Just an fyi.. if you have a very fast dog those stop contact behaviours are fantastic lol.
And if you have a very fast, driven dog RCs are just beautiful...and probably more fun for the dog!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ4H-Fcvnjg&list=UUC9e_MCAXl7VvDwsHnGd6hw&index=1&feature=plcp
Really this method of RC training depends on the dog being fast and driven. They have to accelerate on the down ramp.
I've gone back and forth on Savvy but I think a RC will be right for him. And he is going to be very fast. It is going to present different handling challenges for sure. My reasons for going with a running contact are, well first off because to me that has always been what agility should look like. I have never liked the idea of stopped contacts. My last two dogs have been taught stopped contacts because I had a very talented dog who had major issues with hitting contacts. She had a "natural RC" (aka "HopeNPray Contacts"), and well, it didn't last for more than a couple years
The dogs before her didn't have any contact behavior - no one taught those at the time. One was slower and contacts weren't an issue. The other was faster, although not fast by today's standards and he did get called a few times, although it wasn't a big issue with him. But when people at the training club first started teaching stopped contacts, I thought it was a dumb idea to want to slow your dog to a stop mid-course (to be fair, I was a teenager LOL). Now I don't think it's dumb but it still isn't the ideal
for me. The ideal for me is still the dog running as fast as they can through the course
I think it's right for many people/dogs and I'm not unhappy that Whim has a 2o2o and had my reasons for going that direction with her when I was training her. Although who knows, I may end up retraining her for a RC too
Besides all of that, I sort of have images in my head of Savvy doing face plant 2o2o after flying over the equipment. Or repeatedly knocking himself into a handstand, which I don't think is quite the same as the dog doing a handstand on their own
I'm not entirely sure if 2o2o is always physically the best for very fast dogs, at least not really wild, very fast dogs.
Hmmm. Now I'm wondering if I should pick up some outdoor carpeting tomorrow. In her FAQ it says that she recommends it if the dog is a retrain...I wonder if she's recommending it as a starting point for all dogs now? I was kind of figuring that she taught her dogs with a board right away so it must work.
But I do want to do things right....I should really sign up for the RC course with her.
I think she's tweaked her method since writing that FAQ. Not that the FAQ doesn't still cover her basics but she's taught a lot more people since writing that, so probably has some new insight. I figure it couldn't hurt to start on the carpet right?
Here's a video of someone's first homework from her RC course. You can see she started with a plank too but switched to the carpet because she wasn't getting good running on the plank. Also shows cavaletti work and perch work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgzJ_7PFq8g&feature=related
I'd love to take one of her online courses but it's not in the budget right now (saving for the Belgian National!). There's a lot of videos and free info though that is certainly enough to get started. One thing her course would be great for though is training the turns. And well also because she's probably the most successful trained RC person out there.
Thanks for the insight on the course, and this is particularly interesting. I'm going to move to a larger area so that I can get some better speed.
I think that would help too. She may be more willing to really run if she had more space?
Thanks for the reminder. I rushed through the training of my old retired guy and don't want to do that again, especially now that I have a pup with potential.
I think it can be even harder if you have a dog that you just know will be great! I can't wait to see your progress with the RC and everything else.
