Rex's 2x2 Weave Pole Training

[airbear]

Like I said, if there is a difference between where my reward line is and where SG's reward line is, for the love of all that's holy, follow SG!

 

In the above pic, Rex is thoughtfully hucking himself over a jump. He only did that once or twice, but I thought it was just too awesome a pic not to post. And don't worry, this is NOT what LM recommends in her book! It should look a little more like:

 

 

Good job on the teeter training! Sounds like you're going to end up with a yard full of equipment too. I am just debating whether I can stand the idea of a dogwalk ruining living in my backyard.

[Chi-Ann's Mom]

Airbear, may I ask, where do you live? You have a great yard. I have all of the few pieces of equipment in my now converted Living Room/Dining Room. I have to do lots of rotating in order to have the room to practice on whatever it is I am working on that week. I wish I had the yard you have, we live on a postage stamp piece of property right now. But, we are looking to purchase a home on almost 3 acres in N. Carolina. I am hoping this works out for us. Otherwise I have to keep driving to an agility yard and use their equipment for the full course. That is ok, as I take my classes there anyway. I would just like to go it alone, but for now it is what it is!

My daughter lives in Texas and has a yard similar in size to yours. I want that too!!

[SecretBC]

I am just debating whether I can stand the idea of a dogwalk ruining living in my backyard.

 

A yard without agility equipment is boring & dull! Boo!!!

 

When I was house shopping, the yard was actually more important than the yard. We'd drive up with the realtor, see a crappy yard filled with trees and landscaping, and I'd just tell her to drive to the next one.

 

I ended up with a gorgeous piece of flat land with nothing obstructing it other than a child's sand box (which I promptly removed and filled in the hole with dirt). Fenced in, it is roughly 100' x 100' of agility space. Perfect!

 

I stopped paying for the useless low-level classes offered in my area, so I didn't have much option here -- I needed a workable space to train.

 

I started with the major equipment (dog walk, a-frame, jumps, tunnels & weaves) and have added on equipment as I've needed it to train -- Teeter, chute, tire, 24" weaves, and most recently, my new table. All I'm missing now is a broad jump...

 

The main issue is finding space to store it in the winter...

[Chi-Ann's Mom]

Well, duh, if I had taken the time to read your profile, I would have seen you are in Canada. Airbear, I have talked about moving there but my husband is not going for it. We are currently in CA but my husband is from N.C. and we are looking at a home on 2.92 acres of beautiful flat land. We are trying to find a way to purchase this home/land. That would be perfect for an agility yard for sure. The property next to this one is also available and has a barn on it. Now that would be totally the best if we were to get the whole thing and I would then have a training facility for summer and winter. I hope and pray this works out, but if not, there will be something else down the road for us.

Have you watched SG's video on "one jump"? I also have that, but it was too early in the game for me to comprehend what she was saying. I will watch it now so I can get an idea of what she is talking about. So many things to learn to get this sport down properly.

[SecretBC]

As much of a fan I am of Susan Garrett's, her "One Jump" video did nothing for me. Secret just isn't that type of dog -- Or most definitely, she wasn't that type of dog when I watched the video. She is starting to care more about toys now, but when I first watched the One Jump video and tried to do the exercises, she was not into it at all.

 

I found Linda Mecklenburg's "Developing Jumping Skills" to be more helpful. Her one jump exercises did a lot to build Secret's drive for jumps in general, along with helping to teach proper form.

 

I'm not one to follow a particular handling system (ie: Mecklenburg vs. Derrett), but I think they provide a lot of great foundation work.

[Rave]

As much as I can't stand SG (especially after listening to her pompous arrogant snide attitude and horrible comments about competitors and their dogs last week at nationals - I made the mistake of sitting by her in the stands before I realized it was her), I might try this out with Kai. While I don't like her as a person, she does have some good ideas. A friend is sending the DVD because I refuse to give that person one cent of mine.

[airbear]

You're gonna try the 2x2s or the One Jump thing? And how is my friend, Good Wick? Did she have a Good time at nationals?

[Chi-Ann's Mom]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone read the book "Agility Right From the Start" by Eva Bertilsson and Emlie Johnson Vegh? It was highly recommended, so I bought it but have not even turned a page! It is really a large book with lots of information.

 

 

Studio A, http://www.studioaportraits.com

 

[Rave]

Good Wick is good, as usual. :-) She had a blast at Nationals and was a very good girly.

 

The 2x2's. I've never had a dog I've had to teach jump luckily, so I've never done a jumping program.

[rushdoggie]

...especially after listening to her pompous arrogant snide attitude and horrible comments about competitors and their dogs last week at nationals...

