I have made the tab! I only have to bend half-way to the ground. Oh joy! I better do my core exercises so I don't get a sore back.

Val 

3-30-07 We have tried around-the-clock using the tab a couple of times. I'm breaking it down to working separately on the left side and right side so we don't do too many reps. Jaldi's doing okay, but I keep releasing the tab when she is not focused on the entry. Sometimes I think she is, but then she runs past the poles. I will try to video this.

Val 

5-5-07 I've been working the entries with just 2 poles off and on (was out-of-town for a week so Jaldi had a vacation). We're still working close (~2ft), but now she is getting the entry almost every time from every angle. I keep trying to figure out a good way to get her to go forward instead of curling around the first pole back to me. She does not seem too interested in the toys I've tried. The new toy (mouse in the ball) was too distracting. This morning I left my bait bag open on the ground with just one treat in it. That seemed the best so far. I have to be really careful though that she gets it right and doesn't self-reward without doing the entry. I would prefer something I can throw since the bait or toy already sitting out there is a lure.

Val 

6-4-07  I took Jaldi to an AKC trial over the weekend. She did pretty good weavepoles, but we had to restart at least once whenever the poles were on her left side. I just don't think she has figured out how to find the beginning from that side. When the poles were on her right, she went around to enter from the correct side and found the entry.

Val 

6-6-07  Last night I decided to use 3 poles to train entries. As I suspected Jaldi thinks that when the poles are on her left, any 2 poles will do. Out of a total of 6 reps (all with the weave poles on the left), she tried to go between pole 2&3 once. That was on the 2nd rep. After that I was better about holding her back until she was focused on the correct entry. One time she entered correctly between 1&2, but then tried to head straight for the reward without noodling through 2&3.

Val 

612-07 We are continuing to use 3 poles. This morning I got Jaldi to play with the yellow ball that she recently took an interest in. I have switched to using a leash (instead of the tab) so we can get more distance to the poles. We worked at about 3-4 ft away this morning. She did well and only one time tried to enter between pole 2 and 3 which I successfully kept her from doing. And she did all 3 poles each time. Last night I had trouble getting her to make the noodle back between pole 2&3. She'd stick her head through and I'd click, then she'd pull back and go for the reward.

I'm also having a little trouble with the leash getting wrapped around the poles and holding her back. She's starting to slow down or stop as she goes through them which isn't good. I'm using a leather leash. Maybe nylon would be more slippery.

Val 

6-21-07  We went to a fun run on Tues night. The weave pole entry was with the poles on the dog's left. Well, Jaldi missed it every time and seemed to think that she could just pick any two poles that suited her and start weaving. The previous obstacle was the table so there wasn't a lot of speed involved. I guess I still have LOTS of work to do.

On a side note, today is the first day of summer. It's coming in like a lion. It's 106 degrees at 4:20 pm. Does that mean it will go out like a lamb or does that only apply to the month of March?

Val 

6-29-07  I've been trying a new tactic and it seems to be working. I gave up on the leash, the toy, and trying to manage the entries myself and decided to just let Jaldi figure it out. I set her food bowls at either end of a set of 6 weaves and sent her from different angles. I clicked the entry and then put a spoonful of food in her bowl. We've done this 3 times now and her entries are getting better and better including the onside entries which she was having so much trouble with. She has missed the entry about 1 time during each training session. No click and no food (we are doing this for breakfast). This morning she was able to get the onside entry from a 180 degree turn off a jump that was about even with the last weave pole. So she had to go to the far end of the poles to find the entry. I will try to video this tomorrow.

Val 

7-21-07  We're doing the around the clock now with a jump before the weave poles and using just a set of 6 poles. I'm also doing a recall, send, and run with for about 7 or 8 reps. Jaldi's enthusiasm is very good even for this many reps. She is working for food and I think she maintains her concentration better for the food. I'm using a bowl or target plate at the end so she has something to focus on. I uploaded a video of this where she is working at the 7 o'clock position.

Val 

I haven't updated this for quite a while. We're now working at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions. It took about 4 sessions for her to get the entry consistently when the poles were on her left. Especially when I did the recall. And I haven't worked on it for at least a week. I changed my work schedule and we can't practice in the morning anymore and it's still too blazing hot to work in the afternoon. We are entered in a NADAC trial Labor Day weekend. We'll see how she does with weavers.

Val 

I have been working at home on upping the distraction level when we train weave poles. Jaldi is getting really good at ignoring strange noises other dogs/handlers walking and running past her. Handlers feeding their dogs near the poles, etc. So last night we went to our club practice and worked just a small segment of the JWW course that had the weave poles in it. I started with just 2 people out on the course, but not too near the weaves. Well, that was a little too much as Jaldi could not even see the poles, but we worked through it and when she finally found the poles, she did them just fine.

We got 3 turns on the course and she improved each time. The second time she found the poles with no problem. She also got the entry every time. She had a little trouble staying in the poles, but by the time we had our last turn on the course she was weaving really fast and ignoring all the distractions.

I noticed that when I train weave poles as part of a sequence, I tend to let Jaldi go ahead of me to find the poles. I must remember that in the trial!

Val

Last night we went to our club practice again. There was a nice set up to work weave pole entries. We tried it about 3 or 4 times before Jaldi found the poles. I made a diagram of the course below. I don't have CRCD on this computer so there are no grid lines. We did the opening without extra distractions to start with and I did a cross behind at the weaves. Once she knew where the poles were we added a couple of people and dogs wandering around near the poles for distraction and worked through that. Jaldi did a great job! Plus she was a speed demon! That is the dog I want every time. She really flew from 7-10 and was way ahead. Yikes! I had to changed my handling plan on the fly to accomodate all that speed. I layered 14 in order to get the turn to 11. I was so concentrating on keeping up that I totally forgot to throw my toy. We had a lot of fun! I also did another sequence to the weaves which was either 11, 12, weave or 14, 13, weave, but now I can't remember which. Jaldi was really wired last night. I think it was the result of being left home alone all day after a 3-day weekend. Lots of pent up energy!

Val

We went to our club practice this week at the park. Jaldi's weavepole performance is improving tremendously at this location. First off, she found the weave poles the first time I sent her to them. Secondly, it was a difficult 90 degree entry. On our third turn through the course, I had someone stand near the poles and feed their dog as a distraction. She missed the poles the first time with this distraction, but then was able to do them the second time I sent her and ignore the distraction.

Val 

Dream Weaver

I bought an italian charm for my bracelet Sat morning at the NADAC trial we went to. It says Dream Weaver on it. Jaldi did 7 perfect sets of weaves this weekend. Dumb handler stayed out of her way finally.