2x2 Weave Training - Days Eight and Nine

Friday (Day Eight)

OK, so end of Day Seven (Thursday) I'd had an idea about setting up the 2x2 weaves relative to a baseline rather than to the normal reward line (see 2x2 Weave Training - Days Six and Seven). This doesn't actually change the geometry of the weaves at all, it's mentally just a different way of looking at the layout. So why did I want to try it? Two reasons, firstly it makes adjusting the angle of the weaves to "turn back time" much easier (for me). Secondly, it makes the weaves look normal to me which would hopefully tidy up my body language.

Why is body language important - if your working high on the arc, the difference between your dog making any entry from this side of the weaves (the equivalent to working low on the arc) and wrapping the first pole is body language. Where you stand is virtual identical so they don't really get a positional cue. See below:

So if, for example, your having problems with entries one of the questions you need to ask yourself is, "Is my body language consistent?". Changing to a baseline view of the world made me more comfortable and hence would improve my body language.

So, did it work? Short answer, YES. Enya's behaviour and entries were much better on Day Eight. Even at this stage body language is soooooo important.

By the end of Day Eight I was sufficiently impressed by her progress that I decided to add the third set of 2x2's to the others. I've tended to find that I make a lot of the changes at the end of a day, especially if the dog has been working well. It's just a personal thing - if the dog has been working well, you need to stretch things a little. Doing it in the final session means the dogs have the evening to think about it and the night to sleep on it for the next day.

If you look at Susan Garrett's DVD she does adds the third set while the weaves are a still open (as Enya's are at the moment), if you read the workbook she closes up the two set first and then adds the third. This tells me that this change is a matter of personal preference and how you think your dog is working.

Certainly adding the third set caused Enya no problems at all. She took to it like a duck to water.

Saturday (Day Nine)
This started out as a consolidation day. I worked with 6 weaves (three 2x2 sets) all closed up to competition distance, but still in the 1-7 o'clock position. I worked the entries, and as the day progressed I gradually closed up the weaves. By the time we reached the end of the final session, we were as near as damn it closed so, with a deep breath, I decided to close the weaves up completely and see what happened. You'll note this is at the end of the day again.

This is a big moment for the dog - and this is what happened ...

Six weaves in nine days :-) OMG! What a little STAR she is! And look at the tail - that is a happy tail! She is getting such enjoyment out of this. The biggest problem I have at the moment is when I'm setting her up for an entry for the weaves. Unless I am very careful as soon as her nose is pointed at the weaves she will go and do them. There is an awful lot of value built into the weaves :-)

If you look at her action as she's weaving she's not paddling. However if the weaves are still open, she is starting to paddle. At the moment, with completely closed weaves she has think about it and check the head long blast that is the normal mode of Kilnhurst locomotion. To encourage the paddling motion I'm probably going to do some work with the weaves open as well as practicing with them closed.

As you would expect for something she's only be doing for 9 days, there are some strong points and some weak points. Entries are very strong, precision is weak, she sometimes skips poles - I suspect the later has to do with speed and drive. The knack of course is not to inhibit the speed & drive & enthusiasm, but to encourage the precision :-)

Sunday will be a day of rest - she's done a huge amount this week and she deserves a bit of a break. I certainly don't want to break that happy tail :-)

2x2 Weave Training - Days Six & Seven

Days Six (Wednesday) and Seven (Thursday)

Wednesday (Day Six), OK we started the day with the two sets of 2x2s 5 feet apart at 1-7 o'clock.

Sadly the day did not go well. Enya was missing the entries from the left again. She was bending round the first pole perfectly, but then skipping to the end and going between poles 3 and 4.

Initially I assumed this was cause by her speed. However when she slowed down she was still showing the same behaviour. Another indicator that there was more going on here, was her response to the "No" command (see "No as a command") when she did this. This should have caused Enya to try a new behaviour, instead she kept presenting the same behaviour. This suggests she thought the behaviour was correct.

I suspect in classic 2x2 training, it would be said that I had closed the gap between the two sets of 2x2s too quickly and I hadn't rewarded enough in-between the two sets as I closed the gap.

However I think there's an alternative explanation - I think Enya was offering exactly the behaviour I had trained her for.

