I don’t remember what old agility video it’s in because that’s where I saw it, but this is an excellent example of consistency in contact criteria and I used it frequently to help human students understand and relate to their dogs.
Tell a person to go touch a weave pole. They’ll do it slowly. Look back at you, not sure which pole to touch. There are 12 poles, does it matter which one they touch? Where they touch it? Is this what you wanted??
Now tell a person to touch the top of the farthest weave pole with their left hand. They’ll do it much faster and with more confidence. Extra(tm) people might even run down there to smack that weave pole!
It’s the same thing with stopped contacts. When the criteria is clear and consistent to the dog, their stopped contact will be consistent and fast. If inconsistent criteria is accepted (as it often is during trials when the dog still touched the contact good enough to Q), the contact performance degrades.
Alright, it’s time to finally throw this out into the world. Is it perfect? No. But if I wait for it to be perfect I'll definitely never get it out there. 😅
Stopped contacts have accidentally become a big interest of mine and I've learned a heck of a lot. I see handlers (myself included) continuing to have the same struggles despite stopped contacts being around for a long time with such a wealth of information. What are we missing??
Turns out there are a lot more pieces than we might think that go into training independent, ring-sustainable stopped contacts. It's a classic example of "simple but not easy".
Because I'm such a geek about this and not truly satisfied with what I see out there, I decided I would create a video series. Also simple but not easy. 😂 Especially on such a big topic like this. It's going to take multiple videos and more months before it's complete, and I'll probably learn more things along the way.
I hope you enjoy this and find it helpful! Video 2 coming soon. ☺️
Back to our 2on2off after slacking on it for a while. And that's okay, because putting in the effort on the early steps pays off and Blizzard is progressing quickly now. :) She is showing great independence from handler motion and position. I am juuust starting to add a new challenge and transition to pre-placed reward/reduce rewards in position by occasionally dropping the lotus ball before saying anything else or feeding in position (only in one rep here).
In this episode (42:42) In this episode, Jennifer, Sarah, and Esteban share their thoughts on two buzzwords for contact performance: “consistency” and “criteria”. You Will Learn Why instructors emphasize consistency. How altering your criteria at a trial creates a range of behaviors from your dog. How to fix broken contacts. Why dogs creep down contacts.Click here to read the full article →
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Remember this as well for those At Home runs! Keep consistent criteria and don't let it get muddied for the sake of those shiny Qs either. 😉
Long post is long but I have Big Feelings about contacts and dog training.
Some highlights:
Consistency is important! More important than that one Q. Getting upset at lost criteria only when it costs you the Q is horribly unfair and contributes to the dog's confusion. Every US organization thankfully now allows some variation of Fix & Continue. Take advantage of it!
Inconsistent criteria in stopped contacts is what leads to the common problems of leaping off or creeping down.
Contact, startline, and table problems are often related (not news here but it bears repeating)
Consistency in how you handle errors in training vs trials is important as well
Pre-baiting the contact with food for stopped contacts is an old technique (and not necessarily one we should keep doing, IMO)
"I can't get my dog to stop so we're just going to do running contacts". Nope.
even extremely well-trained running contacts are a grayer criteria than a 2on2off, and if your dog has a natural not-really-trained running contact, revel in how lucky you are (but don't be surprised if it eventually falls apart)😆
if your running contact evolves from a degraded 2on2off, it might look pretty for a while but eventually it's likely to fall apart as well
A few of my own additional thoughts:
This isn't just a new handler problem. IMO experienced handlers have just as many problems maintaining contact criteria.
Be willing to sacrifice Qs for the sake of maintaining criteria. You're better off losing that one Q and reaping many more later, than keeping that muddy Q and losing more when your dog's trial behaviors completely fall apart.
If you're having to repeat an obstacle ten times before your dog finally gets it right, you should have stopped 8 or 9 reps earlier. Go back to the training field and work it out there. It's painful watching dogs run the dogwalk over and over again in FEO runs.
Don't use your reward marker cues (such as "yes") to mark correct behaviors in the trial ring if you can't follow through with the promised reinforcement
The table discussion was super brief
IMO there needs to be a lot more discussion on the release cue's effect on criteria for contacts/startlines/tables.
I wish there was more clarity in the discussion regarding ring-sustainability and reinforcement procedures for this (i.e. stop feeding in position for stopped contacts). These are concepts that I see discussed frequently but still in very vague ways that don't provide concrete examples or make sense to people.
Something fun! Running the dogwalk with Blizzard. I want her to be comfortable moving and running over the dogwalk before we add the criteria of the 2on2off on the end. I use a hoop at the end just to prevent crazy leaps, it doesn’t really teach her any sort of end criteria.
Changing the location of reinforcement for stopped contacts from in-position to out-of-position sounds counterintuitive, but it works. Releasing forward to a reward reduces dependence on the handler since the handler doesn't need to move close to the dog to deliver the reward. It also helps reduce problems like curling or stopping sideways by keeping the dog's focus forward.
And most importantly, it's a big piece in creating a ring-sustainable behavior. Dogs who are frequently rewarded in-position in training often lose their stopped contact behavior with the absence of those reinforcers in trials. Associating the release with reward in training strengthens the behavior for trials.
Chandra here is retraining from a bang-and-go to 2on/2off on the teeter. We're still working some of the pieces, and front-crossing is a particular challenge for her to think about, especially with the pre-placed toy. :)
In this episode (37:41) In this episode, Sarah, Jennifer and Esteban have a detailed discussion on why some dogs have better contacts in training than in trials, and how you can fix that. You Will Learn Common mistakes made when trainers try to fix contact issues. How to reward your dog for good contacts atClick here to read the full article →
Stopped contacts are my “thing” that I geek out over so I was interested to listen to this episode. Some highlights:
Common causes of “great in practice, blows it in competition” are frequent food reinforcement in training (no food in trials) and handler not maintaining criteria in trials.
Handlers might handle the contact differently in trials when they don’t trust the dog to maintain criteria, which adds to the problem.
Agility is a behavior chain, so continuing on to the next obstacle reinforces the contact performance (good or bad).
Take advantage of FEO and Fix and Continue opportunities to work on contact criteria in the trial ring
Be consistent with the criteria! Letting contact criteria slide because you’re still Qing, have an important title on the line, etc is a quick slippery slope to losing your contacts.
Maintain criteria in training as well. Often in training, people don’t even notice that they let criteria slide. So really pay attention!
Leaving the ring after missed criteria might sometimes be the best option, both in trialing and training. If you want to use leaving the ring as an effective option in trialing, it needs to be used in practice as well.
Overall decent info, nothing really new though. I was disappointed that there was so much focus on the behavior chain aspect and leaving the ring. Certainly important pieces of the puzzle, but it was the bulk of the episode. No mention that if a dog is frequently bailing their contacts, even in training, they really don’t understand how to do it correctly, and that just leaving the ring isn’t going to magically fix it. There needed to be a lot more discussion about reinforcement and training strategies to make sure the dog thoroughly understands the contact criteria and doesn’t depend on being fed in position.
So, some good info in the episode but still lacking a lot and I don’t think they really gave much help at all with how to train/re-train solid stopped contacts for people that are struggling. Just emphasized being consistent with criteria, which is certainly important and something many people fail to do.
2on2off video #1 done!! I’ll release it as soon as I have part 2 finished, which will hopefully be in just another week or 2. I have a lot to share about this not-so-easy behavior and I wanna get it out there!