 

I heard something similar from someone else who was there not on this board. That's so sad, and I hate it when people act like that...

[Rave]

Well I've known this about her for quite some time. She came to a seminar in NC and told everyone how horribly untrained their dogs were and many more negative things. Everyone there left with a really sour taste in their mouths. And this was about 8-10 years ago. She hasn't seemed to have changed much.

[Chi-Ann's Mom]

Rave, do you live in N.C.? My husband is from there and, as I wrote above, we are looking into a home for sale there to purchase and live out our lives in. I have lived on the West Coast for so long don't know if I can handle the weather there.

So sorry to hear about SG and her bad attitude. She seems like such a nice person in her videos. And she is such a great trainer and competitor. That is very sad.

[Chi-Ann's Mom]

I found Linda Mecklenburg's "Developing Jumping Skills" to be more helpful. Her one jump exercises did a lot to build Secret's drive for jumps in general, along with helping to teach proper form.

I'm not one to follow a particular handling system (ie: Mecklenburg vs. Derrett), but I think they provide a lot of great foundation work.

 

I, too, am not a follower of any particular either. I just want to learn as much as I can so I try to take whatever works for us and from different trainers. I don't live in an area where there are many seminars so I have to do the book/video thing and pick up what I can. I love the man I am training with, and he gives me some great help, but isn't as polished as some current trainers are. But that is alright for now. By next year I am hoping to have it all together and ready to give it a try at some trials. I am taking my time with my girl as I don't want to sour her.

 

Yesterday we had a great day at our local BC Rescue group. We all got together with our BC's at a fenced in park and had a "play day". The dogs all played and ran and just had a great day and the people had a Pot Luck. It was totally awesome. Great for socializing your dogs with no training pressure. Just fun for all that participated.

 

My link

[Rave]

I used to live in NC, also in the NW. Hated the NC weather, especially the hot humid nasty summers. I much prefer the weather of the NW. NC is a nice area though, especially around the bigger cities, like Raleigh and Charlotte. It'll be a culture shock for you, that's for sure.

[alligande]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone read the book "Agility Right From the Start" by Eva Bertilsson and Emlie Johnson Vegh? It was highly recommended, so I bought it but have not even turned a page! It is really a large book with lots of information.

 

 

Studio A, http://www.studioaportraits.com

 

 

I have the book, I got it as I needed a good foundation book for Rievaulx as his foundation was going to be home schooled. I found it really useful and I liked their philosophy of teaching a dog to drive to the obstacle, not lure the dog. An example that has worked for me, was training 2 on 2 off contacts. They feel that you only need one command, you teach the end position, then back chain the rest of the obstacle. Made sense to me as my first dog does not have a full understanding of what I want even though I have re-trained contacts a couple of times.

I only have a little contact trainer at home, so Rievaulxs first class was the first time he saw an A frame and a dog walk and he nailed his contacts. My only problem is a rather subtle battle I have with my trainer over excessive commands. At the last class she was telling me to use stay at the end of the contact, but I have tried to train "contact" to mean keep you feet planted till I release. Its not perfect but I do not want to introduce a new word. So I just said Oh he has a release command and left it at that.

 

I have not done much work from the latter sections.

 

My major problems with the book have been that it is a clicker book, and I do not use a clicker. But I found plenty of ways round that, I do use a verbal marker. The other problem I had was that a lot of the exercises involved training with a partner, which I do not have. So there where a number of the exercises that I could not do. Having a dog with toy drive did help work around some of those problems.

[Chi-Ann's Mom]

I also don't work with a clicker, but a verbal marker as well. I find it works just fine. I have a little contact trainer at home also, but hardly use it. The man I am currently working with has me just have her wait at the contact, 2 on 2 off. I don't have a partner to work with at home, so have the same situation as you do. We do what we can to get the job done. My girl has a very strong food drive as well as a toy drive at home. Not so much in our class. I will have to try the back training as you did.

I have so many different books that I don't have time to read all of them. I need to just concentrate on one method at a time so as not to confuse ME! I don't think Chi-Ann would be the one confused!

[gcv-border]

I only have a little contact trainer at home, so Rievaulxs first class was the first time he saw an A frame and a dog walk and he nailed his contacts. My only problem is a rather subtle battle I have with my trainer over excessive commands. At the last class she was telling me to use stay at the end of the contact, but I have tried to train "contact" to mean keep you feet planted till I release. Its not perfect but I do not want to introduce a new word. So I just said Oh he has a release command and left it at that.