Figure 1 above, shows the path I wanted Enya to take. Figure 2 shows what Enya was offering me. Figure 3 shows what I have been teaching Enya on Day One. If you had to describe the path in Figure 3 in words you could say she was to wrap the first pole, and then cut in before the next pole. Doing that would have produce the behaviour I wanted when repeated with another set of 2x2 as shown in Figure 1. However you could also describe path in Figure 3 as, wrap the first pole and then cut in before the last pole in the set. If you do that, then the path in Figure 2 makes perfect sense. She's taken what I've taught her on Day One with two poles and expanded it to four poles. That would explain why she was repeating it despite the use of "No".

So, whatever the explanation, we needed a cure. You're not supposed to make the challenge easier, but you do need to introduce a change to get the behaviour you desire. Roll on Day Seven.

Thursday (Day Seven). To start with I reduced the spacing on the 2x2 sets to 4ft, but re-opened the sets to nearer 2-8 o'clock. From the right hand side I was getting the behaviour I wanted. From the left I was still getting the skipping behaviour I'd seen the day before. Enya was actually deliberately widening her path to skip round pole 2 even when it was moved from the 1-7 o'clock to the 2-8 o'clock position. This further reinforced the idea that she felt this the behaviour was the correct on as she was actually avoiding cutting in-between poles 1 & 2, even when it was made easier. So as a temporary measure I moved the second set of 2x2s off the the reward line to the left. This meant that as Enya arced round she wouldn't see the second set  unless she cut in-between poles 1 & 2. That had the desired effect, Enya started cutting in between 1 & 2 again, and then doing 3 & 4. Once you have the correct behaviour you can reward and reinforce it and I was able to move back to the normal configuration.

Because I was only getting the problematic behaviour from the left of the weaves I wondered if my body language could have contribute to the problem. The angling of the 2x2 sets on the reward line was not something I felt comfortable with. Your always fiddling with the two sets of poles to make sure the angles are the same, and the reward line is not consistent with the line you'd use for a normal set of weaves.

On Thursday night I suddenly realised there was a different way you could think of the layout of the 2x2 weaves. The actually geometry is identical, all that changes is the way you think of it.

Figure 1, below, shows the normal way of looking at 2x2 weave geometry. Figure 2 shows an alternative way of looking at it. The actual layout is identical - all I did was rotate the image in Figure 1 by 20 degrees or so. However it gave me a view of the weaves I was far, far more comfortable with. The baseline in orange is the same line as you'd normally see with a standard set of weaves. In this view it was immediately obvious to me that sets one and two are always parallel to each other.

It also makes adjusting the angle between the first and second sets of 2x2s far easier (at least for me). As the arrows show in Figure 3 all you do is move the second set towards or away from the base line. The only thing you need to be aware of, is that in this orientation the baseline stays still, but your reward line will move when you adjust the angles between the sets of 2x2s.

Tune again for the results of this change of mind set - did it help me or hinder? Was it a great idea or a disaster ?

2x2 Weave Training - Days Four & Five

Days Four & Five - Moving the Two Sets of 2x2s & Turning Back Time


In case anyone is wondering about Sunday by the way - we had a day off. We're were out and about on Sunday, so there wasn't going to be time to devote to Enya's training properly. I decided it was probably better to give her a day off. Certainly when your training something this intensely, i.e. 3 times a days, even if it is only for 5 mins each session, it does no harm at all to give your dog a break every so often. Just like people they will come back refreshed and with their enthusiasm levels topped up.

Sunday

Anyway Days Four & Five (Monday and Tuesday) - These are about moving the locations your training in about so your dog gets used to working in different locations. This we did most successfully. And they're about closing the gap between the two sets of 2x2s down from 8ft to 4ft, and changing the time from 2-8pm to 1-7pm - this will all make perfect sense if you're familiar with Susan Garrett's 2x2 training method. If you aren't, it will all seem really weird, but be assured I don't train my dog for 6 hours a day :-) Anyway, this was slightly less successful as we're not at 4ft just yet, currently we're working at about 5ft between the sets.

Monday (Day Four) we closed the gap, you can sort of get an idea of what happened if you read the previous blog entry on using No as a command.

Tuesday (Day Five) we could only do two sessions, morning and evening. Due to a re-arranged meeting, lunch was a very hurried affair with just time to walk the dogs and check the horses. The final session on Day Five was interesting because Enya was trying to hammer through the weaves at top speed and as a consequences she kept missing the entry on one or other of the two sets. Typically collie behaviour - "I must do everything at 120%". The misses were being caused because I was reducing the distance between the two sets, and the closer you get the more they have to dig in and turn to get the entries. I resisted the temptation to make it easier and instead used the toy to reward in-between the sets. This encourages her to dig in and to slow up just a bit. It's a bit of a balancing act, you want the speed but you also need them to have sufficient control to make it work.

