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!
First I wanted to do only running A-frame with my young bc Chick (16months now), but when I saw you RC video there was no other choice -- we had to try also with a running dogwalk 😉 Thank you SO MUCH for this great method, you are a real inspiration 🙂
The whole process is so beautiful, I really enjoyed it. One day my puppy just realized how to meet the criteria and it went quite fast since then -- after 3 months we have nice deep hits when straight exits, good tight turns and now working on light turns and multi choices.
This is a short movie of cik-dw-cap-dw-cik… and so on. On those single choice straight exits she is now 99% successful. But if you see it in slow motion you can see that her stride on horizontal ramp is always shorten and then she has to make some adjustments on down ramp to hit with 2RF (this last 1FF doesnt happen often). Should I worry that her stride is not equal on whole dw and help her in some way or let her figure out herself and just give more time? We do whole dw since a month, started it at about 1m height and before did a 4m plank put on different hills with more and less speedy approaches.
Hope you have a second to watch it and let me know what you think
Regards Monika
Very happy to hear things went so well -- always great to get some feedback! Chick looks great and is showing really great understanding, so I wouldn’t worry about the striding and just give her time to figure it out, while working on different approaches and exits and also trying different DWs if possible. Her striding might still change, but it’s o.k. even if it stays that way 🙂
Hi Silvia, I have a question for you and would be extremely grateful for your answer 🙂 I am doing (trying to do :P) RC by you great DVD about RC but I have a problem… We were first doing 2o2o for about two years… she has no problems with a change from stopping at the end of a plank to running but do you think she is leaping too much or running nicely with a consistent movement? I am indeed using a carpet what helps a lot but I honestly don’t know if it helps enough 😛 So, how does it looks like to you? Productive or not? 🙂 Thank you so much!
Oh, and this notes about JPs and rewards are referring especially to her movement at this stage… Correct me please if I am wrong about what should be JP and what R… 😀
Sorrry again but after looking at the video again, i noticed that notes about JP an R are reffering to her hits, not movement…
Looks good, but I would like to see some more separation… -- I think you are starting her in the middle of a DW now? -- That could be the reason for less separation, so maybe try running the whole thing? I would also have a bit stricter criteria for small dogs and NR the highest hits because if it’s too easy, they might not get good enough understanding. I see no other problems, so just continue like this yes.
Thanks for your quick answer 🙂 Well, I did the way you recommended, but another problem has appeared… We needed some time to find her new starting spot since she was running above three planks now (the whole DW) not only two anymore -- and I found it to be just about 30 cm before the first plank. If she starts there, she is hitting very nicely, almost all of the hits are JPs. But I am wondering, should we find another one because in the future when the DW is going to be much higher, she won’t have enough speed approach what could cause some troubles?
And do you think her movement is ok or is she leaping a little? Could it be because of the darkness so she can’t see the flying ball good enough?
Here’s the result:
Thanks for the answer!
Those were really cool hits, but I am a bit worried that what she is doing is trying to leap the end of the carpet, so I would fade the carpet really quickly (pull it up so that it overlaps the end only by 10cm or so) to make sure she is not cuing from the carpet. If fading the carpet goes well, you can start adding height.
With more height, she will need speedier approaches yes, but then, we want her to hit with a normal full speed approach once the DW is on full height, so no worries. The good spot changes with every height.
Thanks, so we will try fading the carpet today’s evening and I will keep you updated 🙂
So here’s today’s result… not much productive I think 🙁 You were right, she’s leaping the end of a carpet, because when it was overlaping the edge of the down plank only about 10 cm, she was constantly leapnig. But well, interestingly she was giving me perfect hits as soon as the carpet was setted on a contact the way she has been used to. (see the very last try)
Do you think leaping the edge of the carpet is a serious problem? I am getting a bit nervous (know I shouldn’t 😛 ) because she’s hitting perfectly but if she does that, she leaps the end of the carpet. If the carpet is shorter, she doesn’t hit… 🙁 rel="nofollow">
Oh, silly me forgot to post the video… 😛 Well I must admit I am getting a bit nervous (know I shouldn’t 😛 ) because if she hits perfectly (what happens basically only when the carpet is setted on her old way), she overlaps the end of the carpet. If the carpet is shorter, she leaps the contact. 🙁 I don’t know what to do…
Yes, it’s what I though… She was not learning to hit the contact, but to leap the end of the carpet…. So I certainly wouldn’t use it the old way anymore, but work through leaping without the carpet OR make the carpet MUCH longer (so she doesn’t hit the contact when trying to leap the carpet). And, I would probably start with some flat carpet/thin plank running to help her forget about the leaps.
