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 🙂
Cooper Lesson 1 Day 1
Hi, This is Cooper just running.
And this is Coop on a 15′ long carpet. Should I cut the carpet down to 12′, it’s about 30″ wide.
Pamela
Cool, he is running well. The carpet is o.k. as it is, do few more sessions on carpet and then you can try a plank.
Hi Silvia!!
I’ve had several more great sessions with straight dogwalk exit’s at the lower height and I was about to introduce a straight tunnel after the dw.
I recently had my dw rubber coated to give it a better grip and today was her 1st session on the new surface. I do believe the new surface gives her better traction then the sand / wood combination so I’m not sure why today’s session was so awful.
Her 1st time ever on the new surface was the first 2 reps in the video and they we’re great. But from then on things we’re never the same. It looks like she’s not really taking much of a 2nd stride with her front feet on the downramp; because her striding is on the the approach.
" rel="nofollow ugc">
Ideas ?
Thanks,
Tara
It says the video is private, you need to change it. It’s very strange the rubber made things worse, would like to see the video of what happened…
" rel="nofollow ugc">
Hi Silvia,
Here is Synergy running in backyard and over carpet. I don’t think she can get to full speed there because of lack of room. I will try to get some video when we go on our camping vacation next week.
Thanks,
Marla
Yeah, doesn’t look full speed, when running on grass she is stopping already as the toy is not thrown far enough and on the carpet, she is checking back with you as the toy is not thrown early enough. See some other videos to see when to throw a toy. I would also recommend a ball instead as it flies better and it’s easier to throw it well. Use the longest diagonal of your garden, start her in a U-shaped tunnel in the very corner of it and then throw as she is exiting the tunnel, before she even gets on the carpet. Throw as far as possible and again, ideally use a ball that will roll after landing vs. drop still.
Hi Sylvia, Here is video of Saga running on a plank. I sent her to a tunnel and then threw her ball. She loves the game. What I want to confirm is what I’m clicking. Is it the speed, where she’s hitting or both? You can see she is hitting the board in different spots. Also, I am still learning the editing software so this is in real time but trimmed. Thanks. Sondra
Nope, we’re not clicking speed as such, we’re clicking full extension running with good hind feet separation. I don’t see it with Saga, I think this plank is too narrow for her to run full speed on it when still on the floor and then she just tries to get off of it as soon as possible, she mostly only does one hit and takes off as early as possible to be able to keep the speed. So you’re clicking a wrong thing (and too late), 0:14 was the only nice running you got. You absolutely need to go to the carpet, longer and wider as that plank and try to get running there. Meantime, try to get another plank like that so that you can then put the two planks side by side underneath and then work from there.
Thanks. I will go get thinner boards and carpet. I took a shot that the see saw plank was thin enough.
Oh, yes, it does look thin enough. I just want it wider, like two planks side by side. But first try with the carpet that you can cut longer as she needs to forget that one hit&leap that you were clicking till now first -- she won’t be able to do that on a longer carpet, so longer carpet is your first step in order to get at least two hits. Your second step is wider plank to make it easier for her to run on it at full speed and avoid this hit&leap happening again.
This is my 5 month old Papillon, Chirp, and my best effort at the first homework. I don’t know what foot fall I should be clicking. Front feet on end of board? rear feet on end of board? any feet on end of board? She is beginning to lower her body down and run more evenly on the flat carpet. When I do the board she tends to leap. Should I stick to the carpet for another week or so? Without the chute present she runs next to the board but every day she does a little better. We should be able to be rid of the chute in a few days. I am working on getting a wider and thinner board that may take another week. As for the box work well, we are not the best team with a clicker. When she gets on the box she seems to say well “hear I am. Is all you want? I will find something else to do now” and she gets off. We have not worked with a clicker and she has not got the idea of offering behavior. Playing it back I see I missed some golden opportunities to click some rear foot movement and so we have not had much success with that yet. I could hold a treat at her nose and get her to move her back feet, but I did not think you wanted that kind of training so I am trying to resist. Be glad to hear your thoughts. Thanks, Elise Lynch
Running contacts training is much easier with dogs who know clicker and shaping well and were clicked before for using hind feet, so it’s definitely time she learns it! She is actually offering you quite some movement, it’s a great start, just watch her hind feet closely and click any movement. You’ll also need something smaller (up side bowl maybe) soon so that she can circle it.
