For more on running contacts, it's best to join running contacts class or get a Running Contacts DVD. This page is meant for those who just have a quick question or want to show their finished product - you are very welcome to do so, it still brings a smile to my face when I see a beautiful running contact, it's something addictive about it. It is on times frustrating as well... - but it all makes the end result even sweeter. So... Happy training, everybody!
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Two super fun classes starting soon!!! Join us in Foundations and/or Running Contacts classes for fast and personalized feedback and great results! |
 Silvia Trkman is known for bringing every dog, from her first dog on, to the very top of the sport. Her dogs are known for great speed, tight turns, running contacts and long and injury-free careers. Silvia is in agility since 1992 and is– 3x World Champion (with two different dogs)
– 5x European Open winner, with 4 different dogs (Lo, La, Bu, Le)!!!
– National Championships podium and World Team member with every dog she’s ever had – National Champion for 22-times (with 5 different dogs of 3 different breeds) – World Team member for 19-times (mostly with at least two dogs at the time – sometimes four 🙂 ) |
Hello Silvia,
Kaz is my first dog ever i want to teach running contacts. I never saw a dog with a running dogwalk so i don’t know if i’m doing it well.
This video is from today, the first training he ever had on a dogwalk frame. It’s not at full speed because it was the 1st time and i first wanted to see how he would react.
In the end of the video he puts his legs like i think that it’s correct (starts at 35 seconds). He does this for +- 70%.
What do you think?
Greetings, Michael
Of course i mean that i never saw a running contact dogwalk in Belgium ((-:
Litle mistake ((-:
Yeap, that’s o.k. for a first session, but do add speed right now, starting him at least 4m before the plank (from a tunnel or with a wrap) and throw further. Speed comes before feet placement, so focus on that first, but yes, that was pretty nice feel placement -- with more speed, you will get even more separation though.
Ok thank you!
Tomorow i’m going to use your tips!
Hi Silvia, what do you think, please ?
When I use a 4m long plank (one part of our dog-walk) for learning running contacts and new lenght of one part of a dog-walk will have (in new rules) 360cm -- 380cm is good or bad for my dog teaching him RC on this lenght of planks, wich is 4m long ?
Thank you for your opinion !
Not sure if I understand a question… Are you asking if it’s a problem training the dog on 4m plank and then competing on 3.6m DW? If so: it’s not. S/he will have to get used to everything anyway as we’ll be seeing various lengths for very, very long time I think.
Thank you very much ! 🙂
Hi Silvia,
Well I have been training my girl for less than a year on agility in general, let alone running contacts. She has trialed, but instead of actually training her contacts I just slow down and make sure she gets into the zone.
Is this bad?
I really want to fully train her to do RCs, and we have done a little plank work but not much. So I had a couple questions.
1) How long is the minimum you can have your plank? I figured a full one (for the organization you compete in) would be best, so I got one, but having it smaller might be easier for the flat land space I have.
2) How fast should we progress? Is it bad to do it pretty quick?
3) Do you have any suggestions on speeding her up? Sometimes she runs it, but sometimes (like after I say uh oh, when she misses) the next time she trots down instead of run, or if I run with her she trots. (She is a slow dog anyway)
4) Is it best to only reward for a certain stride into the zone? Or reward any feet in the zone? Like for example only reward if front feet hit middle of zone?
Thanks so so so much. Your are the best/my favorite trainer. 🙂
Much Love. ~AllAboutKeira
Forgot to add, is it bad that she is already trialing and running on full height equipment without being fully trained? We already have two more trials coming up.
It’s certainly not ideal and might give you some bad habits you’ll have to deal with…
The problem with managing contacts like you describe is that it usually doesn’t work on a long run and that it doesn’t work at all with fast and drivey dogs. So once se ads speed, it will all fall apart, so I would definitely work on real RC. For real RC however, you need FULL speed and sounds like this one will be the hardest to get, so RC training will definitely take you quite some time, BUT improve her overall speed and drive. I would definitely recommend my new DVD for that one. And yes, ideally use a full length plank and you can use a hilly part of the land for raising it. Don’t mark bad tries and don’t worry about hits, there are many steps that come first and for now, only focus on form of running. Read through all those pages, see all the videos and maybe join January RC class (or audit the existing one?) to get a better picture of what you’re going for.
Okay, first thank you so much.
So I need to start from the beginning and go really slow?
I now know that any other dog I get I will start their training before they get on real equipment, but for this girl for the first part of her training I didn’t even know about running contacts because everyone in my club teaches 2o/2o. But I know now that I definitely want a running.
Haha, I was gonna to get your dvd as soon as i could anyway! I’ve watched your heel and cik/cap ones too and I think they’re great! Is it out yet?