 

 

I agree with you regarding a single command at the bottom of a contact. (The command word can be anything you want - bottom, touch, contact, and so on.) I don't think using "stay" adds anything to the 2020 command, plus it can be confusing since most of us use "stay" in other contexts. I was taught that the dog's job was to hold the contact, regardless of what you are doing - cartwheels, running backwards, throwing tennis balls, etc. - UNTIL you issue the release command. Therefore, "stay" is implied as part of the contact command. Of course, that is in an ideal world - not my world. LOL

 

With regard to weaving commands, I have also heard about, read about, seen, and been taught several different techniques. If you can teach your dog to drive to the end of the weave poles, a single command should be enough to get your dog through the weave poles. Other dogs seem to need encouragement to go all the way through the weave poles - I see people clapping, repeating the "weave" command, saying "go, go, go", or other repetitive words. I prefer the single command technique, but I have a very "drivey" dog. If needed, based on the dog's personality, the other techniques are valid also.

 

Jovi

[alligande]

I often find that I can get overwhelmed by the amount of information about training. I read Clean Run, and a few email lists and I will see something that I think I should train that, then I get caught up in trying to master something else. I have been training for a couple of years and the more I know the more I realize how much more I need to learn.

I have found my contact trainer useful for reinforcing the correct behavior. I need to get it back out as Rievaulx has great 2O2O on the A frame, but he slides his but off on the others.

[Rave]

Just curious from those who have taught 2x2's, do you think using stick in the ground poles would work? I don't want to have to buy new weave poles if I don't have to. I have a competition set of 12 (two 6's) at 18-20" spacing (forget which) also. Perhaps I could just use the first two poles from the set of 6 for the beginning steps?

 

The dog I'll be training is a 16" border staffy, so I'm not worried about him pushing the poles out of the way.

[SecretBC]

Susan doesn't recommend stick-in poles. It's mainly a consistency factor. I don't think it's IMPOSSIBLE to use stick-in poles, but I think it would be a pain in the butt. There are a lot of small adjustments made during the training process and I would hate to have to remeasure and whatnot each time. I also think that the bases give visual cues to the dogs that assist them in the learning process.

 

FWIW, I have a friend who attempted to teach her dog to weave via the 2 x 2 method using stick-in poles. The dog still isn't weaving.

[SecretBC]

I don't want to have to buy new weave poles if I don't have to. I have a competition set of 12 (two 6's) at 18-20" spacing (forget which) also.

 

Forgot that I meant to address this as well -- Unless you compete in TDAA, you may want to consider buying new poles, anyhow. Pretty much everyone is moving to 24" poles and the smallest I've seen is 22" (from USDAA clubs that just purchased new weaves prior to USDAA announcing that they would allow 24"). If you are training on, god-forbid, 18" poles, your dog(s) may have a hard time adjusting to competition spacing.

[airbear]

Just curious from those who have taught 2x2's, do you think using stick in the ground poles would work? .

I would just buck up and get at least three sets of the 2x2s (or borrow some). I think it would be ultra-tedious, moving the sticks around, trying to get the positions right, tweaking an inch or two here and there ... ick.

 

And I wouldn't be so sure that Kai won't move the poles out of his way - he looks like a little powerhouse!

[gcv-border]

I have been training for a couple of years and the more I know the more I realize how much more I need to learn.

 

Hear! Hear! 100% agree.

 

Jovi

[alligande]

I play agility on a limited budget, what with class, trial entrys, books etc etc 2 X 2 poles were not in the budget. When I trained Brody I used a homemade set in the basement, that worked for the method we were doing, (modified channel) it was what my trainer showed me. For Rievaulx who is very fast and can dislodge poles, I hammered the pvc poles I have in the ground.

Yes it was a bit of a pain, but as we only worked for short periods, I would just adjust a little before the next session. I did have to move the poles when they started to come loose. The holes are starting to close over. The PVC in the ground was no more flexi than real poles. I think there is a difference from using pvc to using the bendy stick in the ground.

[Rave]

Forgot that I meant to address this as well -- Unless you compete in TDAA, you may want to consider buying new poles, anyhow. Pretty much everyone is moving to 24" poles and the smallest I've seen is 22" (from USDAA clubs that just purchased new weaves prior to USDAA announcing that they would allow 24"). If you are training on, god-forbid, 18" poles, your dog(s) may have a hard time adjusting to competition spacing.

 

I wholeheartedly disagree. If you're doing USDAA, there's a damn good chance you'll see 20" or 22" poles. Just training on 24" spacing is detrimental to the dog when they go to a tighter spacing; this I've seen firsthand. You should have heard the whines and complaints at the MI Regionals because the poles were 20" spacing. I avoid all that by training on tighter. Adjusted to a wider spacing is easier than the reverse. My dogs have done this time and time again, so I know from experience.

 

Besides, we're not talking about buying an entire new set here. We're talking about possibly buying 2x2's.