We are having so much fun! Now that Kenzie is running through tunnels, I am teaching her how to run with me, but still have obsticle focus...and she is catching on very well! It is so rewarding to see her lock her eyes on the obstacle and go to it with confidence, as opposed to running watching me and always missing the jump, tunnel, etc. I got this by teaching lateral disctace with the curve drill:

So, yesterday's practices went great! Basically I had to decide to train my dog the way that makes sense to me, as opposed to the way that others have trained their dogs. So I just focused on shaping the correct end behavior, and then back-chained it, the same way you do a teeter. She did GREAT! Since it was really slow in the beginning when I first started shaping, it was very clear that the click came when she got to the end of the board, not the middle, and not the beginning. Then she got faster and faster getting to that part of the board, where she got the click and then food was thrown. I think that this is what we need. She needs to learn the target behavior slowly and then get faster and faster. Right now she is actually thinking while doing it, and that is what I want. I am not using any gates, just the board on the ground. Since I am shaping this behavior, I am trying not to say anything, and just wait for her to offer it. I did put her in a stay a couple of times and then release her, but I did not say anything after the release, nor did I give any kind of motion toward the board. Not a single jump, all striding through very nicely. Thank you Lord for showing me that I need to do what is right for us, and not be worried about doing it one person's certain way!

Here is a video of today's am lesson:

Ok, so I started her back on the board last Sunday, but she started jumping again on tuesday and wednesday. I decided that the difference between running her on the ground (which I did before running her on the board each time) was just too different from running on the board. The board was a good 4" off the ground, so I decided to stop practicing until I could get what I wanted to run her on. So I got a 1/2 in plywood board. I am now teaching her to put her feet on the last portion of the board, and when she does, I click and throw a treat. But I am SHAPING it, which means that I try to give her as little help as possible, and let her figure it out. I want her REALLY THINKING, as opposed to being in that play mind, where her mind is all over the place. Since she has been trained to put her feet on all kinds of stuff, this should not be too hard for her to figure out.

We put the decking on the dog walk this weekend...it is looking so good! We just have to put the slats on and paint it, and it will be ready to go!

So I found out that if I ran along side of kenzie, she would jump due to added drive. Also, if I were on her right side, she would almost always jump. If I were on her left, she would give the perfect running behavior. So I decided to: change the dirction of the board, we were running east to west, so now we run north to south, and then also take away the board, so that she is just running between the gates (still 10' apart) on the grass. She has absolutely no reason to jump now! So I ran her this way for 3 sessions, with her running beutifully every time. I made sure that I was sending her, recalling her, and running with her HARD, so that she understands that she is to run no matter what I do. Then I put the board down, still going north to south...and she ran it BEAUTIFULLY!!!!! Perfect 100% of the time....and she was quite a bit faster than she had been going before =)

This is her running last week (before our one step back and two forward)



Here is a video of running on grass only


And here is the first time running her on the board again...much faster!

So yesterday we had a good, horrible, and great practice...weird. The only thing that was different about the last practice was that it was later in the evening when it was cooler, and she seemed to have more engergy than in the afternoon practice when she was really really hot. She had a 70% in the am, less than a 50% success rate in the afternoon with lots and lots of jumps, and  100% perfect runs in the evening. This afternoon she did the less than 50% again, but it was also pretty hot, so I am going to wait until it starts to get cooler tonight to practice again to see if she has another good evening practice. I do not know what I can do to get her to stop jumping if she continues to do so, because the board is already flat on the ground... = /

So as you can probably guess by the title, our training has not continued in a positive manner completely. I take fully responsibility for this. I am just having a hard time marking only what I really want. Well, I guess it is more a case of clicking before I have fully comprehended what she just did, and therefore mark it if it is correct, or not mark it if it is not. I have a tendency to guess whether it is going to be a good one or not. Yesterday morning I clicked twice when I should not have, and in the evening, I clicked the wrong thing FIVE TIMES!!!! Ridiculous. Not only did I keep clicking her jumping, but it caused her to offer jumping more and more often, so that I ended up with 8 jumps and 5 runs in the contact... =(  So I just ended the spiral downward, and played with her without agility equipment. This morning as I was reflecting on how sad a trainer I am (lol, poor me) I remembered that a few months back, I had felt led to pray before each dog training session. You know, "Let us have fun, not get stressed, and use what we learn to Your glory" type thing. But I never did. I just forgot all about it. So, now that I know that I need help, I decided to try it. I prayed for clarity of mind, that we would have fun, and that whatever happened in the practice, that it would be used for His Glory. Well, guess what....I did not click a incorrect behavior ONE SINGLE TIME!!!!! I cant believe it. But not only that, we actually enjoyed practice, and I was not tense and worried about clicking the wrong thing the whole time. It is true "My grace is sufficient for the, for my grace is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9)". Thank you Lord!