Needless to say with this we have been working the arc, though I have to remind myself to do the easier entries as well as I have a tendency to try work high on the arc all the time. Challenging I know, but in reality most of her entries in competition are not going to be from there, they're more likely to be from straight on, especially in the lower grades. Now that would be a novelty - having to explain to people why you dog can get any entry from +/- 90degrees but misses the easier entries, LOL!

So, very successful with good progress and we're going to be starting Day Six with the 2x2 sets about 5ft apart and 1-7pm

"No" as a command

Most people think of "No" as something you shout at a dog to stop it doing something, a negative.

But if it's used properly, "No" can be a very positive aid in training your dog. It can speed up the training cycle immensely by blocking undesired behaviours. I had to think about the word I used there quite carefully. I didn't want to say bad or inappropriate behaviours, as what I'm talking about are just behaviours that you just don't want at a particular place and time. At other times they may be perfect. It's a bit like what's the difference between a weed and a flower? A weed is just a flower that's growing in the wrong place. Similarly a "sit" is a great behaviour from a dog greeting people, but not what you want when you teaching a dog to roll-over.

Our dogs are trained using positive, reward-based methods. The exact reward depends on the dog. Kira, our Labrador, will do anything for food. Enya, our collie, on the other hand has been known to politely take food and then spit it out - but will do anything for a thrown ball.

So where does "No" a seeming negative come into this? When your teaching a dog a new command, sometimes they will get it right, in which case they get the reward. Somethings they get it wrong, in which case they don't get the reward and we encourage them to try again until they get it right and we can reward them. This rapidly builds a characteristic of dogs that have been trained by positive reinforcement - if they are unsure about what you are asking them what to do they "offer" behaviours that they think might get them the reward. It's not uncommon in a reward based class, to see a puppy offer it's entire repertoire of actions in rapid succession to get the reward.

So what we do, is use "No" as a marker to indicate the behaviours that are not going to get the reward - this lets the dog know that it should "offer" us a different behaviour immediately. It speeds up the process. If I was trying to teach a stand and my dog does a sit, I would say "No" and wait. OK, the dog knows a sit isn't going to hack it, so it doesn't stay in the sit hopefully staring at the treat, it tries a down. Another "No". OK the dog now knows that I'm not after a sit or a down so it has to try something new. The dog stands up - Bingo! Reward time. OK, this is slightly contrived example and I wouldn't actually teach a stand like that, but you get the idea. I haven't had to wait for ages while the dog stays hopefully in a sit until they finally give up, and the dog hasn't got frustrated.

So how do you teach it? Just as I've indicated above. In your training sessions if your dog gives you a behaviour that isn't the one you want, mark it with a "No" and wait. Then reward the correct behaviour. Your dog will rapidly pick up that "No" means "try something else".

My reason for blogging about this now?

I did a training session on weaves with Enya this morning on 2x2s. We're on two sets, so she has to go through the first set, then the second set, in the right order and the right direction.

First time, she missed the first set out - "no". She didn't wait for the toy/reward, but immediately arced around for a second run. This time she got the first set but missed the second - "no". Again that immediate arc around and re-try. Third time she again got the first but missed the second - "no". Fourth time round she nailed it! Ball - reward - play!

This whole process took less than 30 seconds. So in less than 30 seconds we went from failure to success. Enya wasn't bored, wasn't frustrated, worked really well and was throughly reward, and all because I can say "no" to my dog :-)

Some pointers:

Don't use No in a harsh way. When I'm training my dogs, "No" is used in a very soft, everyday voice. The same voice as I would say "sit" or "weave" in. Don't use "No' in a telling-off voice. If you find you can't do that, just use a different word. People I know use "Opps" or "Cheater" as alternatives.

Always reward your dog at the end. If you've offered a reward to the dog you must give it to them. If all goes pear-shaped, get the dog to do something very simple like a "sit" or a "down" and reward that.

If you find your having to say "No" more than two or three times in a row you've almost certainly made the challenge your offering your dog too hard. Re-think it and try again, remember the training maxim: Always set your dog up to succeed.

