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 ;-)