Ok, we’ll probably try it next week.
And when does the RC online class starts?
December. June class lasts till mid-October.
Hi Sia, this is how Ruby’s running contacts look after 20 months of pause 🙂 We did a some GTCG a year ago, but then he got injured so this is his first full-length DW in almost two years. I can’t believe he remembers what the criteria is and how to meet it -- my eyes had trouble seeing his feet, but his feet had no trouble hitting the contact 😀 I think he was trying to set speed record today…
The DW is lowered to make it easier for him to find a new striding pattern as I would like to see if he can learn to do 4 strides this time. Though the fact that he missed the up contact on first DW makes me think it might be better to encourage 5 strides. What do you think?
Great!!! That sure was fast 🙂 I would let him decide on his striding, challenge him with different approaches (more and less speedy ones) and actually try to promote as many different stridings/solutions as possible -- and let him choose the most comfortable one for him.
Oh great, I don’t know why I got caught up in thinking he needs *one* way of striding. Thanks 🙂
Yesterday he stepped on the end of the down ramp and has been avoiding the contact after that 🙁 I guess we’re going up to full height now.
🙁 If the problem persists, maybe hide the end by putting the carpet over?
I didn’t see that he stepped on the edge so we continued with the session. I thought it was weird that he was leaping all of the sudden, but hey… Once his stride opened up again he stepped on it AGAIN 🙁
He really knows it’s good to hit low and it was never a problem with wooden dog walks, so he will probably step on it again.
this was exactly what happened to Bibi, I wrote it under your post… she refused to run on any kind of height or plank and I had to return to the plank on the ground. Fortunately only for a few session…
Hi Silvia,
we faced a problem with Bibis RC. I think she hit the slanted end of the DW (low 60 cm) at the edge and from then on didnt want to run anymore. So I went back to the 50 cm plank flat, then slowly up until she was again running nicely. Now I switched to full DW at 60 cm but having the 50cm wide plank on the down ramp. I placed it ca 90 cm away from the beginning of the downramp to make its end come directly to the ground to avoid any edge. Bibi is running perfectly! Now I have two questions: Should I look only for running nicely or should I look for hitting the 90 cm zone on the plank or the zone of the underlying DW which is 90 cm shorter?? Second Question: when rising the DW I want to avoid any edge and will have to use the plank nearly up to full height. Should I saw the plank to 30 cm width? From which height on? Videos coming soon 🙂 Thanks for answering, Irina
Yeah, I hate those edges… I would narrow your plank yes and use it flat on a DW so that it reaches just as many cm longer as DW as necessary to cover the edge -- until it’s necessary to cover it. You’re clicking for hits on a contact that is covered with a plank, but on the same spot, so I’m not sure what you mean that DW contact is 90cm shorter??? Alternatively, you could dig a trench to the ground to hide the edge.
oh, I was afraid I didnt explain well… ok: the edge of the DW downramp ist so high, that it takes about 90 cm of the wooden plank over the edge to reach the ground. So the combined downramp is not 4m long but 4,90m. This makes a difference in striding. My question was wether I should click for hits from3,10-4,00 m (measured from the beginning of the downramp) and mark this zone on the surface of the wooden plank), or if I should click for hits from 4,00 -- 4,90m (end of the wooden plank). Clearer now?
and: no! I won`t dig a trench into my lawn!! 😉
Wow, that’s a HUGE edge that you need to lengthen it so much… Usually it’s only 10-15cm extra… 90cm extra is not perfect no, so a trench would be better 🙂 If it’s really not an option, then try raising the DW as fast as possible to get to full height and shorter/no plank as fast as possible. Click the end of the plank for now, but and work on all other things/challenges later on, when you get to real length.
ok, I think it won’t be a problem to raise it fast. yesterday it was 30cm, today nearly 60. I will try. And narrow the plank to 30 cm and -- perhaps remove a little piece of sod 😉 thanks
Hi Silvia, yesterday I taped a quite long DW session. It seems to turn difficult, I can’t rely on anything… what was good yesterday turns bad today…. I am really not sure how to carry on. I think I should let her run the whole DW and find a good starting spot. But its getting quite exhausting for her to run it again and again when not hitting. So I looked for a good starting point ON the DW and finally found one. But maybe tomorrow it will be totally different again…:-( I really need your advice! By the way… I DID dig a trench, so the wide plank was at last only 15 cm longer than the DW 😉 )
I would try this spot again and eventually move her back one stride at the time if she is still hitting. If she is leaping again, I would put a long carpet partly on a down ramp partly on the ground to hide the end and use that to stop the leaping and get the hits.
