Alternative Contact Training Method

Marco Mouwen showed us his contact method at the end of the seminar last weekend.  It was a short 10-15 minute explanation and Strummer and I were the demo team.  Part of me was mortified but part of me was happy for the hands-on opportunity to try it out. My understanding of it may be a bit fuzzy but I'll try to explain it.  I was hoping to shoot some video on my contact trainer or the dogwalk at the training field but both will be buried in snow for a good long while and I didn't want to leave it too long or I'd forget what I'm doing so I set up a little demo in my living room.

The final dogwalk behavior is the dog switching from a run to a trot on the down plank of the dogwalk and trotting through the yellow at the bottom with no stop.  The A-frame is the same.  I found a video of one of Marco's runs on You Tube and it gives you a good idea of what you're aiming for.  You can clearly see the dog transition from the run to the trot at the down plank of the dogwalk.  There are also some good examples of how he sets a line on course and uses the off-arm.



To start training this method you use a target at the bottom of the dogwalk, get the dog on the dogwalk a step or two above the yellow, release him to the target and have him down.  Reward him in the down position.  At the seminar I was holding Strummer on the dogwalk while Marco baited the target.  Then I released Strummer, he ran down the plank, I told him to down and Marco let him have the treats when he was lying down.  You gradually move the dog up the dogwalk until he's at the top of the down plank.  As he descends the plank you say 'Liiiiieeeee' and then 'Down' when he's at the end.  The extended 'Lie' is the verbal cue for the gait switch to the trot.  Next step is to move the target away from the end of the plank.  In the video I moved it a little but you would work towards moving in farther away.  Then you fade the target but you can still ask the dog to lie down.  Then you fade the down.  I'm a little fuzzy on those last steps but I'm pretty sure that's how it was supposed to go.  I put together a little video of the first steps that we practiced at the seminar.

Alternative Contact Training Method from colliebrains on Vimeo.

I'm not sure if the lying down part is necessary for all dogs or if Marco decided it was something specific that a dog like Strummer needed.

For the A-frame you do the same thing, starting with the frame at roughly the same angle as the dogwalk.

Obviously this method is not as fast as a true running contact.  But it's still pretty darn fast and doesn't involve slamming the shoulders like 2 on/2 off and the dog doesn't have the demotiviation of having to stop so it could be a good method for dogs with motivation/speed issues.  Could also be good for handlers who can't run fast enough to deal with a running contact. 

After giving it much thought I've decided that I'm probably not going to switch Strummer over to this method mostly because I don't think it's a great idea to switch horses at this point in the game.  It's going to be confusing for him and I lose a whole bunch more time with the retrain.  But it's an interesting method and something I would consider if I was starting out  a new dog.  The other issue is that I don't know anyone local or on the internet who has trained this method so if I had problems I'd have to troubleshoot them myself but maybe by the time I'm ready for a new dog there will be more people familiar with it.  It also involves a lot of training methods that I don't like using-targets, luring, fading things-but I suppose I could come up with my own way to accomplish the same end result.  Would be interesting to figure out a way to shape the switch to the trot, maybe starting on the flat.  Might be an interesting winter project just for the heck of it.

Walk The Line-Marco Mouwen Seminar

Talk about getting your money's worth.  I joined an agility club just so I could get a working spot in this seminar and being a member meant I spent only $40 for a 1/2 day Intermediate Handling spot.  Two hours into the seminar I was dripping with sweat and Strummer was panting.  Panting I tell you.  Do you know what it takes to wear Strummer out?  Frankly, I didn't think it possible.  But Marco's got this super efficient way of running things so you get lots of turns and you better get your butt on the line ready to go when it's your turn or else.  Now I knew what I was signing up for since Cody and I attended one of Marco's seminars a few years ago and this fast paced training environment was great for Strummer since he didn't have a lot of down time to get worked up over the other dogs working without getting to work himself.  I wish most classes worked this way, I'd get a lot more out of them.  Strum did great with this format and didn't start going over his excitement threshold until the 2 hour mark and though I certainly had some moments with keeping him from losing it when dogs were going over the contact equipment he was much improved from his behavior in indoor classes last year at this time.

The seminar focused on setting lines to achieve the most efficient path.  He also had us working on using the outside arm to get collection and tight turns.  I remembered a lot of things from last time and I had incorporated some of his ideas into my own handling but it was good to get a refresher course and to see the concepts being applied to different situations.  I know some people aren't a big fan of setting lines but I can tell you I owe one of Lola's Super Q's to setting a line.  We beat out a boatload of way faster dogs because they had a wide turn coming out of a tunnel into a serpentine and I set a line for a nice tight turn.  I don't do a whole lot of it but there are times when it comes in handy.  Same for the outside arm, I don't think I overuse it but every once in a while it makes all the difference, especially with a dog like Strummer.

Now you would think that with all the experience I've had with these ideas that I breezed through the seminar, everything right the first time and gold stars all around.  Instead I felt like the slow kid in class, having to do things a second and third and maybe even fourth time and getting pointed out to the group as an example of how not to do something.  I had a few depressing moments of thinking 'Uh, how many years have I been doing agility now?'.  On the plus side I got a lot of personal attention, solid helpful feedback and a lot of practice.  Part of the problem for me was that we weren't able to walk the course for the small 4-5 obstacle exercises so I couldn't easily visualize in advance where I needed to be or how I needed to move, where to speed up, slow down, etc.  I had to figure those things out on the fly and with a speedster like Strummer that's no easy task.  I think it's good to work on this visualization skill though and maybe if I do it more it'll help in a more global sense.  And let's face it, I seemed to be the only one having this issue so let's not blame it totally on the format and maybe some of my bad habits like trying to outrun the speeding bulletdog rather than thoughtful handling came into play.  The good news is that I was able to do the exercises correctly eventually after screwing it up the first time then being told what to do and maybe screwing it up again then finally getting it right.

The first 2 1/4 hours of the seminar were devoted to short exercises then we worked a full course, running it ourselves with no feedback the first time then a discussion about it then the chance to run it again, this time with feedback if needed.  Once again we needed.  The interesting thing that came out of this was a suggestion to abandon the running contacts.  You can imagine how I felt about that given all the work I've put into them.  I explained my issues with Strummer potentially ruining his shoulders with the 2 on/2 off method and Marco offered to show me his contact method if I was willing to stay after class and of course I was willing.  It was an interesting method and I'll give an explanation of my understanding of it in a separate post.