Weave re-training progress report

Now I've been a bit slack in getting the clips onto the computer to share, with the result that I'm not sure of the order we did them in any more! However they have been useful to me as I've been looking at them back and working out our success percentage after each session. Just quietly, I'm very, very pleased with how it's going. Last night at Severnside club training I upped the ante again and put out two sets of six poles. Accurate and fast, just how I want her - so excited! The only distraction that I've been able to find to pull her out of the poles is throwing her toy early, but even then after a couple of tries she realised she had to stay in until she'd finished to earn her reward. I can swing her toy around in circles & squeak a squeaky toy right by her, but she just ignores me until she's done. Seriously impressed.

We're not at 100% yet though, the really tough entries (between 10-12 & 2-12) are still catching her out, but I'm using the first set of 2x2 poles to help her. By angling them just slightly to make the entry more inviting it really helped her to get the idea. Now I just need to work on me and we're ready for competition! I say work on me, because I'm still quite nervous about her actually doing it in the ring. Watching videos back from last weekend, I realise that I turn into a frightened rabbit when we reach the weaves in a course - not at all like the loud and enthusiastic training partner she's had to put up with all week! So the goal this weekend is to treat the weaves in the course just like I would at training. Nice early command, driving towards them, and cheering when she's doing them. We may make mistakes, but without making any mistakes it's difficult for her to distinguish exactly what is correct. And I know longer think to myself, 'we'll get there' as was a favourite saying of everyone's to me. I now believe that we're there :-)

Caerphilly show

Just a quickie - must have tea and then probably up to bed, it's been a long day. But must post some great news - Ella & I won the First Contact Starters Qualifier, which means we're now Grade 3!

I have two of the best dogs and I'm so grateful to my friends Sue, Lel & Martin for supporting me this week with my weave re-training. It's not complete (we still made 2 mistakes in sets of weaves today) as I knew it wasn't when I left today, but we've come a long way in a week. Who knows what next weekend could bring??

Further 2x2 progress reports

At our 6th session on the 2x2's we were training at Martin Tait's venue, and I forgot to bring my video camera away with us! So I was back to record keeping as we went along rather than the luxury of watching the footage back and recording from that.

It's going really, really well and I'm so pleased with our progress. Ella's attitude to the weaves seems to be changing before our very eyes - she's more thoughtful and seems to have a much better understanding of what I want from her in the weaves. We've now taken our weaving show on the road and been to both Martin Tait's outdoor venue and Severnside's indoor venue at Urchinwood Manor. I didn't anticipate any problems at Martin's, but did wonder if the indoor venue might over excite her and cause her to make silly mistakes. So it was great to see that she was still very focused and driven to succeed - just what I'm after!

Our next session will be the 11th time we've worked on the 2x2's and I'm going to move to 6 poles. I intend to really work the arc and rotate the poles slightly if necessary to help her achieve the entries. Later on today I hope we'll get to do a 12th session, and I'm aiming to stick with 6 poles but crank up the distraction of what I'm doing - running, taking off on a tangent, stopping suddenly, playing with a toy - anything to try and get mistakes that we can work through.

Today I'm so grateful for my wonderful dog who is teaching me so much about dog training this week, her great attitude to working with me, and her willingness to try new things. In truth I don't think it's just dog training I'm learning about this week :-)

2x2 Progress

Re-training weaves - day 2's sessions

Re-training Ella's weaves

Too many shows have gone by now where we've had weave problems, and I'm just not prepared to carry on as we are. To give you a percentage, from the shows we've entered this year we only have a 40% success rate for the weaves - that's showing me that we need to re-think. So this week Ella and I are on a re-training journey, using Susan Garrett's 2x2 method. I'll aim to update our blog each day with our progress.

Tuffley Show

Now before I read Susan Garrett's most recent dog training blog entry, I probably would have said Tuffley wasn't very positive as shows go. After all, Ella and I only managed 1 clear round the whole weekend and it wasn't placed as I'd taken my time setting her up for a correct weave approach. But Susan reminded me what I love about my training and most importantly, what I love most about my dog.

So here's the review of our Tuffley weekend. She gave me some great rounds - fast, accurate contacts, great responses to directions, and lots of speed and enthusiasm for her job. A pleasure to watch, never mind run! She also gave me some valuable information about her understanding of her weave poles, and has cemented the belief that I need to re-train in order to get the performance that I'm after. Being disappointed in her is not an option, I'm a better dog trainer than that and we will succeed!

With the exception of this evening I haven't done any training with her all week and we have this weekend off as it's our children's Naming Ceremony on Sunday. So I've focused on making the ceremony perfect for them and let Ella and I relax this week. Next Monday we will begin re-training the weaves with the 2x2's with the help of our friends Lel & possibly Martin & Hazel Tait. Any failures we have next week will be positive ones because they will help define the correct response that I want from her in her weave poles.

So today I'm grateful for my beautiful baby boys, my wonderful husband, family & friends, and my two fantastic dogs. Looking forward to Sunday and sharing our joy over our children with all our family & friends too!

Teamwork

Some thoughts pre-Tuffley show

Have trained my girlie twice this week, and have crystalised some of the thoughts I have about our weaving problem. Basically we're looking at a lack of self-control which stems from the great job I did teaching her that weaves are fun. So here's the deal; I created this problem so I can solve it by injecting some control in front of the weaves. More specifically, I will get her to 'Down' before the weaves and won't let her complete them unless she has complied. Ella has such fantastic self-control in her startlines and contacts, that I must take heart - this problem isn't an eternal thing. She has the brains and the ability to get this right, she might just need a bit of short-term help.

Most importantly, when I set out tomorrow with her I will be setting out with one of the most amazing dogs God ever put breath into. My good thing of this agility weekend will be, as it always is, her.

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be your faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."