If everything is going wrong and your starting to get frustrated, and your "No" is becoming harsh. STOP IMMEDIATELY! You will do yourself and your dog no good if you try and train in this state of mind, and you will de-value your "No" command. Have a break. Have a cup of tea. Do something else. Once your back in a positive frame of mind, try again.

2x2 Weave Training - Day Three and a Half

Welcome to Day Three and a Half. It comes after Day Three and before Day Four if you've not been happy with the progress you've made on Day Three.

Enya's entry to the second set of 2x2s wasn't very strong yesterday, and when we started the first session today the entry on the first set was still problematic from high on the arc on the left hand side. However a lot more studying of the DVD and I had noticed something else. When Susan Garrett was working Trendy she was rewarding in-between the first and second sets 50% of the time. This is clearly stated, but when I watched the DVD again I realised that occasionally she'd rewarded from the hand rather than by throwing down the reward line. This set me to thinking and I decided to try something else.

I kept the toy in my hand and let Enya see it when I sent her on to the first set of 2x2s. That had the desired effect and she collected and turned into the first set of 2x2s perfectly. I rewarded her with a game of tug directly from my hand. And because she was turned into the first set tightly, she was now lined up on the second set as well.

Normally you don't reward from the hand when your teaching a young dog agility because your trying to instil value in the equipment, not in your hand. However in this case there was already a lot of value in the poles and so rewarding from the hand was a low-risk strategy to fix a specific problem.

Once she had the idea of turning in sharply things moved more or less back onto track. We moved from rewarding from the hand to throwing the toy down the reward line, something between sets, sometimes after set 2. Enya is now turning in on the first set of 2x2s and then picking up the second set of 2x2s.

The second and third sessions were purposely short and just built on this success, reducing the spacing between the sets to roughly 8ft.

So the lesson from today's sessions. Part of being a good handler is understanding your dog and understanding when you can break the rules. But even when breaking rules, there are rules.

• Always have a reason for what you are doing, don't break rules for the sake of it.
• Understand the rule you are breaking and the consequences of breaking it.

All of this is summed up in a great little saying -

"Rules are for the adherence of the foolish and the guidance of the wise"

After we finished the final session of the day we went for a walk, and a very hard working little collie was quite thirsty ....

You don't get much fresher from this, drinking from one of the nearby springs.

And the sunset was spectacular ....

2x2 Wave Training - Day Three

Day Three - Going to Two Sets of 2x2s

Tomorrow is probably going to be Day Three and a Half, not Day Four. We have some more work to do at this level.

The day started badly - the entry from the left hand side was being missed .... a lot. By left hand side I mean when the dog is wrapping with their left shoulder to the pole. Because of the way the poles are set at 2-8 o'clock, entry from the left hand side is always trickier. Most of this was being caused by the speed and intensity that Enya was working with. She was overshooting when coming in from the left and couldn't curve her body into between the poles. Eventually I gave up, reduce it to far smaller arc so we could finish on a successful note, and went home to re-group.

For the second session I went back to working on the hardstanding and using treats. No problem, with hardstanding and treats she isn't moving as fast so it was back to normal. A good session from my perspective as it reinforced the value of going between the poles.

I also re-grouped. I checked out the video very carefully and checked the Workbook that comes with the DVD. I think I was being too aggressive with the angles I was trying to get from the left. The diagrams in the workbook show an arc that seems to be about 300 degrees round the reward line. Muggins here took this literally and was trying to work from that angle, from 6ft away. If you watch the video, Susan Garrett isn't that aggressive. I also found the bit in the Workbook that said to start each session with the smaller pie slice- doh!

For session three we went back to the grass and toy combination, but started with the smaller pie slice. The only problem we had was the amount of value that had been built-in to the two poles by the lunchtime session meant Enya was seriously locked on to the poles as only a high-drive collie can be. Now she was finding the entry again I decided to try the second set of 2x2s.

I duly laid them out 15ft apart as instructed in the video. Nope, that didn't work. Enya was treating them as two separate obstacles. You'd get one or the other, but not both. As far as Enya was concerned, there was a disconnect. She'd do the first set and then look for the reward, problem was by that point her speed had already carried her beyond the next set. A couple of times I nearly got the second set coming back :-S

I reduced the separation of the 2x2s to 8ft. Bingo! Now there was a connection, and she was doing both sets.

