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.
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