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Susan Garrett Running Contacts


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Have to agree with dasha. Can't believe she's charging for the privilege of being her guinea pigs! And agree with amypie, why would you want to spend 5k on something that really is just a hobby.

I find it hard to believe that Susan Garrett, of all people, would do something so "out there" without knowing for sure whether it's going to work first :)

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I'm hoping to do her contact ecourse that is coming out later this year (depending on price), but I don't know if it will have any running contacts on it, I doubt it since she is holding this little private group, or it will blow out the cost of the contact course something major :eek: to something I can't afford :( . I'd rather it just include stopped contacts if it will make it affordable.

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I'm not sure i'm ready to do running contacts anyway. I don't think my eye is good enough atm to be able to see whether they make it in the contact zone, tell my brain, register that, and reward or not reward depending on performance. Especially the dogwalk.

Looking at a Silvia Trkman running contacts video - so fast :eek: no way would I be able to respond quick enough if it was not correct!

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I'm not sure i'm ready to do running contacts anyway. I don't think my eye is good enough atm to be able to see whether they make it in the contact zone, tell my brain, register that, and reward or not reward depending on performance. Especially the dogwalk.

What about some poor judges! I'm sure half the time they aren't sure they called it right on super fast dogs!

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I'm not sure i'm ready to do running contacts anyway. I don't think my eye is good enough atm to be able to see whether they make it in the contact zone, tell my brain, register that, and reward or not reward depending on performance. Especially the dogwalk.

Looking at a Silvia Trkman running contacts video - so fast :eek: no way would I be able to respond quick enough if it was not correct!

:eek::eek:

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Aren't they incredible! Like you Kavik I am not capable of processing info that fast :laugh: my reward timing would be all over the place, poor dog :laugh:

We have some experienced handlers here who have young dogs just starting to trial, and they have taught running contacts, one of them definitely used Sylvia's method and is emailing her videos and queries often, it is absolutely awesome to see in action but it has been problematic where there has been a sharp turn after the dogwalk (which has seemed to be in every AD course lately lol I think the judges are doing it deliberately :rofl: )

There was a good article in a CR mag lately I was reading about whether you should use running or 2o2o, of course a lot of people think that a running contact is just not teaching your dog to stop but a true running contact has so much more work involved and serious amounts of repetition which is hard without equipment at home. Will be interested to see if SGs method uses a different approach much like her 2x2 weaves did.

ETA and yes I feel sorry for the judges too :laugh:

Edited by amypie
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SG said hers doesn't require as much repetition, and has groundwork to do before going onto equipment, I think a bit to do with being able to turn them after the dogwalk.

Interesting, thanks Kavik

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There are a couple of issues about teaching running contacts.

I had taught Murphy a running contact on the scramble, via Ronda Carters method, and she was ery fast and very reliable. It fell apart once I started trialling. I do not believe that this had anything to do with a lack of consistency, or changes is excitement levels. I believe it was becasue there are so many different surfaces on Australian equipment (and some are very poorly surfaced and quite lippery) that she could not maintain her striding with any consistency.

If rubber chip surfaces do become part of the Australian rules, I will once again consider teaching a running contact.

Cheers,

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I feel sorry for the judges too :laugh:

The real issue is being able to be in position to see the up then the down contact. I do not think we have any dogs in Australia, (yet) that have pushed that limit yet, so long as the judge is in a good position to start with. If the judge is correctly focusing on the contact, and seeing if part of the contact disappears as the dog hits it (this is distinct from actually watching for the foot to touch it) then it does not matter how fast the dog is.

It is interesting to see that the FCI world championship runs actually seem to have 2 judges on the course! I am sure this is so that one can watch the up contact, and the other watches the down.

Cheers,

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Le, you'll probably remember the very early days of agility in Oz, where we had the flag stewards just to watch the contacts :rofl: .

ETfix typo

I certainly do, and how it was ridiculed by those who new overseas agility! My only complaint about it was that there were no specifications about who was the flag steward - if this "two-judge" system came into being, again, I would want a requirement that they were trained judges.

The benefit of having a trained flag steward is that it would give you more flexibility in course design. You would not have to design a course that allowed you to get into position to judge all the comtact equipment. You could rely on the second judge to see the contacts you could not get to. The judging of contacts is not as easy as it looks from the sideline.

Cheers,

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Interesting.......

Having just spent the weekend with Greg Derrett I heard more than once, why the hell would anyone teach running contacts. (his dogs do DW in 1.6 seconds and have been taught a stopped contact :eek: )

Agree with what CFS said, even the best dogs in Aust haven't started to approach what the overseas guys do. So much more to focus on than running contacts.

Another interesting point about contacts' surfaces - GD is still training on wooden contats and won't move to rubberised surfaces until all trials are running on them. He wants his dogs to be weary of slippery surfaces.

No running contacts for us at the moment - I can't get the criteria right on stopped contacts, no way I'm going to try and maintain it on running ones!

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Interesting.......

Having just spent the weekend with Greg Derrett I heard more than once, why the hell would anyone teach running contacts. (his dogs do DW in 1.6 seconds and have been taught a stopped contact :eek: )

Agree with what CFS said, even the best dogs in Aust haven't started to approach what the overseas guys do. So much more to focus on than running contacts.

Another interesting point about contacts' surfaces - GD is still training on wooden contats and won't move to rubberised surfaces until all trials are running on them. He wants his dogs to be weary of slippery surfaces.

No running contacts for us at the moment - I can't get the criteria right on stopped contacts, no way I'm going to try and maintain it on running ones!

How was the seminar? I was tempted to go, but opted for Recallers instead.

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I had intro to box work today - well worth it (even though my dog was rested due to injury). I haven't been schooled in his system but so much of what he said makes sense and I realize the little mistakes I've made have often sent my dog off in the wrong direction

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