Originally Posted by
Jeff
Maybe, it all depends what you are working on. Hemi only gets rewarded after a complete course run of say 20 obstacles usually. I say usually because there comes a time when you need to work on certain obstacles again. Like for some reason Hemi got slow on his weaves. So running a course in training every time he got finished with the weaves that tug toy would come out of my pocket and get thrown. This does 2 things. First, he wants to get through those weave poles faster because there is a reward at the end. When you throw it then he finishes the weave poles looking forward, for you to throw the toy, and not at you which is what you want to be set up for the next obstacle. I still will do this once every couple weeks when we run a course just to keep him on his toes. Another thing it is not bad to reward on contact spots like Tanya says, if you have issues with them then you need to reinforce them.
When you really get running and running courses, you also need to be careful of "Suckers" we call them. So if he loves the tunnels and thinks of that as a reward, it is very common of have tunnels wrap in and around other obstacles in a course. Like under the A frame with the tunnel opening right next to the A frame start. If your pup is s tunnel sucker, which means tunnels suck him right in, and your supposed to do the A frame. You can get an "off course" if the tunnel sucks them in. So eventually this will change. Right now don't worry about it, let him have fun.