"Hit It" Board (running contacts)

[Achielles UD]

So I know the 2o2o is great to have, but running contacts appeal to me! So... I had DH make a "Hit It" board (no way was I shelling out almost $150!).

I still have to paint it... and granted this is not a GSD (pretend hes a funny colored dwarf GSD? ) but I wanted to show our first try with it... the GSDs will get to try it out when I figure out what I'm doing. Jinx is my guinea pig dog lol

So this was this morning with his first introduction to the noise. (Ignore my attire lol I was planning to head to bed afterwards but plans have changed)

What I started noticing was that i couldn't say "Hit It" When I did, he thought I said "Sit". So I am going to change it.

Have any of you used a hit it board? Honestly I am not entirely sure how to use it in training. I figure I'll play it by ear a bit.

What I figure I'll do is start with introducing the noise as a secondary reinforcer (like a clicker). Once he is running to it without prompting or luring, I'll start having him run to it, then past it then start introducing it on the DW. Not sure how it's all going to go but it is fun

Oh, the beep is kinda loud on the video, you may want to turn down your speakers....

[Achielles UD]

Hmm.. I couldn't get that to work, so put it on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdKnd1LIV8k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdKnd1LIV8k

[wildo]

I've never heard of a hit board, but I looked up what the function is and could see it being used like this:

Get some cavalletti bumps and space them out at the stride length you want to train for. Then, put the hit board at the end. Teach your dog to run the cavalletti and hit the board. You can see the same basic concept in this video. In fact, you might use the exact same method (with a PVC box) and once the dog gets good at the PVC box, you could replace the box with a smaller target like the hit board.

YouTube - Zelda Beginning Running AFrame

YouTube - Zelda Beginning Running AFrame

[Achielles UD]

I hadn't seen that one. I was thinking more for the dog walk/teeter/aframe:

YouTube - Shetland Sheepdog Shaun training dog walk

YouTube - Shetland Sheepdog Shaun training dog walk

[wildo]

Yeah, but I would think you would want to teach ground contact work before moving it to the actual equipment. I think that's the point she is making in the video I linked. (Or maybe she makes that point in part 2 of the video I linked)

[wildo]

Ok, I just watched both parts 1 & 2 of the video I linked. I admittedly hadn't watched them in a while. I still maintain that they concept would be the same. Teach a proper stride on the ground, gradually narrowing the end target until you got down to the hit box size- then move it over to the equipment. If your ground training is solid, as it would have to be if the dog is able to find the 12" square hit box, then the "game" should make a ton of sense when you move to the contact equipment.

...Or not. I dunno. Makes sense to me.

[Achielles UD]

I see what you're saying. Makes sense... Man I wish I could find the video of the guy I first saw doing this. He did not use the box thing like she did and taught the running contact differently (the route I am thinking to go...).

I still like the board I have a fast sheltie. I am concerned I wont see him hit the contact and I just want to use it as a training aid for me lol!

[AgileGSD]

Have you looked into Silvia Trkman's running contact method?

[MaggieRoseLee]

Oh my gosh that beeps sounds loud. I don't train this so have no specific help for you as far as a final behavior with the equipment. Love that you video taped it!

I DO have help getting him to know to step on the box though. You need to shape the behavior a bit better. You are just rewarding the final behavior you want (stepping on and getting the buzz) when he doesn't even seem sure that you want him to step on the box. This is a BIG problem for me when I train my dogs, so I recognize it in others! I go too fast with my mental picture of the final thing, when I instead need to break down that mental picture into a ton of preliminary steps to get to that final behavior.

He's offering a ton of different alternate behaviors though. Your method WILL work eventually but more frustrating for the dog cause he's not getting enough reinforcement when he is doing stuff right. Even 1:30 sec in he's confused enough about your goal he stops interacting with the board completely to offer you a sit. And he's also not sure if it's a nose touch or the feet you want even though you seem to only have rewarded when he's on enough to make the noise.......

As usual, a clicker is WAY easier for us and the dog cause it takes out the verbals while giving exact specific info to the dog. Initially just looking at the board should earn the click/treat, when he gets that now he needs to move towards it for a click/treat, when that's reliable then you only click/treat when he touches it with one foot, when that's reliable then when it's 2 feet on it to get the click/treat and then building to the FINAL behavior of on it and making the noise to then only get the click/treat rewards.

I'd also drop the treat ON the board to add to it's importance in the training, rather than the handler focus we get when feeding from our hand. (but maybe that's for later with the contact obstacles, not sure).

Watch how this pup learns to interact with 'the box'. It also doesn't know the end behavior the owner may want, but it absolutely knows it's something to do with that darn box!

You Tube

You Tube

This one is neat cause it starts with the pup just looking at the box!

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

Hey, a GSD! Listen for the timing of the click (you can use a word like 'yes' or some other word you never usually use (good luck with that )

You Tube

You Tube

actually, this one is pretty good. Look how the humans stay out of the picture completely in all the videos.

[Achielles UD]

Ah! Found the video: http://smb.slac.stanford.edu/~ash/lu...videos/DW1.MPG
but before I start doing that, I wanted to get him "loaded" to the beep. It won't be so bad/loud when he's not remaining on it and just running over it