So, I am so excited, I finally feel like we are really doing Running Contact training. Up until this point, I was really just doing prep work; getting her confident in running quickly down the board. I knew that in order for me to be able to withhold reward when she misses the target spot, she would need to be confident enough in the behavior for her to be willing to try again. Now, in the last two days, I have added some height, and changed my criteria...this is where the REAL challenge comes in for me. Now I have to actually watch and only click what I WANT. Two days ago I had two sessions on the height change only (no change in criteria). She gave me 100% in the contact zone and what would be my new criteria. Both were GREAT sessions, and helped me decide what my new criteria would be, what looked to be natural for her. So yesterday I decided that is was time for the real training to begin, and start only marking and rewarding the behavior that I want. Her new target behavior is to have two paws at or below 30" while running FAST. So I painted the 30" point, and started practice...well can you guess what she did? She jumped the painted part! It was the first real jump she had ever given me =P. It took a little bit to get her over it , she jumped it a total of 3 times before I ended up going back to having her just start at the middle of the board, and she ran it no problem. I was able to mark her feet landing in the target spot, and then she finally got the reward (which had been withheld up to this point since she had been jumping). I was very happy that she continued to try to get it right, rather than shutting down because she did not. Once I had her start from the middle four times (twice with me on either side), I started her from the back again, and she gave me 7 really great ones, then the jumped, did not get marked or rewarded, and then two more really great ones. I think that she is starting to get it!!! I have found that if I run with her, she is more likely to jump it. I worked on sending her and recalling her over it. I do still have 3-4 gates up on the board. I think that once there is more height, I will be able to take them off and it will not be a big deal...at least I hope so =) I have not seen anyone else using any sort of gate, so I am a little nervous about that. But I do feel that this is what my dog needs to be successful, and I am confident in my knowledge and application of dog learning theory, and I do not see why this would not work...please Lord!

March 28th
So it has been a full week of running Kenzie over the 10' board with slats...unfortunately, every session has been different, as I am still trying to dial-in how she best learns, and how to set her up for success while still going at the speed I want, and still being able to learn, which is a lot harder than it sounds. If I use a toy, she has a hard time thinking. I teach very very few new things with just the toy, as she cannot think while the toy is around. I have to teach it with food first, then she can do it for a toy. BUT, I need her to go at the necessary speed (fast) while doing this, which she will not do for food rewards.  SO, I am trying to set her up for success, so that she does it successfully enough times without really thinking about it. Then I start being more picky about what she does to earn the click. Her criteria right now is: run the length of the board, FAST. I click when she gets to the end of the board, whether she steps in the contact zone or not. She is pretty consistently in the contact zone, I would say 80% of the time. When she does miss, I still click her because she is meeting my criteria right now: running the full length FAST. I have found that any movement on my part pulls or pushes her off of the board. She does not know how to run with me, and run the board.  I have not decided what to do about this yet.

So, I did go back and try the gates on all four corners of the board, and it worked GREAT! I was very happy with it. BUT, after doing a lot of reading on Silvia Trkman's website, I decided that we have not done enough speed training. The way I see it is; if you cannot describe your dog as a bullet ready to be steered, then you have not done enough speed training! So this is what I am going to be focusing on for the next week or so. I know that she has it in her...after just one 4 min session of speed training, I saw a HUGE difference in her speed, just running after her ball in our yard! I am also going to be working on the "bang game" with the teeter, and shaping the wrap of a jump wing, then working that into a send. Once I have the send/wrap, I can further my speed training and will be able to do a lot more "practicing" running her fast on an actual agility field...so fun!
So what kind of speed training are we doing? I am going to keep her play sessions short, but very intense. I will put her in a stay, then take off running at full speed, then release her with a toy and clicker in my hand. When she is running at full speed, I will click (or say a breathy "yes") and then throw the toy as far as I can. I will continue running in her direction until she slows to get the toy (this is teaching her to still watch my body language), then spin and run the other way, hopefully she will chase me (she has not done this full speed yet, so I hope it will come soon). No more half speed playing...it will be all or nothing (though I have a feeling that will be easier said than done).

So yesterday was our second and third running contacts training sessions. I pretty much spent the whole time trying to figure out how to get her to run FAST across the board, while also staying on it the whole way. I figured out that I can put her in a stay on the board, then throw the ball straight and she will stay on it, but if my throw is off a tiny bit (which it usually is), she does not make it to the end. I have to figure out how to make her successful. Whether that is preliminary work, or setting things up so that she cannot fail, I am not sure yet. Today I am going to try putting gate up on either side of the board at beginning and end, and then just sending her through it kinda like a tunnel: go, then throw the ball. I hope that this will get great speed out of her, and also set her up for 100% correct behavior.

So yesterday I moved to the pvc jumps to practice the set point drill, and got her up to 16"!!! I then lowered it and rewarded her for working so hard. We came back to it a little later and tried it at 20, but since it is a little above her head, she said "nope!" and went around it. So we went back to 16 and ended on that, then went back to 20 and did the shaping the jump exercise we started with: I just stand there beside the jump with the clicker and wait for her to take the jump, then reward. She went under the jump a few times, then jumped it! She jumped it twice, then we called it a day. I needed her to look at that jump at 20" and say "I can jump that".