Expanding on target training

[Beanie]

I don't get this, LOL.
J and I decided that Auggie should be target trained to try and help him stop blowing off the table - when he's running at 16 and the table is taller, it's not a problem, but when he's at 12 (where he should be) he has a tendancy to not ease up and slide right off the table, or hop onto it then hop off.

So help me out... I bought one of those Kong puppy frisbees because it's a good size (I was first using one of those little can covers and I was having a problem seeing if he'd actually put his paw on it when he was a distance from me) and flexible. He gets the "go touch" idea - go find the spot and touch it with his paw.
How do I start using this for other things?! I want to also use this idea to help re-train his a-frame contact if I can, and of course we want to use it on the table... but I just don't understand what I'm doing. Should I start by setting up a jump and having him jump then go to the target..? Then what?

Help please - I don't think any of my Jane Simmons-Moake books talk about targetting in depth and how to use it for training in agility, so I'm up the creek. => TIA!

 

[AgilityPup]

I think I understand what you're talking about, and what I'd do is get him real used to touching it, then put it at the bottom of the frame, and say his vocal command for it at the bottom... But like I said, I'm not sure I know what you're asking about.

 

[BostonBanker]

Please note - I know I did this differently than most/all agility trainers suggest, so take it with a grain of salt - it did work for us.

I messed around a lot with Meg's contacts for the first year or so. I couldn't decide what I wanted to train, some things I planned on didn't work out, etc. When we finally buckled down last winter and decided to fix them, I had a dog who had a VERY strong 'foot target", and no desire to do a nose-touch.

So, I got a cheap bathmat, and started using a square of that as a foot target. I started of flat ground (any time a foot touched it, click/treat). I did it off of staircases, off of low furniture, off of boxes or anything else I could find until she automatically stopped with two front feet on it any time she saw it.

Then we did it on a flat plank. Back and forth, over and over again, in every environment we could. Run to the end, stop with front feet on the mat and back feet on the board. I sent her ahead of me, ran past the end while she stayed on it, front crossed, rear crossed, everything else I could think of. She didn't see the target in conjunction with a piece of actual agility equipment for at least a month.

And when she did, the response was perfect. She eventually got up to full-height equipment with her mat, then I started cutting the mat and making it smaller. I still have a scrap of it in my agility bag that comes out on occasion if I feel her contacts are slipping, or if she's in a tough environment where I want to help her get the right answer.

It was a long, long winter of retraining, but so incredibly worth it. I LOVE not having to worry about contacts.

As for the table, what worked for us was teaching her from day one to turn to me on the table before she drops into a down. They can't slide off the far side if they turn! Meg's table is probably her most impressive obstacle (sad, I know); she basically rotates in mid air as she's leaping up and lands in a down facing me. We taught it by clicking the leap onto the table, which automatically turned her to me to get the reward, then a second reward for the down.

 

[corgipower]

As for the table, what worked for us was teaching her from day one to turn to me on the table before she drops into a down. They can't slide off the far side if they turn! Meg's table is probably her most impressive obstacle (sad, I know); she basically rotates in mid air as she's leaping up and lands in a down facing me. We taught it by clicking the leap onto the table, which automatically turned her to me to get the reward, then a second reward for the down.

I taught Ares to do that, which worked great except when he decided to jump over the table LOL

 

[pafla]

For table I am really not sure how to teach it in agility-my dogs know this from rally obedience.But for contacts the way it was explained to as(I am just trying to teach this my young dog) is target is at least if talk about targeting with front legs connected to running contacts.You first need to teach dog to hit a piece of carpet-not to big not to small with front legs.The dog needs to learn to run to target,hit it with front paws and then run forward to get a treat(you either throw it or have someone else reward a dog -you click).It is more reliable if the dog is taught to hit target with both front paws.In the meantime you teach dog to run on plank-he needs to run in same fashion he runs on ground-you lift the plank a bit depending on dog, until dog can run contacts on full height like he runs on ground.You introduce target on the contact and learn him to hit the target with front feet-it is connected to muscle memory,you want him to hit the contact on the same place every time he runs.You cut down on seize of target with time,then fade it.

Two on two off was not explained to us regarding target.You teach a dog to stand on something with back paws(food bowl,box...),when it is reliable you teach the same on down side of contact and then teach the dog to do the same when running.

This does not mean that it can be done differently-I am sure there are different ways to teach it but this is how it was explained to as.