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!
 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 🙂 ) |
Hi Silvia!
Ninja never misses a straight exit now, not even on trials with new dw:s!
A week ago he won an agility class 2!! 🙂
The turns we are still working on…
Do you ever use some kind of target at the bottom of the contact to make it easier for the dog to hit with his front paws? I´m thinking of something quite small, made of clear plastic material that would be easy to fade…
This is how Ninja´s turns look today:
Great!!! Congratulations! Getting there with turns too! I sometimes use a target to get ff for turns yes, but I use a big one (covering 2/3 of the contact, in the middle -- usually using a piece of carpet), teaching them to touch-turn-go (rewarding off the target) away from equipment first and then putting it on a contact. It was never a problem to fade it, other that at the beginning, you still need to put it back sometimes as a reminder. We did it with a Terv from Denmark in the 1st RC class you were in, maybe you can still find it.
Ok, thanks! I remember seeing a carpet-target in a film. I will try that! 🙂
I´ve worked with a big carpet target on the down contact for tight turns for a couple of sessions. And today Ninja nailed both right and left turns on first try!!! I´m so happy -- love Ninja´s running contacts 😀 Thank you, Silvia! 🙂
Yay, so cool!!! And it only gets better&better! 🙂 Great job, Ninja looks GREAT!
Mayhem’s running dogwalk at a trial this past weekend, he still needs more work with turns and more exposure to RC in new locations/on new dogwalks. 🙂
Great!!! Nice adjustment at the apex and a really nice hit! Great job!
Thanks Silvia 🙂
Hi Silvia, Astro my puppy is now 16 months old, he is so sweet, I’m planning to do 2off and 2on DOG walk and a running A-Frame, I think I’m not yet prepare for running with Acqua it has Been so dificult for me 🙁 and I’m a little bit frustared.
I’ m doing all the Work I learned from your class with Astro, with a 80cm x 2mt plank, and we are here, this is first time at this height, who do You see us? Should I continuing raising slow? I’m not sure if is the same Work and steps.
I would like to see some more separation, but am happy to see he is not flying over the top at all, as that’s what usually happens at this height, so I usually only do no-speed approaches on this height and add speed on more height only… I guess you can try adding height and come back in case you get even less separation then.
Thank You Silvia!!
Dear Silvia,
My dog Zen is 6 years old, She is so fast and turns tight. She is with me just 3 years ago and the previous master put a lot of pressure by teaching her the contacts so she is VERY shy going down. She is very close to the contact and then jumps! I tried 2on 2 off because its supossed what she knew but I´m feeling frustrated because she is not improving on it. We were in Teams in the WC and lost about 3 seconds due to the contacts, specially on the dog walk.
What can I do? Can you organize a “private long distance lessons” for me?
Thank You!
Yes, pressure mostly results in confusion and slowing down… You could either try to retrain for RC or improve her 2on2off understanding away from obstacles first, shaping it as a trick. For RC, RC class would be best and for 2ono2ff, Foundations class.
hi silvia -- we have been out of touch for a while -- wicked had injury / illness for most of our season this year. so now she is fine and we are back to training but very rusty! we finished your running contacts and running contacts 2 doing pretty well (so long ago now!), but now she is a bit inconsistent and i’m not sure she still is adjusting to hit. looks like maybe it’s mostly luck because of her striding. anyway, i cannot access our old videos and your help anymore -- is it gone? i am still auditing handling 2 and able to see that. do you have suggestions for us to get back to better rc? thanks, terri/wicked
All material is still on line, it’s just that the links to old classes are not on a left side bar anymore, but at the bottom of “long distance classes” page, so check it there. Sounds like she would benefit from Get That Contact Game, starting her at different spots on a DW and expecting her to hit no matter where she starts.
is that a specific game i missed? and, what do i do then if she misses?
It’s a good way to “force” them into adjusting their stride. You can first find some good, easy spots that give you consistent hits and then slowly move her towards hard spots that require adjustments. Click&reward the hits and retry for mises.
ok, thanks. i thot maybe it was a class concept i missed or a new video! i will do that!
Hello Silvia, Nice saying hi to you again. After almost a year of having the running contacts course with you, and after a lot of training sessions I finally have a trust worthy running contact, ther is still much to work on, but we continue doing everything that you told us on the course. It took time, I am not sure if you remember us. We live in Colombia all the way in south america. I think I was one of your fist students from Colombia. I hope you like the video.
Yay!!! Looks great! RC are quite a process yes, but it sure is worth it all once you get to this point!
Sorry, for some reason it uploaded a whole list of my videos. here is the video alone:
Hi Sylvia,
I have started all over with Trekk since our last RC class with you last spring. He lost his hind leg separation and was not very comfortable running over the DW. I started with the plank again and then slowly adding 3″ at a time on the DW. He has been hitting nicely with mostly 1 FF and 1 or 2 RF in the contact zone. But since we are at 34″ height he seems to be reducing his hind leg separation. So I put a piece of carpet from halfway the contact zone extending beyond the DW for 1,5 feet. He seems to hit nicely again with that. I wonder if he is afraid of the edge of the DW? I even dug it into the ground to eliminate it. Should I continue with the carpet for a while?
Thanks so much! (btw Macha is doing awesome with her RC)
Sietske
Yay for Macha! Trekk looks great with the carpet too, so yes, keep it for now, then shorten the part reaching over, then paint it with a contact color and then switch to something thinner. -- You will see it in a DVD once it arrives 🙂 It could be he is avoiding the edge yes…
Hi, I would like to buy a plank and I am not sure how long should it be for my dog. I have made that video and I would be glad if you could help me 🙂 I don’t want to have a really long one if it is possible, so that I can move it wherever I want (I live in apartment). How do you think, Is the 2,5 m ok for him? Looking forward to hearing from you! Beast regards
PS: watch it without a voice, i forgot to remove it
You need to start her farther back to get full length stride… For most BC, 3,6m would be minimum when fully extended.
Is 3,6 m plank the minimum? I’m aksing because you said on the video that when the dog does two strides, the plank is long enough (that’s why I did the video, I wanted to see his strides) I thought that 3m plank is ok -- before training on regular dogwalk plank. Is the length of the plank on the video with Bi ok? How long is it?
Yes, but I don’t think you will get 2 hits on 3m if you start him farther back, with full speed. You CAN train with less speedy approaches in order to be able to use a shorter plank, as I did with Bi, BUT the transferring of the behavior to the DW will be harder then -- just a warning, so that you know what to expect!
ok, thanx a lot! regards
today she was hitting almost every runn