Week 5

September has gone by quickly, and this is our final week of the Contact Project. Over the past few weeks, we've been gradually building Sunny's confidence and understanding of the contact behaviours. This week, I wanted to see how much progress we could make by adding more movement and making the exercises a little more challenging. And, as always, we learned something along the way.

The Contact Project: A-frame training 

This week we tried something slightly different. We started all our contacts from a stationary position. Sunny had to sit next to the A-frame, with the square on the other side of the obstacle. I also placed the toy on the ground so Sunny could power towards it, with his gaze focused on the reward. The next step was to add a wing before the A-frame to introduce some movement. Sunny did really well.

Then it was time to remove the square. Unfortunately, Sunny jumped off the A-frame. So I put the square back. But something interesting happened — the square didn't actually stop him from jumping off. We tried again, and this time Sunny was able to correct himself. We repeated it a few times, and then it was time to remove the square again. And this time, Sunny did great!

Even better, during the competition this weekend, Sunny absolutely nailed his A-frame. I couldn't be more proud of him. 

The Contact Project: Dogwalk training

The dogwalk is proving to be a little trickier than the A-frame. We're still not completely consistent. Sometimes Sunny does a fantastic contact, and sometimes he jumps off the dogwalk. So we're still searching for the solution that will make the behaviour reliable. For now, we're continuing to practise.

We used the same approach as with the A-frame: starting from a stationary position and then gradually adding movement. Sometimes the toy was placed on the ground, and other times Sunny was rewarded by chasing me. The plan was to add a second wing — one before and one after the dogwalk — to create even more movement. But we're not quite ready for that yet. Since we don't have enough consistency, adding another challenge wouldn't make sense. So we'll keep working on what we have and build from there.
The Contact Project: Seesaw training

After last week's session, I decided to start again from scratch with the seesaw and move forward much more slowly. We started by lowering the seesaw. Then I stood next to the end of the seesaw while Sunny performed the behaviour. Once he was comfortable with that, I started walking alongside him. Next, I added a little more speed by jogging. Finally, I added a wing.

It's still not perfect, and we have more work to do. But Sunny is showing more confidence, and that's what matters most right now. And once again, the competition gave me a lovely surprise — Sunny's seesaw was perfect.

It might not be perfect in training yet, but seeing him perform it confidently when it really matters makes me incredibly proud.

And with that, we're wrapping up our Contact Project. Over the past few weeks, I've learned a lot about Sunny, our training, and how differently each contact obstacle can develop. The A-frame, dogwalk and seesaw each presented their own challenges, and not everything turned out exactly as I expected.

But that's what made this project so valuable. We didn't just work towards a finished behaviour. We learned when to push forward, when to take a step back, and when to give Sunny more time to build confidence and consistency. Seeing him nail both the A-frame and seesaw during the competition was the perfect way to finish the project. I couldn't be more proud of him. 

The contact zones will, of course, remain part of our regular training. But for now, the Contact Project is complete.

Thank you for following Sunny's journey, cheering us on and training alongside us. 🐾