My Running Valentine: What I Learned About Running Contacts

This past weekend, Jefferson and I attended an agility training seminar given by Daisy Peel, national and international championship handler known for her running contacts.  I was excited about learning as much as I could about running contacts and additional agility tips from such an expert in the field…(it sounds like I am referring to a brain surgeon!)  The starting time was 8 a.m. which required the ridiculously early 5 a.m. wake-up alarm so that I could leave by 6 a.m. and arrive in time.  I packed the car with the usual doggie provisions:  Day Tripper portable soft crate; large red water cooler; doggie bag full of essentials; cooler filled with lots of cheese (and a Coke for me!); extra blanket in case it gets cold; a chair to sit in; changes of shoes and an additional sweatshirt; a notebook and pen to take notes; and 2 bags of Wellness soft treats.   Dog agility participants are like the boy scouts – always prepared!!

When we arrived, I set-up Jefferson’s crate by the fence and covered it with my spare blanket.  It was getting colder and the wind was brutal!  Luckily, I wore my fuchsia Patagonia vest, gray North Face fleece jacket and a thick, nubby scarf to keep out the wind.  As I scanned the crowd of agility participants, I couldn’t help but notice that there were only two non-typical agility doggies in the crowd – a mini-schnauzer and my Cocker Spaniel.  Nothing draws attention to you like being a handler of a black and white Cocker Spaniel!!  We did our exercises along with the group – heel to side; crosses on the flat; luring; getting the dog to collect for jumps; etc.  All the while, I was treating Jefferson with his soft, stinky Wellness treats.  “Thank goodness I brought two bags of these treats!”  I thought to myself as I continuously shoved treats in Jefferson’s mouth so he wouldn’t lose interest in the activities.   This is one of the biggest differences in training a non-typical agility breed:  Jefferson will not work for free for four long, cold hours without lots and lots and LOTS of treats! Come to think about it, neither will I...

After lunch, we began our instruction in training running contacts.  Yay!!  Daisy asked if I had trained these, and I had to be honest and say that I had not but had lucked into getting running contacts.  Yes, I did initially train 2o2o but Jefferson approaches the dogwalk and A-frame with such gusto, that I opted to let him just run over both of these contacts.  I want him to stay excited and motivated to run and feel that stopping him at the bottom of the contacts would de-motivate him from running the course with such enthusiasm.  However, running contacts are not for the faint of heart or the handler who doesn’t want to spend the time on marking the behavior.

The training process for running contacts can be broken down into 4 steps.  First, your dog should run across a carpet laying flat on the ground driving toward a target a few feet away from the end.  At this stage, speed and running on the flat is the goal.  Watch the dog’s stride and gait to get separation from all 4 legs.  This probably was the most difficult aspect of running contacts – observing the proper running style from your dog and marking the behavior.  Some doggies run with their legs together and in essence use their front legs in tandem to almost pull themselves up the dogwalk.  This is NOT the desired behavior.  Your doggie should run on the contact exactly like he runs on the flat – legs separated in his gait.  The second step is to have your doggie run across a board (plank from the dogwalk) lying flat on the ground. Again, marking the proper running gait and watching for separation of legs in the yellow portion of the board.  Third, the board is placed at a slight incline so as to have the dog run down the plank at full speed; watching for a proper running stride.  One must be sure to keep the target a few feet away from the end of the board so that the dog continues to drive past the bottom of the plank with a consistent, separated stride.  Lastly, the plank is raised to a steeper angle by placing it on the table.  The dog should run fast down the plank while the handler marks the proper stride length as he gets his paws in the yellow.  Another part of this last step is to move the target to the left and right of center so the dog can get used to adjusting his stride length to make turns off the end of the plank.  One great suggestion here was to let the doggies fail a few times so they will understand what is expected from them.  Here is where Jefferson had a bit of a problem whenever the target was moved too far left or right from center.   This is the portion of the training steps that I plan on spending more time training.  Once all 4 steps are completed, the full-height dogwalk can then be mastered by your doggie.  It helps to add a tunnel at the end so the dog has an obstacle to help drive them forward.  Again, the handler must mark the appropriate running stride as the dog descends the dogwalk plank.

Overall, I learned the proper training methods to use in order to get more consistent running contacts from Jefferson.  Will his performance be 100% reliable?  Probably not but I am okay with that as long as he is having a blast running the course.

On our travels back home from the seminar, Jefferson began whining and pawing at his crate so I pulled over to a Walgreen’s and took him to the nearest patch of grass.  Poor boy had diarrhea from eating so many treats during our training seminar!  It was then I realized I had shoved 2 entire bags of treats into his mouth as well as 4 sticks of string cheese.  

Thank goodness for canned pumpkin…

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."

 -Henry David Thoreau