Compare and Contrast

This actually took place (and was written) quite a few weeks ago, but somehow never made it to the blog. My bad.

==============================================================

This weekend "I" finally got the "long" board out of the garage in order to work on Contacts. That is, I finally asked my son to get the much-shorter-than-I-remembered "long" board out of the garage.

I'd swear the board used to be be at least 10' long, but it either shrank(?) or a section off the end was re-purposed. In any case, the board is now a mere 6' long, 12" wide, and bears and uncanny resemblance to the 4' long, 8" wide "short" board that I use for Broad Jump.

Undeterred (and lacking any other option) I proceeded to give Contacts a go.

Here's the description: "Dog walks a flat board with a click on or immediately after the down contact. This is an optional behaviour."

For grins and giggles, let's assign each dog a letter (ie: Dog A and Dog B) and see if folks playing along at home can figure out from the descriptions which dog is which.

Dog A:

I put Dog A in a sit-stay, placed the board on the ground, released the dog with a click, and sat down next to the board in anticipation of shaping Dog A to walk the plank.

Dog A raced over to the board, jumped over it one way, and then back.

"Hmmm...", said I.

Dog A pawed at the board (C/T), laid down on the end (C/T), and jumped back and forth a few more times.

"Hmmm...", said I.

Dog A approached one end (click) and I tossed the cookie toward the other end in hopes of getting him to run across the board. Dog A raced around the board to get the treat, ran back, nosed, pawed, and laid down on the board again.

"Hmmm...", said I.

Dog A got up, and laid down cross-wise, hopped back and forth over the board yet a few more times and then ran around it (again) for good measure.

At this point I turned off the camera, and deleted the video.

Dog B:

I put Dog B in a sit-stay, placed the board on the ground, released the dog with a click, and sat down next to the board in anticipation of shaping Dog B to walk the plank.

Dog B trotted over and sniffed at the board (C/T). He put a paw on the end (C/T), then two (click) and I tossed the cookie down the board. He trotted half on and half-off the board to get it. He turned and I tossed the treat the other way and he went around the board.

I waited for him to come back to the board, which he did and then laid down on the end. I stood up and walked beside the board to the other end. He dutifully trotted along the board beside me. (C/T) when he reached the end and a few cookies, which he ate while standing on the board. We repeated a few times back and forth across the board.

He was good with his front paws, not so good with his back, so I stuffed a book under each end plus one in the middle. He jumped on the board, which slid off the books (covers to slippery). Oops. I put rags on the books and tried again. This time he did much better.

A few more tries and I started adding my cue: "Walk It".

Back to Dog A:

(Plank on books with rags between covers and plank). Dog A tries to paw the rag, grab the rag, and then push the plank out of the way to get the rag. Dog A also hops over the board a few more times.

I stopped there.

Back to Dog B:

I move the plank next to a wall, no books, and position chairs beside either end to try to eliminate corner cutting and "keep" Dog B on the board. There is still a 4' unguarded section in the middle.

I stand a few feet back of one end, toss a cookie far away, and as Dog B is trotting back toward me I give my "Walk It" cue. Dog B dutifully enters the right end, trots across the board, and collects the cookie I throw behind me.

Getting him to go the other direction was a bit trickier. I said "Walk it" and he would start down the board then circle back, hopping off between the chairs. I started clicking as soon as he was on the board and tossing the cookie over his head and off the other end of the board. After 4-5 of these he was trotting down the board without issue.

I stopped there.

And that's were we are on Level 3 contacts. For two half-related Goldens, they sure are different!

Any guesses which dog was Beau and which was Zachary?