So you think a RC class would still be good for her even though she’s kind of past new on equipment? That’s the only thing that stopped me from going ahead and signing up. If I were to join this next class, should I hold off on training RCs until it starts, and just keep fudging our way through trials ’til then? It’s fine if you do, I really would like her to have a pretty contact. Especially since some of my trainers don’t like other contacts besides 2o/2o.
I think I’ve watched all your RC videos a million times, and I study others on YouTube. I just love your videos, and your happy dogs!
Sorry; so many questions.
Forgot to ask, is this something I should do every day? Or better like three times a week? Either will work for me, wondered if three times a week would make her desire it more?
Thanks again.
Yeap, start at level zero: getting full speed. 🙂 RC class is of course for anybody interested in the method, we have lots of retrains too. You can start training already now, but of course run h trials the old way, RC training will take you a while. For dogs who are not that drively, the best is to work almost every day, but not too many repetitions to not bore them. The new DVD is coming out today 🙂
Yay! I will see if I will be able to sign up then 🙂
Oh really?! Yay! I will see if I can order it then!
Can’t thank you enough, so thanks-again!
🙂
Hi,
I do running contacts with my medium dog for two years. He is pretty good on our dogwalk, nice contacts even if we turn after. But on competitions he is not able to run full speed. When the dogwalk is good, yeah he will touch the contact with quite good speed. But if the dogwalk is moving or oscillating he will run really slowly, and he will not run full speed even with toy. Please, don´t you have any advices? thanks
Well, try to go to as many different DWs as possible to train on different DWs and help him get more confident with them… Or only enter them in trials where they have good obstacles 🙂
Hello Silvia,
I have a little different question… I trained RC with my pyrshep for almost four years and we were competing for 2 years from it. I really love RC, but she is afraid of every new dogwalk so she runs full speed never and of course she miss the contact. So I decided to start with stpped contacts.
So please, how did you teach Lo 2o2o?
Thank you a lot for your answer!
Did you try to go to different places to train to get her used to different obstacles? It was hard for Bu at the beginning too, but she got used to it with practise. I’m no expert for 2on2off, but as everything, I teach it as just another trick, on a box or upside down drawer, shaping the position first and then adding speed by restraining the dog from further&further away and race him there. It transfers to the DW really easily and allows you to train everything without actual obstacles.
Yes, I did. If I showed him a toy and sent her back, he still didn´t run full speed, but it was better. Without a toy no change… She doesn´t run on 100% also on others obstacles (I mean A-frame, see-saw, …), but it´s still better than DW.
Well, thanks a lot, I will try…!
Excuse me for pronouns, I have sometimes problems with it… 🙂
Just have to share this photo of my girl Älva 🙂
I trained her running contacts using your method and she sure runs!
She seems to love it! 🙂
Hey Silvia,
If I’m throwing the toy while the dog is running the plank, and she misses the contact, doesn’t get a click, but still gets the toy…. Do I let her? How do I let her know that the running is what I want if she gets the toy anyways?
Thanks SO much!
I think this was covered about million times already, but in short: missing or not missing a contact doesn’t matter at this stage anyway. What you want is running and if she is not running on a flat plank, that’s probably because the plank is too narrow or too thick, so that’s your problem, not hers and it’s fine she gets the ball and you need to get another plank. When you get nice, full extension running, you can jackpot the best feet placements by clicking, excitement and more playing (tugging) to make her se there is something extra cool about that end of a plank -- don’t worry, dogs are smart 🙂
And oh, you’re throwing too late. You need to throw before she gets on the plank.
Thank You!!! I’ll definitely try that! 🙂
Hi,
We were one of your RC II participants but did not complete due to a variety of reasons. I have since decided to do a two on dog walk (have not started yet) but want to do a running A frame & I hope you can answer a question on training RC Aframe -- Harley enters the Aframe with one hit, then leaps over the apex, hits the just before the beginning of the contact zone in his 2nd hit then he is off the A frame. The A frame is currently only abt 1metre high.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Regards
Tsuey
You need to raise the A-frame. Low A-frame (not when it’s very low, but when it’s between 50 and 130cm) promotes flying over the apex too much and gives you wrong striding. You want at least 3 hits, most BCs actually do 4. So definitely raise it and maybe try less-speedy approaches for now to get rid of flying. And no ball throwing! You should be able to still access RC classroom to get some more tips and a better idea of what you’re going for.
Oops forgot to enter my question. Is what I just described of Harleys Aframe performance wrong? should I get him to shorten his 3rd stride? I am considering using touch board training.
Thanks!
No, you don’t want shortening of the stride of the third stride. You want to get rid of flying over an apex, it can be dangerous anyway. I don’t think a touch board will help any with that, as all you can get with it is shortening of the last stride and that’s hard to impossible to maintain. You want equal striding, two hits up, one or even better two down.