Hi Silvia,
So I raised the plank after your email- I had 2 sessions where she would do a LONG and high leap in the middle I think to avoid the apex of the down plank (which in turn resulted in almost all JPs) but after the session before this, her running seems mostly back to normal (though I was starting her with lots of speed last time and had heaps or NRs) so today I tried starting her from a good spot, played a bit of GTCG (I think) and found a good spot again… can you take a look and let me know if it all looks ok? I’m planning on staying on this height for a while longer until I think she’s 100% comfortable running on it and getting more hits, but I’d love your thoughts. I know at least one of the leaps was due to my poor ball-throwing skills! I’ll post both today’s and the day before yesterday’s session.
The December RC class seems so far away. 😉
Thanks in advance. 😀
Well, we certainly want more hits… What is her approach in those videos? If you can, give her a speedier approach, so she can it with 3 strides, OR limit her speed on the approach to get 4 stride hits -- or both. We certainly want some 4 stride hits as that’s more realistic striding for full height.
She’s coming from a straight approach, standing start in the top video. In the bottom video with lots of hits it was a pretty much straight approach but from much further away so the bottom video had lots more speedy approaches as opposed to the top one… So I’ll try some speedier approaches but with finding a good starting spot for hits? (and mix it up some for less speedy approaches…?)
I wouldn’t call the bottom video the one with lots of hits either -- we want much more hits as that! But yes, you can use some of the same approach as for last tries in that video + some short distance little speed approaches to find one that would give you 4 stride hits -- and then stick with those 2.
Hahaha, I meant to write lots of misses. Whoops.
Thanks for your help, I’ll give that a go 🙂
Hi Silvia 😀
Wondering if I can seek your advice??
Do you train your dogs difficult entries to get onto the d/w?? I’m struggling to get Liryk to load herself onto the dogwalk from a 45degree angle and twice now in competition she has fallen 🙁 I have previously used a pole for her to “wrap” so that she straightens herself but wondering if you had any other ideas, thoughts? Otherwise she is going great!! and we are loving the running contact journey 😀
Megan, Liryk and Edge
Great to hear Liryk is doing great! I don’t train entries to DW specifically, but already in a training process, I do lots of sending them back to a DW from its end (with a pole to help) and I think it really teaches them to prepare and hang on, while at the same time, it’s still a safe entry as there is not much speed involved because of a 180 degree turn. The very slight turns that don’t seem significant enough to the dogs to straighten up before the DW are always the most dangerous ones, but my dogs are really good at them all actually and never fall off, I think because of the extreme turns we do right from the start -- so maybe some more of those?
Thankyou soooooo much Silvia!!! 😀
Hi Silvia! Just started L on the plank today. The problem is she does not want to stay on the plank. How do I make her stay on the plank? I attach a video so you can see how I did today. Should I keep playing like this or do you have any good advice? Thanks in advantage!
Maybe get the DVD? In short: wider plank, barriers etc., but I think DVD would be very helpful in general…
I already have the dvd but I did not find much about what to do when dog does not want to stay on the plank… but I will try with barriers, the plank is already over 50 cm vide.
It certainly says to use barriers 🙂
Sorry Silvia!
I have watched the video many times but now that I finally can start training with L again, I missed that chapter!
I will try with barriers 🙂
Thanks / Carola
Hi Silvia, I changed a lot of things. I lowered the DW. Began again with 50 cm plank, then 30cm plank over the edge, then a blanket. Tried a stationary toy behind a jump for some sessions, because I was afraid that for Bibi the ball is a reward, not a lure. It didn’t work, she slowed down and looked for the ball. Now I have a straight tunnel which you cannot see in the video, about 3m away from the contact zone. I throw the ball over it. The best runs are when I throw the ball early and do not run too far ahead -- this leads to leaping. We had 2 or three sessions like this and it works. What do you think? Raise the DW slowly? Try anything else?
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Cool! You can maybe raise some first yes, but then start adding your movement + start fading the carpet.