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Dawn Weaver Contact Training


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Do any of you have experience with Dawn Weaver's Contact training protocols?

I just ordered her book "To Run or Not to Run" (pricey, but worth it from what it looks like).


I was wondering if any of you have first hand experience with her methods.

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Sounds good.

 

I will be getting my book soon, I hope!!

 

I did have a chance to look at my friend's copy of the book and I love what I saw.

 

My issue is not owning contact equipment, and it looks like there is quite a lot I can do with her progression that I can do without contact equipment.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I really liked the book. I took her online class with Rex a few years ago, to work on his turns. The book is spendy but it's very comprehensive and well done. I think it's good value.

 

A lot of it can be done on the ground without equipment. While I do have equipment in my yard, I spent most of our time training the behaviours on the ground.

 

Here's our DW. It's still a work in progress, but I'm happy with what I'm seeing. His running frame is coming along too. I didn't use her methodology to train the teeter b/c I had already trained that before I got the book. I love training teeters. :D

 

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So you used her book and method to teach both your stopped DW and running A frame Kristi?

 

The frame looked great on the video you posted recently. I used a combo of the Rachel Sanders method plus tweaks by Tracy Sklenar for Rook's running a frame and love it. I'm getting ready to start with my golden and I'm always curious about new methods.

 

I'm very intrigued by the comments about teaching a stopped contact but early releasing and that staying good throughout their career since that seems contrary to most "popular" opinion and what I've seen as well.

 

 

Kristine,

 

Have you received your book yet and what do you think about it??

 

Thanks,

 

Chandra

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So you used her book and method to teach both your stopped DW and running A frame Kristi?

Yes, although I took some liberties with the a-frame training because I didn't want to use all the props and I had entered Steeplechase and I needed a frame ASAP. :P

 

The frame looked great on the video you posted recently. I used a combo of the Rachel Sanders method plus tweaks by Tracy Sklenar for Rook's running a frame and love it. I'm getting ready to start with my golden and I'm always curious about new methods.

Well, it has its moments. If he is a little bit yippy skippy, it can look like this:

 

FHhVfaV.jpg

 

Incidentally, this is his first agility photo EVER and I hope it does not foretell his contact career! (he did make this frame when his rear leg accidentally dragged over the yellow while the rest of him landed on the dirt). I think he understands his foot target behaviour but of course, we'll see what he does in trials!

 

I'm very intrigued by the comments about teaching a stopped contact but early releasing and that staying good throughout their career since that seems contrary to most "popular" opinion and what I've seen as well.

I am not sure how I feel about that. I do like her idea of not doing all that silly proofing (running by, throwing toys around, making them tug whilst in the stopped position) and not having a formal release word. I have tried calling the next obstacle before he is in position, and I don't think I liked what his feet were doing. Maybe with more miles, he will understand his job more, and then we can release early. Don't know that it will ever look like a running though.

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Yes, I got my book. I like it - very detailed. Great photos of every step.

 

It is a very long and involved training process, which I don't consider to be a bad thing, but it's a little bit intimidating.

 

I still have not decided whether I am going to go with running on both DW and A-Frame, or stop on DW, running A-Frame. I have started the training with the box (although my box is not the proper size, so I need to keep trying to find one that is). I do like her "run-through" concept, but I am just not sure yet.

 

I like the concepts a lot. I like that with both the stop and the running, she identifies clear criteria that the dog will be able to understand. One of my issues with the running A-Frame has been that most training protocols do not identify clear criteria to the dog. I don't want that for Bandit - I want him to know what his job is. This book provides a great option for providing him with that.

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