Thursday, May 7, 2015

AND SO IT BEGINS.......

TA DA!!!  One of my favorite things to train with a young dog is the weaves.  AND THE TiME HAS COME!!!

I feel strongly about waiting until I feel like my doggies are mature enough physically, why risk injury?  And with 2x2-my preferred training method-  the dogs learn it so quickly.... my goal is to start no earlier then 14-15 months.  Katy is 14.5 months so right there.

I also just had eye surgery and have another surgery scheduled May 19, and one of the restrictions is no running or jogging or lifting for a month after. so I won't be able to totally proof these weaves with running or sticking them in a sequence but what the heck.  I plan on sessions every other day with the off days as rest.  SOOOOOOOO....when I count days for training I will be counting actual training days ;-)

OK to start the fun.....every time I think of the 2x2 the awesome video Helen King and Jef Blake made to teach agility pops to mind.  So to start off our weave adventure on the right track with a little humor-I figured most people have seen this but it make me smile.  So no we won't be using the 2x4 method of training the weaves but....LOL



Wednesday May 6, 2015.  FIRST exposure to the set of 2 poles.  I skipped the first steps because Katy has spent a week or two running a 12 foot long board with two poles at each side of the board.  This is in prep for her dog walk behavior.  I think the set up is so similar to the 2x2 that we can skip the first part and hey it is only dog training so if I am wrong we can just go back one step.  NO WORRIES!  

I did two actual training sessions that I videoed, and wow, she is a rock star.  I do think in the first session, done in the morning I threw the toy along the line really well, but the toy placement is a tad further out then I would have liked.  Not much just a tad.

Second session, ughgh, I was trying to move around the arc and add just a touch of movement, not a lot because THIS IS THE SECOND SESSION, less then 5 min exposure....so just a touch of movement.  The one issue I see is I am throwing closer but she isn't totally committed to the opening so I am waiting a little too long, I'm late rewarding so at the end of the session I am getting quite a bit of looking back.  

All in all, yippie, we are on our way!!!!  I am very pleased with day 1.  




4 comments:

Steffi said...

Whoa - her plank work looks great!! And she's picking up the weaves quite fast.

I'm so glad you're posting about her training as it's motivating me to keep going with mine.

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

Thanks Steffi- we can motivate each other lol.

Tracey Kent said...

Reminds me of my early weave training with Katy's Auntie Lyric.

Unknown said...

she is awesome !!!!