To see what we’re going for, see some videos of others and my comments to it, it will give you an idea what you want to click and what you want to jackpot. From your carpet running, I would jackpot 3, 4, 8 and 10 and reward all. Your plank is not ideal as it’s too thick and creates quite an edge for such a small dog and she once steps on it and doesn’t seem to like it, so I would definitely wait for a thinner board. Using chute at the beginning is o.k.
Hi Elise, I can’t believe how many of us from New England, Northeast on here this session! I can’t believe you of all people haven’t been using clicker with this youngster, not for a minute! She looks great!
Anne
What a fun little dog! I can’t wait to watch Chirp’s progress. Any time you are frustrated I’ll take her off your hands!! ;D She is ADORABLE!!
Hi Sylvia
I have two dogs in this class and will post them in separate links, same entry. I am running both of them on a double board, flat on the ground to a thrown toy. I mark hits in the yellow with verbal, Yes, praise and they get the ball. When they land with both rear feet with good separation in the yellow they get a lot of verbal praise, and food, multiple small bites that last close to a minute, when they return the ball to me, in other words, a party.
Snitch has a very consistent stride, seems to land on the board at about the same place each time and almost never leaps. We started close and now have moved back some and occasionally do a tunnel prior to the board. His problem has been that he sometimes runs off the side or sometimes makes no effort to get on the board. This will always follow a throw that is a little off to the side but sometimes even with a good throw. I have dealt with that with no praise, no party, and then moved up to shorten the approach. It hasn’t gotten better yet. In fact he started out better than he is now. I have started close to the board each session and slowly built some distance and more speed. Suggestions?
Snitch
Juice is very different. She has a very inconsistent stride and lands on the board in different places. She is prone to leaping and bouncing. I posted a lot of her runs. I see that #4 and #8 are clear leaps. She got no reward, no verbal, no food but of course did get the retrieve for those. I have noticed that even running on flat ground she sometimes has a very bouncy, leapy style of running. This is usually when she is most excited. I have had good hits with extreme excitement and leaps when excited or even starting close and not so much excitement. To me, so far, she is unpredictable and inconsistent. Today, I thought she might be learning a bit better what the “no party” meant. I hope.
My original plan was to do a running a frame and stopped dog walk. I think I would still like to do that. When should I change my set up to the a frame, and how to I modify the program to get the a frame only? When do I need to make the decision and stick to it? thanks. Sandra
Juice
To me, they actually both looks great. Snitch seems to already get the game as he sometimes shorten the second stride to be in. Juice doesn’t do that yet and simply leaps when she can’t add another normal stride in, but that’s pretty normal at this stage, I think she just needs some more repetitions, but her successful rate is definitely high enough that you can raise the planks for her too, maybe the end of the board will make even more sense then, so you can raise it some for both. It might be easier for Snitch to find the planks then, but if not, you can use jumps wings or cones at the beginning of the planks to help him run over. The problem will go away on its’s own once the planks are higher, so there is no need to work through it, you can simply avoid it.
Pivoting, try with you static now to challenge them some more and really make them think about their hind feet.
You don’t need to decide what you want for DW just yet, they need to do some more running before we can go in A-frame direction anyway and full speed running over planks is actually great even for stopped DW. If I were you, I would actually simply continue in running DW direction and either go all the way if it goes smoothly or stop and go for A-frame only if you meet some problems that would take too long to address. For now, they’re doing really great and it might be pretty easy to get running DW too and you can of course also teach them 2on2off and have both and use RC for easy exits and 2on2off for tricky ones.
Hallo Silvia, hello classmates! First I have an essential question ; I understand the difference between reward and jackpot and how to use it but what does no reward mean? Am I right that my dog gets every time his toy regardless of whether he was good or not so good? So how can my dog understand what is wrong?
Does he know shaping? That would definitely help! Because you’re right, nothing is wrong when you are starting to shape something. There are only tries -- better or not so good, but nothing is WRONG -- it’s just another try. Just make sure you make such a big party about the best tries that he will make an effort to give you more of those 🙂 -- and don’t worry about him getting that ball every time, the world won’t come to the end because of it 🙂