an old Chip 🙂 Keep working with a jump after and throwing a toy only then, focus on proofing on this set up some more and if he is still doing so well, you can try with an up ramp to a table, to make it look more like a real DW. And then maybe to two tables and only then real DW again. Great job, very nice running!
Wow great!! Thanks for the clear video, I can see very well the way he runs when you jackpot or just reward!
Now let’s hope Chip sees it just as well! 🙂
Wouah, I hope we’ll get so nice RC later on! Congratulations !
Hi Silvia, Hi classmate,
Can you just tell me which software you’re using to be able to make a comparison (2 videos running side aside at the same time), Live movie maker doesn’t do it, does it?
Can you just repeat one more time what are the planks’ size expectations, please?!
Thank you
Céline
I use Adobe Premiere Pro.
Plank: the best is to have two 35cm wide, 3.8m long, 2cm thin planks and then put them side by side to start with so that you have 70cm of width to start with.
Hi Silvia
My internet was down for a few days, but we are all set now to continue with RC II.
Barb and Mercy
Welcome back! 🙂
lowered her board/since she was now driving well to the toy
first video of her running was not at home but in a bigger area/2nd one was at home
she was more confident at home
Your video is marked as privat 😉
You need to make our video unlisted or public, we can’t see it if it’s private.
sorry I fixed it
Mary ann, it still says private. 🙁
fixed
Hm, how old is she? (Sorry, I can’t find it in introduction page) On running videos, is she running after a thrown ball or? Is there another way that would make her run even faster? Maybe chasing other dogs? I would like to see if she really moves that way all the time… I would prefer her lower, extending further… -- this doesn’t look full speed to me. How do you start her for the plank?
Jackie is an 8 month old aussie. definitely runs faster chasing my bc’s
or just running in the fields in general. she has always been pretty balanced with her growth although still a little high behind right now.
I started her to a food bowl, then to the manners minders, while teaching the retrieve. She has always wanted to take the toy and run around in the past.
In the video I restrained her, threw the ball and released. should I try to keep the ball on the ground? maybe a different toy ?
To avoid having to address retrieving problems while working on a plank, you could try having several balls -- I did that with Le, we started with 6 balls and by the time we lost or destroyed 5 of them, she learned to retrieve it back 🙂 You can try another toy, but it needs to fly well and far and ideally roll when it falls on the ground (static toy promotes pouncing on it even more). You can also try racing her to it or recalling over the plank -- or starting her with the tunnel if you have one… Try different things and see what makes her run the fastest.
changed location (larger area)
wrap jump further away with added handler motion
lots of tennis balls 🙂
Hurricane Irene on the way/ will do tricks video next
agility equip all put away & secured
MUCH better! She sure can RUN! She is somewhat airy when your ball is thrown too late and is still somewhere up in the air, but most repetitions are beautiful, great job!
I hope Irene goes by without damage and you can get back to running soon. Keep this set up for a while so that she can settle with her striding some.
After 9 days of no power & internet we are Back!!
Here is part 3 of lesson 1
Not sure why I am getting the front feet dance on the bowl -- ignoring it and trying to click for back feet movement
maybe my reward timing? what do you think
No power and no internet sounds perfect for tricks 🙂 Slowly add more speed into cavaletti trick. Front feet dance is not unusual, but that’s o.k. as long as hind feet are moving too. Try with less movement from your part, she is offering you enough action on her own. Only help with placement of the reward (rewarding with head turned away from you). Nice 4 in too! 🙂
getting good performances on lower plank so I
put 2 dw ramps together for better stability &
raised approx 6″ since the last video
jackpot on reps 3,4 & 6
still need to improve my ball throw timing 🙁
I have not figured out how to put text on my videos
any tips?
When I am away at shows etc so you think I should get a carpet to practice on?
Great! Keep practicing throws 🙂 and jackpotting the best hits, you can also soon raise the plank some more. And no, you don’t really need to practice every day, it’s o.k. to skip the weekends, I was just trying to say that doing 5 or 6 repetitions three times a week won’t allow one to keep up with the class program. But doing 15 per day other than weekends should be perfectly o.k. -- and you can use weekends to practice tricks.
Hi Mary Ann,
It’s lovely to see an Aussie with a tail:)
Maureen
I have a 14 yr old boy with a long stub but wanted my next one to have a tail. I watch my 2 bc’s use their tail so much
Hello Sylvia, voila les deux première vidéos d’apprentissage du Running de fly 🙂
Good to see fly again! Well done 🙂
Cool, the running is o.k., but I have two video requests: tape from the side (or behind if not possible from the side -- but not from in front) and cut out all the parts when I don’t see the dog running, no planks only in slow motion please! Why did you change your position, I think it went the best with you behind, throwing the toy? Maybe it’s easier if you start her by sending her to a tunnel or cik&cap? Make sure you make a big deal out of the best ones!!!