Thanks so much for your advice -- we will raise the A frame & try for 3 hits!Wishing you and your loved ones all the best for theNew Year! May all your dreams & aspirations come true in 2012
This is my first time training a RC and I’ve read through your training article tons of times to try to make sure we get things right. Though I do have some questions if you don’t mind. I’m sure these have likely been covered already, but I haven’t managed to read through all 28 pages of comments/questions yet.
Should I be jackpotting rear feet in the contact vs front feet? Or should that matter as maybe it’s just a preference of the individual dog? Also should I care whether she is putting only one foot in the contact vs puting 2-3 feet in (on occasion she’ll hit with the first leg, being front or rear, and she’ll stretch longer than her normal stride would have with the second leg so that it lands just after the plank vs at the end of the plank)? We’re only at 4″ right now, but since she’s been running full speed I think I’m supposed to tighten the jackpotting criteria to “better” hits?
I’ve noticed that when my dog hits with only her rear feet she typically will land with the first rear foot, keep her second rear foot elevated above the board, and continue her stride without setting that foot down until the next stride. I’m not sure what the cause is to this but I know that she was sensitive to how wide and thick the board was when we first started so I’m thinking maybe at some point she stepped on the edge of the board and didn’t like the feel so now she’s leary of setting that second rear foot down near the end of the plank? We never had this come up when we first started, she’s only been doing this for the past week or so (we train 1-2x a day)? I don’t believe its always the same foot but would need to review our videos to make certain. She runs full speed even when she might”skip” so I am guessing that I should just ignore this behavior and she might start setting it down in the contact with time? Or should I stop raising the plank and just work on jackpotting if she sets that second foot down (I honestly cannot tell when she “skips” or not when she’s running the plank since she’s moving so fast and there is no obvious change in the rest of her body, but I’m sure I could find a way to tell “in the moment” if that would be best)? I’ve only been able to see her “skip” when playing the video back in slow motion.
I find it odd that she almost never jumps, but if she chooses to do something other than run through the contact she will “extend her stride?” extremely long and high if she’s trying to clear the end of the plank. I’m just treating this like a jump and will have her retry in which case she always does perfect the second time around. The reason I don’t think it’s a jump is since she lands with a lot of seperation in the rear feet and they take off seperately but then she’ll tuck them up tight and really stretch in the front end so as not to have to touch the board again (or at least that is what I am interpretting her motive as) but it would make more sense if I was wrong and it is technically a jump. She only does this once every session in which we run the plank about 13-15 times total, but that’s why we haven’t moved up from 4″ yet. Hoping that she’ll decide that “extending” if you would call it that is not worth it. I could be wrong but I think she knows that this isn’t wanted, but excitement takes over for just that one run and she throws logic out the door 😉
Okay, my last question would be- since she was/is sensitive to how narrow the plank is I have been running her on two planks set side-by-side, both getting raised at the same time obviously. I’m doing this with the mind-set that I won’t need to fade jump wings or a hoop set out in the distance (for whatever reason the hoop set about 6 feet from the end of the plank allows her to concentrate on running directly to it rather than concentrating on flying off a narrow board, but I’ve read your thought on the hoops so only did that as an experiment). So should I just keep raising both boards together until I think she would be 100% comfortable running the entire length of the plank, no matter what the width, then remove one of the planks? Or should I concentrate at working to the point of being able to remove one of the planks before continuing to raise the height?
Thanks so much for everything! I am training my other dog (a 2o2o retrain) at the same time and she is doing absolutely perfect! Runs full speed, hits with both rear feet and low in the contact, never jumps/extends, and also tends to enter/exit the plank correctly even if sent at an angle or if her reward is at an angle from the exit. I don’t think she’s jumped but once in all of our sessions at this and she is also extremely consistent in her running pattern/feet placement. But because she is adjusting her stride before she even gets on the plank, it does make me wonder if she’s just been “lucky” and may not even realize that there is criteria? But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see as her plank keeps rising in height.
Thanks again!
Huh, most of that is covered to details in RC class, so just real short here: yes, your other dog might be just lucky as jump on a plank is a kind of a stride regulator. Try to use the third plank for up ramp to a table to a double down ramp to check it. Once they get used to running up the single plank, make down plank single and build a low DW.
Skipping is not good as otherwise nice hit can become no hit because the second foot doesn’t come down… It could be because of stepping on the edge, that’s why think planks are important. Try not to reward those tries, you can see that just one leg hit. Extending the last stride is not good either, however you call it. I usually call it a leap when hind feet are separated and a jump when they’re together, but calling it that way or another, don’t reward it. If it only happens here and there, you can keep adding height. I jackpot nice, in the middle hits with good separation. I don’t like one high or very low leg, but if it’s one leg n the middle, that’s fine. I have a preference for hind feet, it’s easier for them and they mostly switch to hind feet on full height DW anyway.