When Griffin was a puppy we worked hard on a “two on two off” behavior for agility. He learned to put his back feet up on an object and his front feet on the floor. We trained it with a cement block but he was soon offering the behavior on curbs, small logs, stairs, and anything with a change of height.
At around 6-8 months we did our first session on a board. I wanted him to be able to run across and stop at the end without any help from me. This is a common strategy in agility to prevent dogs from leaping off of obstacles. Within a few minutes he was running across the board and stopping. He was stopping even if I was behind him, if I ran past, or if I was far to the side. I couldn’t believe how quickly he learned this! It took years of training to get Luna to that point.
So, we tried to go for something a little harder and then spent the next three years trying to get a “running contact” where he would touch the end, with a specific body form, without stopping. It was going okay but I wasn’t happy with the performance.
I gave up this week. Tuesday night was the first over-and-stop session he’s had since he was a puppy. I didn’t get a video of the training but it was amazing. In five minutes he was able to do the aframe in sequence with other obstacles and still stop. He stopped if I was ahead, he stopped if I was behind him.
We did two more sessions on Wednesday that only got better. His first few repetitions, he tried to stop and didn’t quite make it. He completely ran on one. But the rest were very impressive. Here’s a video of Session 3 (second session since he was a puppy)
How did we get change so quickly?
1) We have a strong training relationship: He knows that reinforced behaviors should be repeated. He understands that when I feed him “in position” he should stay there until released. He knows to move with speed into position.
2) We had a strong foundation: Even though we had not done a stop on an obstacle in -years-, we had still maintained the behavior on small props. There was a history of reinforcement there.
3) We have other moving and stop behaviors: Mostly for competition obedience. Heeling with me and stop and Down as well as stop and Stand. He’s great being sent to the agility table and stopping up there.
4) He’s a dog who understands concepts easily: Not every concept, but he does understand this better than many other dogs. It typically works to our advantage, but not always.
———————–
The event highlighted how important a good training foundation can be and it only reminds me that I need to find ways to continue to encourage students to have a stronger foundation before doing the “fun parts” of training, whether we’re working on agility or basic training.