This was Sneak's second session really with the 2X2 weaves, we did a few repetitions Monday night at work. Sneak is a little more tricky though, she does not have enough toy drive yet to drive towards a toy and bring it back so I started working with her by filling a treat bag with Bil Jac, this seems to be mking progress as we have just done a few sessions using this reward method. Ideally I would like to get her a Tug N Train so she can start learning to tug soon but for now this will do. We had a few problems with her session, tossing the treat bag proved difficult to aim well and as she ate treats from it it was lighter and required more force to fling it, this led to me hitting her in the head or it to take too long to land. Im a little annoyed by this and I will see what I can do to fix it before our next session. My clicks seem late along with the reward and twice she seemed bored or stressed because she started sniffing the ground. Sneak is a prettyreactive and nervous dog so if someone shuts their car door down the block or a neighbors dog barks she goes to guard dog mode, I was impressed she never barked.
Goals next session: Use a special treat just for weave training to keep her attention, practice throwing the bait bag more accurately and speed up my clicks.
I will keep her at this step a little longer since she doesn't seem to have high value for the weaves yet, slow and steady! = )
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
2X2 Weaves Session 1 - Saavy
Saavy was very excited about starting his weave training which was great because in the past he has been slow and not enthusiastic at all. I tried a new Christmas toy that he can tug and squeak, this seemed to encourage him a lot! We had two things happen during his session I want to point out:
1) At 25 seconds he hits the poles so hard they move....maybe thats why they should have a weighted base...DUH! He didn't seem bothered by it though so we kept working, a more sensitive dog may become frightened though.
2) At 1:40 the stack of boxes and Christmas presents behind us fell over and you can see his reaction, but he happily went back to work. What an awesome boy!!
My tossing was not as acurate I felt, I had practiced with Shayla's rope toy, not this ball one so my throws left a little to be desired. Im going to practice throws some more before I bring him out again. He was driving towards the weaves from a distance so I will have him progress to the next step as well.
2X2 Weaves Session 1 - Shayla
I started our 2X2 weave training today. I started Shayla first and things went well. There were only 3 things that I did not forsee.....
1) That one of my cats, Sebastian, would decide he wanted to be in our "production", didn't seem to bother Shayla though. Watch for his grand exit 45 seconds into the session, it's a shame he knows he's handsome! = )
2) My husband would leave a toy on the couch, Shayla sisn't notice it but Saavy did. OOPS! How can I train effectvely if I don't control the enviroment I train in. LOL
3) That my other 3 jealous border collies would whine and or bark, which shuts Shayla down fast! You can see it happen twice, she worked through it though. Watch at 50 seconds and at 3:20 when Saavy barks in the background.
I can understand why Susan Garrett doesn't recommend using a clicker as it is hard enough to through accurately and in perfect time..let alone do this while clicking at the right time too, and I've been clicker training for over a decade!! Overall I was very impressed by her progress and she is driving to the weaves hard enough we will move to the next step of training.
her session lasted 4 minutes which afterwards I feel was too long, I'll set a timer next time at 3 minutes so I know when to stop, perfectionists NEVER know when to stop! = )
1) That one of my cats, Sebastian, would decide he wanted to be in our "production", didn't seem to bother Shayla though. Watch for his grand exit 45 seconds into the session, it's a shame he knows he's handsome! = )
2) My husband would leave a toy on the couch, Shayla sisn't notice it but Saavy did. OOPS! How can I train effectvely if I don't control the enviroment I train in. LOL
3) That my other 3 jealous border collies would whine and or bark, which shuts Shayla down fast! You can see it happen twice, she worked through it though. Watch at 50 seconds and at 3:20 when Saavy barks in the background.
I can understand why Susan Garrett doesn't recommend using a clicker as it is hard enough to through accurately and in perfect time..let alone do this while clicking at the right time too, and I've been clicker training for over a decade!! Overall I was very impressed by her progress and she is driving to the weaves hard enough we will move to the next step of training.
her session lasted 4 minutes which afterwards I feel was too long, I'll set a timer next time at 3 minutes so I know when to stop, perfectionists NEVER know when to stop! = )
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
2X2 weave poles!
Today I built my first set of 2X2 weaves, based on plans given to me by my instructor. Should you be interested just email me for the plans. Total cost was less then $6 and took less then 30 minutes. I have borrowed a friends video camera so tomorrow we will start Susan Garrett's 2X2 weave training with 3 of my dogs, I am re-training Shayla and Saavy who learned using channel method, weave guides, shaping and a badly done version of 2X2 weaves. I am also starting my border collie puppy girl Sneak on this method, she has done some shaping with 3 poles and run 6 poles in a channel but not really been working weaves as she is just turning 1 year old. I'm real anxious to see how things go and very excited to get to be taping my results so I can see where improvements need to be made. I look foward to sharing our training adventures with you and hearing from you all on what you think! Happy training!!
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