Koji and his DW

k9kreationz

k9kreationz

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Last night in training, hubby was commenting about how Koji just trots across the DW. He said, even Gracey runs (she's a French Bulldog). I said, yeah, but she's small and we all know how uncoordinated Koji is. lol.

So, after class was over, trainer was talking to her worker bees and I took advantage of that time to work on Koji's DW contacts.

First thought....OHMIGOD I hate running. I ran my little (big?) butt off and hubby said he could see Koji accelerating too. Secondly, Koji CAN run across the DW in full gallop. Lastly, it's obviously ME holding him back. :o

Side story, poor Koji, he was slipping off the upside of the DW, I finally went and grabbed him in my arms and reset him. He must've got on at a bad angle. I'm starting to love rubber contacts.

With that a question. As you know, I'm working on a 4-on. I've been told by a few people that this is harder for a dog to learn than a 2o2o (due to position). Is that true? Should I just do a 2o2o? AUGH! I feel bad for Koji. He's just never going to learn if I keep changing things on him. Heck, others have told me to just go back to running contacts. Bleah. Sometimes too many opinions are a bad thing.

Oh yeah, my question. In class, we don't have rubberized contacts. Koji LOVES to slide into position. Ohmigod, last night, he slid into a perfect 2o2o because he was hauling. He tried so hard to stop. LOL. Anyways. my concern is that he'll learn to slide into position. And he cant' do that on rubber. BUT, when he doesn't slide into position, he slows down at the downside, and basically walks really slow to position. I don't want that either.

Any thoughts on this? I want him to go fast, but slow down w/o sliding. I assume he knows the difference btwn rubber and no rubber, but I doubt it. I'm also wondering if the rubber is adding to him jumping his contacts, because he can't slow down in the same way (sliding, or even a little sliding).

Hmmm...............

Darn, there goes my canvas print. I'm going to sign up for that Peel seminar now. I've been debating on going. I will need contact help in August. I already know I will. lol.
 
Well, you know I'm no expert when it comes to contacts (:lol:) but...I've always found that a 2o2o is a clearer criteria than a 4-on is.

For example, how does the dog know when they are in position? Is it now? *slide down further* how about now? To me, when they feel themselves being partially on the contact, and partially on the ground, they can feel an obvious difference in how their body is positioned. Also, the ground provides feedback for the correct position that the 4-on doesn't have.

I also think that 2o2o makes it a lot easier if you can't always be there--which will be the case if you can get Koji to run!
 
I completely and totally think that 2o2o is the absolute best way UNLESS you are going to put in the time and effort for a running(ohmigosh I would love to have a running contact, but I think 2o2o is easier and she gets it)

Why? I think that is is the best way because after I taught Nellie to 2o2o on the dog walk, she did it consistiently. To boot, I wasnt even planning to train 2o2o on the teeter, but as soon as the teeter was off the boxes (we trained the box method) the FIRST TIME she tried the teeter off he boxes, she did 2o2o without me saying anything OR practicing agility for over a winter! I was astounded.
 
Sigh. I'll play around with 2o2o on other things to see if Koji gets it faster, or drives to it faster. I can't have him walking down the DW as if he's about to go to stop and take a nap. lol. If he seems just as slow about it, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Unfortunately I don't have the space nor the equipment to train a running contact.

I signed up for the Daisy Peel seminar. I figure by August, I'll probably need a lot of contact help. Sigh, $350. Ouch. Definitely glad I decided against the NADAC trial this weekend.
 
Kojii

He will get and speed up for you.Do you ever rev him up before doing the DW?I do with my guys in just practicng it like ready ,ready go and race him to the end.
 
Sharon said:
He will get and speed up for you.Do you ever rev him up before doing the DW?I do with my guys in just practicng it like ready ,ready go and race him to the end.
Click to expand...

Y'know, I never did. But since hubby said he was slow, I tried to see what I could do. Remember how he also wasn't taking the DW if he was running too fast prior? Also wanted to fix that. So I got him revved up and took off running as fast as I could. The first two times, he didn't get up. The last couple, he was hauling, but also, sliding down into place. Awesome! But that won't work on a rubberized contact. That's my issue. I wish they had rubberized contacts, it'd make it so much easier to train with.
 
restraining Koji by the collar and then taking off at the beginning DW might work if he goes for this kind of things/ not all dogs do IMHO/
Che figured his own 2o2o so I have no say in the matter:smile2:... it is getting to be quite solid too... last week my BIL run Che at the run thru and left Che far behind as Che was glued to DW waiting for his release word/ my BIL dog does not do it/
Before Che figured out his contacts I would just run as fast as I could and throw food at the end of DW in the direction of movement...
 
Sometimes it helps to go back to the beginning to build speed. Get a board and get him racing across it. If possible, then gradually start with the DW raising it back up. Don't progress until he is running it successfully each time you raise it.
Have you thought about maybe using a 4 on the floor since the rubberized contacts are becoming more and more common if you're worried about him not being able to slide down into position, and potentially slowing down to get it? It might be a good alternative to the 2o2o since the running isn't an option.
 
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