I'm finally joining the blogging world. Of course it's with a little prompting from my friend Angie. We're both trying to teach one of our (many) dogs to weave using Susan Garrett's 2x2 method. I've got a little catching up to do since I've already started training this method with Cherish. Here's a quick recap.
I have never taught Cherish any behavior using shaping. Because of that I was a little worried about using this method because it relies pretty heavily on that concept. We started out in my kitchen with 1 set of 2x2's. I struggled the most with not tossing the treat to lure her thru the poles. But Cherish is a smart girl and caught on pretty quickly that moving toward the poles earned a click/treat. I kept upping the criteria and soon she was moving toward and through the poles (with no prompting) to earn her reward. YES! We were building value for the poles! We did that for 2 nights and then it was time to move outside.
I waited until the weekend so that we could work multiple sessions in a day for 2 consecutive days. It was time to test if I had successfully built value for the poles! We started outside in a grassy area next to my driveway with one set of 2x2's set at 3 and 9. I set them so that I had a tree out ahead of them so I had a target for my reward line. We worked like that on Saturday and then on Sunday rotated the poles to 2 and 8. The next time were able to work was in the evening when I got home from work. I have a floodlight on the back of my garage and I set one set of 2x2 there at 2 and 8. We worked on sending around the arc for 2 nights. On day 6 I added a second set of 2x2 at 12' from the first set. We continued sending from around the arc and would reward every so often between the two sets. The next day I moved the poles approx. 4' apart. Day 8 was on a saturday so I loaded up 2 sets of 2x2's and Cherish and I headed to the big metropolis of Hamel to set up and work in the park. It was only about 25 degrees outside so needless to say I had the whole park to myself. We did one session with the 2 sets 4' apart at 2 and 8. Then we took a break and I went and got a cup of cappuccino and drove around with the heater on to warm up. About an hour later we went back and worked another session. I picked up where I left off for a refresher and then rotated the poles to 1 and 7. She had a good success rate in a new environment so we headed home. Day 9, sunday, we worked at home again with the sets 2' apart at 1 and 7. On Day 10 we worked the same as what we did on day 9, just kept working the arc.
After that the bottom dropped out of the temperature here and we didn't work anything for 4 days. I know how to bundle up and layer and to keep my head warm with a hat, but by the time I get off work and get home it's dark and the temp would be down to about 4. That's just too cold to go out and practice in - hat or not. The next opportunity that we had to work was on saturday, January 17th. I guess you would technically call this day 11. I had a great opportunity to work at a different location and it was INDOORS! Hallelujah! I packed along 2 sets of 2x2's and headed to Wentzville for a show-n-go. When it was over I got my poles out and she did great. Picked right up where we had left off 4 days ago. I set the poles at competition spacing and rotated them to 1 and 7 and worked the arc. One thing that I have found that is the same as what Susan Garrett says in the video is that I hardly every work the low challenge area of the arc. It just doesn't seem near as fun as sending Cherish from a greater angle and watching her make a successful entry. The other challenge for ME has been to let her learn by failing. It has been so hard when she misses an entry 2, 3 or even 4 times or more in a row to not move to make it easier for her. I have always went by the "set the dog up to be successful" method and it just didn't seem right to let her keep doing it wrong over and over. What I'm seeing now is that her misses usually only happen once, maybe twice before she gets is right. You can see she's THINKING!
Now we're finally to today! I started by re-watching some of the Susan Garrett video to refresh my memory on what to do next. The weather was decent today so we were worked outside at home. I set up in a different area of the yard with 2 sets of 2x2's, competition spacing, rotated to 1 and 7. I only worked a few entries around the arc and then decided to make the leap to 4 straight poles! The little red dog did great. Later this afternoon we went out for a second session and I decided to really push her and add a jump. She hit her entry the first time, missed the next two and then hit the next 15 in a row! I stopped there for the day so we ended on some good runs.
I videotaped both of today's sessions so I'll be uploading them to youtube and will post a link. Unfortunately, now I have to go back to work tomorrow so I'll be limited to the area behind the house that the floodlight can cover. I don't know if I'll be able to get a jump in there or not.
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