So if it is all going so well, why did this entry start talking about Day Three and a Half? Enya is moving so fast that when you start to move off the base line she starts to find it difficult to bend for the second set of 2x2s. Hence more work.

Stay tuned for our next exciting episode ;-)

2x2 Weave Training - Day Two

Day Two - Moving the Poles

Day Two doesn't really involve any new concepts. Your doing much the same thing you were doing at the end of day one i.e. working the arc and reinforcing the entries. Though it does specifically suggest that you should move around as you work the dog so they don't get dependent on your body as a queue.

However there is one minor difference from day one, minor that is unless you have a high-drive, working collie. You move from working on hardstanding to working on grass "so the dog can dig in and gain some speed". Obviously if you do this you can't reward your dog by throwing treats down the reward line. Treats would get lost in the grass and you'd lose time as your dog searches for them or gets distracted by lost treats. No problem, you simply replace the treats with a toy to reward your dog and reinforce the reward line.

And there in lies the problem. Enya is a high-drive, working collie. A real racing snake ... and she's very focused on toys. So on Day Two the energy levels went up, dramatically. Susan Garrett does suggest that you play with your dog at the start of each session to get their energy levels, to build their Desire (DASH) to work. Not really necessary with Enya - she can hit an 11 without even trying if she thinks there is the slight hint of being able to work. It's a characteristics of Kilnhursts, they love to work for their people.

So on the grass Enya definitely dug in and gained more speed. Like, serious speed. When she was being reward with food at the end of Day One she was hitting the entry every time. Using a toy she was missing some of the entries when she had to wrap the first pole, simply because she was moving soooooo fast she was finding it difficult to bend her body round to make the entry. We like these kind of problems :-)

By the third and final session of the day we'd got the accuracy back up. Just by letting her work through the problem, and by making sure that I was throwing the toy as accurately as possible down the reward line.

DASH - Desire, Accuracy, Speed & Habitat. The first step is to "get the dog really excited" before each training session. Fortunately if you have a Kilnhurst, this is very easy. Simply check to see if your dog is breathing, if they are, they will have achieved the required level of Desire. Or possible overachieved it - Kilnhursts love to overachieve :-)

Note the raised paw and the ready to go, forward focus :-)

2x2 Weave Training - Day One

OK, completed Day One - Shaping the First 2 Poles.

As recommended I did it as 3 sessions of 5 mins each. Enya picked it up very quickly. End of the first session she was moving between the poles very confidently, end of the second session I was able to move 4-5ft back from the poles, and by the end of the third she was getting a wide range on the arc without problems.

All-in-all a very successful first day.

What I would say though, is this is not a technique for beginners. At our club, we teach the new starters to weave using Channel Weaves. It's time consuming but it's a very robust method, especially for people who don't have much experience of agility. Even on Day One, 2x2 weaves relies on the handler having good body language to make it work well. Susan Garrett actually says this in the DVD when she talks about getting the dog to come back around after it's gone through the poles so they don't go back and forth through the poles. She suggests using "good agility handling" e.g. calling them around your shoulder. That's not something a beginner would be able to do.

The method also calls on you to raise the criteria you ask for very rapidly. For example you shouldn't be reenforcing the stationary look at the poles phase more then once or twice. A beginner would find it very difficult to have the confidence to this, and wouldn't have the experience to judge how to ride the edge to raise the criteria without breaking the behaviour.

In our case it helped that Enya has be clicker trained and so is used to being shaped and has no problem offering behaviours if she's unsure what to do. It also helped that she's been trained for "forward focus" on the obstacle. And, of course, it helps that she's a purpose bred agility dog :-)

No, these pictures weren't taken today, they were taken yesterday - as recommended today we were working on hardstanding so I could use high value treats, in this case frankfurters.

2x2 Weave Training - The Prologue

I'm about to start training our youngest to weave.

Dog! I mean, our youngest dog to weave. Must remember that not all the people who read this are going to be agility nuts.

When I trained my previous dog I used channel weaves. It was very successful, if a little time consuming. However with our new dog I thought I'd give Susan Garrett's 2x2 Weave Training system a go. A number of people in our club have tried it with varying degrees of success, and the idea of "12 Poles in 12 Days" does appeal :-)

I've watched the DVD (repeatedly), studied the booklet, got the 2x2s, and got the dog. So time to rock'n'roll, or rather train'n'weave.

We have the dog, we have the 2x2's ...

Bring it on !