Generalizing contacts

So I went to my first agility fun match today (at Daytripper). Cohen and I had a blast, and Cohen did pretty well considering she'd never been out on a grass course before.

Our biggest problem were our contacts. She has problem-free contacts at my normal training facility, but once she got out on new equipment her 2o/2o contacts seemed to merely be a suggestion, to put it lightly. Her two issues were stopping short (all 4 feet still on the plank) or popping off to the side after sticking a landing. When I tried to wait her out she would shuffle a bit, try a bow, or lay down -- I couldn't get her to offer the correct behaviour, so we would retry (and retry and retry) until she got a proper contact unassisted.

Since I have good contact behaviour in my "home" facility I'm not quite sure how best to start polishing this behaviour up. I know I'll have to start being a real stickler when we do our practices, but I was wondering if other people had other tactics to polish up the behaviour.

Cheers!

Edit:

Another idea: go back to the CD case target at the foot of contact equipment. I was hesitant to do it today since I thought Cohen "knew" better, but I guess I neglected a cardinal training rule: when adding something to a behaviour (a new environment), relax your criteria.

If you find the magic pill, save Meg a dose

Meg has phenomenal stopped contacts at class and practices - really drives to the end and sticks it, 98% of the time, without any baby-sitting. This includes completely new equipment, new arenas, etc. Trials? Hit or miss. I mean, she almost never gets called on the contacts, but she isn't holding criteria. I think my issue is that I went back and forth on what I wanted for a contact behavior even after she was trialling - I never set the rules right from the start and stuck with it. I now can not find a way I am comfortable with to handle it in a trial setting.

So, well I have no useful advice, good for you for fixing this now! I regret that I didn't.

How long have you been training and working on your contacts? And can you get distance, run by with her maintaining the criteria? Run the other way? Have you done any other proofing?
I would test the waters again by taking her to another place (rent a field for a half hour) and see if it was just being in a new place for the first time.

I would step back. He doesn't 'know better' if he doesn't do it

I had no idea you were so close? Are you near their place. (I assume there is only one Daytripper agility place lol)

We've done some decent proofing previously, like the distance, and the running past. I'm not sure I've tried the run the other way tactic -- I'll add that to my proofing repertoire.

We've been taking agility classes for about a year now, but not in any particularly serious way, and sticking contacts has been part of the curriculum since the beginning. Cohen is 22 months old. The last class I took was a "comp" level class, designed to get people ready for competition. I would say we're still a good ways away from really competing. I'm sure we could get through a novice course as it stands now, but I want to make sure we're more prepared for the next level and beyond.


Yeah, I think I might've been a bit stubborn yesterday. The rest of the day went so swimmingly that I don't much mind, but next time I'll bring a few targets to remind Cohen that a contact is a contact is a contact regardless of where she is. And I'll step up my proofing and criteria when I practice at my home club, with some heavy rewards.

I'm not particularly close, unfortunately. I live in downtown Toronto. Lane normally teaches a day a week in TO. He's taking a break for the summer to focus on his own facility, so I need to trek out there to get my agility fix for now. But I guess all things considered, I am pretty close by!

I mentioned Daytripper since I was pretty sure I'd seen them referred to by name on these forums before. I figured a few people might be familiar with them.