Thursday, April 18, 2013

Mix and Match

Belle and I have been working on the running DW at full height for a couple of weeks and she still isn't getting it.  Tuesday, I finally decided to add a PVC box to the contact zone*, and it seems to be making a difference.  The big question is once Belle is doing the DW in 6 hits (five strides) again, will the behavior hold up when I fade the box?

*Note:  Silvia Trkman does not advocate using a box.  However, I began shaping 2o2o with Belle when she was three months old (she's 7 now), and when there are several reps in a row with no reward, she begins to slow down.  At it's worst, she will actually stop and offer 2o2o.  Since Belle is familiar with a PVC box from my efforts last year to teach her a running A-frame using Rachel Sander's method, I figured I really had nothing to lose.  Certainly, when it comes time to train my next dog, I will train running contacts first before even thinking about training 2o2o.

 

1 comment:

  1. I used a small mat, one of those rubber shelf liners, when I was trying to retrain the corgi to running. It promoted an even stride into the zone and was very easy to fade. But we also had issues with not collecting after a miss, such a sensitive guy.

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