2 x 2 Weaves

Kirby loves agility. We take our classes through Paws Abilities Dog Training and it's been a very fun journey!  At this point, Kirby will take just about every obstacle put in front of him, with the exception of a full on teeter (it's still modified on short tables) and weaves.

Wait, let me make a correction. Kirby will do weaves just perfectly fine... on the Paws Abilities class course. Anywhere else, it's as though he's never seen a weave pole before.  It's mildly frustrating for me to watch him do them perfectly in class and then go home to our setup and watch him clown around like he doesn't have a clue.

So, while attending a NADAC agility trial last weekend, I had a chance to sit down with Laura from The Dogs Are Really In Charge and she said "Have you tried the 2x2 method yet?"  Ummmm... no?  I'd heard of it before. I'm a big Susan Garrett fan and I have a number of her books and DVD's. But I'd never tried the 2x2 weaves before. Using her shoes and mine on a bleacher seat, Laura explained the basic concept to me.

And last night, we put it to the test.

I stuck two poles into the ground about 2 ft apart. I had our handy dandy tennis ball in hand. I sat Kirby directly in front of the poles about 7 ft away, got into place with my arm out and told him to 'weave'.

He ran around the poles. "Oops!" is our fail word. It means 'That is not what you were asked, let's try it again' and no reward.

Reset. "Weave". Kirby again flew around the poles and searched the air for his beloved ball. "Oops!"

Reset. This time I set him up about 4ft from the opening and was a little more obvious with my hand/arm. Kirby bolted between the poles!  "YES!" Throw the ball.

I love our new tennis ball reward system by the way. Once that ball is thrown, Kirby must immediately flip back through and figure out what exactly he did to get that result, because he's a quick study after that.

Reset again, about 5ft away. He nailed it again and again. It was only when I changed his start position at a bit of an angle that he got confused and ran around them. But we simply reset and tried again and he did it!  We ended there on that note. If I've learned anything in dog training, it's that short, quick sessions are more likely to bring success than a long, frustrating, drawn out session. So no matter what we're doing, we keep it short.

I will likely need to borrow or buy the 2x2 weaves DVD soon, just so I'm clear. But a couple of people have sent me youtube videos which are also really helpful. Stay tuned to see if 2x2's works for us!

Jump Solution

Kirby and I have been taking agility classes for appx 2 years now. I think. Anyways, jumping has not been one of Kirby's strong points. Well, he can jump just dandy if it's strait up into the air or to catch a Frisbee. When that is the case, it's like Kirby was born on springs for legs. But 12" agility jumps?  90% of the time, he just blows them off.

I'm not laying all of the blame on Kirby though. I'll take half of it, becausemy handling skills are nowhere near perfect. My positioning probably made him think he didn't need to take that jump.  But once my handling improved, the jumping did not.

Our agility instructor, Rick, put his thinking cap on. He pulled me aside and gave us some homework. I have a few agility jumps at home. I was to start with one. Set up Kirby as usual. Instead of treats though, he told me to keep a tennis ball in hand. After Kirby was released and I was certain that he was committed to taking the jump, I would mark it 'YES!" and throw the ball. 

This worked almost immediately and during the first night we were able to add a second jump. This actually ended up failing about half the time, so we went back to class and discussed with Rick and he tweaked our homework a bit. Now I was to send him off to jump and mark/reward, but each time I started backing up and moving out. This was teaching distance. There was a time when I would have to turn really close into the jump to force Kirby over it and prevent him from coming into my side and blowing it off. We had no distance. But soon we were able to add jumps and I could begin on either side from a good distance away. 

We have absolutely not 'mastered' the agility jump, not by any stretch of the imagination. But we've greatly improved. By the next class, Rick said it was like he was a completely different dog, taking most if not all of the jumps he was asked to!

Switching from treats to a tennis ball had huge effects on the agility course. We have since begun using it elsewhere, and I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier because I'm sure we would have advanced a lot quicker. 

As long as the black dog is having fun though, it's alright by me. And I really enjoy our agility classes. I've always had really nice classmates and it's educational to watch them work as well and pick their way through their own issues and come up with a solution. Sometimes it helps me, sometimes it doesn't, but may help somebody else. As long as I can afford it, I will likely continue taking classes even after we begin trialing. While I will technically be taking the same class multiple times, they are never the same. Paws Abilities trainers have always been excellent at looking at the individual team and breaking each class down to fit the needs of it's students. Our main focus for our last Intermediate Agility classes was jumps and handling skills. We are beginning Intermediate Agility again and those 6 classes will probably focus on something completely different. That's the beauty of it.