Bottom!

Had another good contacts class with Gracie.  We worked on the A-frame more, the dog walk just a little higher up, and the teeter with more tip.  The tables holding the dog walk up higher stuck out on one side and not the other so we could practice running close and with a tiny bit of distance (1-2ft.).  Gracie did great at everything!  She seemed the tiniest bit nervous on the teeter the first couple of times, but that cheese on the target at the end of the teeter was apparently worth it.  I did notice Gracie coming a little to close to the edge of the A-frame on the way down.  I think it was because of treats in my hand so I need to be careful about that.

I had asked the instructor for some extra contact help and she obliged, giving a very informative talk and demo on how to teach contacts.  A classmate whose dog has rock start contact behavior also gave me some tips.  The process goes like this:  First the dog has to know how to touch a target and want to touch it whenever they see one.  Then have the dog walk over a short board to touch the target with their nose and have their front feet on the ground (don't worry too much about their back feet yet).  Once the target touching at the end of the board is solid, then you can work on the back feet.  There are a couple of ways to teach the dog where they need to put their back feet.  If they know how to back up, you can back them onto a board.  My classmate said she would pick up her dog's back end and put her back feet on the board.  I'm a bigger fan of letting a dog figure it out more on their own, but do think this could help to start off.  Start the dog off on a flat board then start making it steeper to help the dog work up to the angles of the dog walk and A-frame.  In class we practiced having the dog jump onto the contact from the side near the bottom.  That way there's less speed involved but the dog can still work on generalizing the behavior to the actual obstacles.  This can also be practiced on stairs, a board, a board leaned against stairs, or just about anywhere that the dog can get their back feet a little higher than their front feet.  I've been using the stairs in my apartment building on our way outside and a board propped up against a foot stool (I'd make it steeper, but it's kind of slippery).  Finally, to add some speed it's best to work with two people (can be done with one if the dog will wait at one end of the obstacle).  The dog is held or waits at one end of the obstacle while the handler walks to the other end and faces the dog.  When the dog is released, it should drive towards the handler who can help them get into the proper position.  This should help prevent dogs from creeping slowly down the downside of the contact.  Ok, that wasn't the final thing, oops!  Finally (for real), you can proof the behavior by running past the obstacle while the dog stops in position and waits to be released, hang back til the dog is in position, or add some lateral distance.

Hopefully with all this help I'll be able to teach Gracie a great 2 on 2 off contact behavior.  Maybe I'll even change my mind about Gidget's running contacts (she doesn't stop at the bottom of a contact, just keeps running), she is gaining speed so stopping her may become necessary, we'll see.  Happy agility!