- 1). Start training your contact points when your puppy is young. Working on contact points is a low-impact exercise and can be done on puppies as young as twelve weeks of age. Just make sure you keep your puppy at a slow pace and do not allow him to do a lot of jumping on and off of the obstacles.
- 2). Lower your obstacles to the lowest settings that you can. The closer they are to the ground, the less likelihood of injury to your dog and the easier it is to work with the contact zones.
- 3). Put your dog on lead and walk him to the start of the first contact zone. Take a treat in your hand and encourage your dog to place all four feet in the contact zone and stop. Give a command such a “touch” or “here” to associate the contact zone with a pause. Give the dog the treat and praise him when he comes to a complete stop.
- 4). Continue with your dog over the obstacle and slow her down as she approaches the remaining contact zone. Again, give her the command to wait in the contact zone and treat her when she comes to a full stop in the contact zone. Make sure all four of her feet are inside the zone until she understands she needs to touch that area every time.
- 5). Ask your dog to sit at the end of the zone--if he is an extremely fast runner. Training this automatic sit at the end of the contact zone will ensure that your fast dog will slow down enough to at least place one foot inside the proper area.
- 6). Repeat the pause and treat exercises on each of the up and down contact zones until your dog is pausing at them every time without an extra command from you to do so. She will soon learn that she needs to slow enough entering the obstacle that she touches the contact zone.
- 7). Remove the collar and lead and continue to work your dog, slowing him down as he nears the contact zones. Raise your obstacles back to competition height and allow the dog to perform them at full height. Encourage him to speed up between the zones and to leave the obstacle quickly once he has touched the contact zone to avoid any serious loss of time during your run.
- 8). Send your dog to the contact obstacles from a distance. Walk ten feet from the obstacle and give your dog the command for the obstacle. As she nears it, give the command for the contact zone. Run with her as she completes the obstacle, but stay at a distance to ensure she gets comfortable working on the contact zones away from you.
- 9). Continue working the obstacles and giving the command for the contact zones until your dog automatically puts at least one foot in both the up and down contact zones every time without fail. Work on building her speed in between contact points and keep working her at a distance, making sure she always hits the contact zones correctly. Praise her every time she performs the obstacles correctly and you should have a dog that performs contact obstacles correctly each and every time you enter the agility ring.
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