Generalization in Training

 aka what they learned isn't always what we taught (or thought we taught.) Look what I found! Or in this case, remembered. More things I was going to blog about and then completely forgot.

Oh weave poles. Where to begin?

Since weaves were very difficult for me to teach Baxter, they were actually the first obstacle that Spencer learned. I figured if he could learn that, he could learn anything and possibly actually play agility - he LOVED them, and the rest as they say is history.

By that time I had 2 sets of 6 weaves, 1 set of 3 2x2's and 1 set of just 6 weaves, making 12 poles altogether. They have the thin little bases (about a inch across?) not heavy duty weaves by any means. Heavy duty weaves are the ones you will sometimes see in trials, depending on how much money the club has sunk into their equipment. Most of the clubs around here (2x4, Training Troop and Calgary Agility Association) have heavy duty weaves. The bases are a couple (3?) inches wide and the metal is way thicker, so that when the big dogs go through the weaves they don't bend all over the place and rip the stakes out
of the ground.

After I started trialing with Spencer I noticed that he was often very worried about the weaves, to the point where they are a least favorite obstacle (teeter and chute rank right up there too.) Which I found odd, as he LOVES them at home, and in the different green spaces I go practice at.

Not quite this amount of drive for weaves at a trial ...

Sometimes at practice or in trials he would be fine and other times not so much. I couldn't narrow it down to figure out the issue. Is it his leg/knee causing the issue? The angle of entry? Onside, offside, indoor venue, outdoor venue? What?!

Then Regionals. We'd done a few lessons prior to them and I had some good suggestions that were working well on improving his weaves in practice. At Regionals he was fine - however, that was the first time I noticed a correlation in between the weave bases and his performance. All 3 rings at Regionals were running thin weaves.

Fast forward to Nationals, or specifically the warm up ring at Nationals. The weaves had thick bases. My baby dog acted like he'd never seen a set of poles before in his life. At the time I didn't realize that toys are okay in the warm up ring, so I had nothing with me to use as a reward. Tried a few obstacles, then the weaves. Nope. Not weaving on those to save his life. We spent the entire time in the ring trying obstacles - weaves - more obstacles - more weaves. Nope, nope, nope.

Weaves? What weaves? I've never seen these before

After the debacle in the warm up ring I also had Steeplechase, just to warm both dogs up to actually running at the venue. Spencer's ring had thin weave bases, so I thought we'd be alright even if the course was 2 x12 weaves. Nope! Since the last time I tried to get him to weave was on those weaves with the bases that were apparently going to kill him, he refused twice on the poles the first time through until he realized that they were thin bases and then all was well. 2nd time through the weaves, not even a moment of hesitation since he knew they were "safe."

So, on to making the weaves at home harder and the bases more noticeable so that the don't phase him in a trial - and then to take that show on the road!