Kimma Weaves! (Sorta)

When learning agility, one of the most daunting obstacles is the weave poles.  Well, at least they're daunting for me.  Kimma doesn't care, as long as she gets treats at the end.

So I decided to attend a weave seminar at our training club last December.  We learned about the different methods of learning weaves (v-method, channel method, 2x2 method, learning with metal guides around the weaves), and we also got to put some of those into practice.  It was super informative, and after attending that class and watching some videos on YouTube, I decided to try Kimma with the 2x2 method, developed by Susan Garrett, whom I cannot give enough props to - she's awesome!

We started by sort of shaping her going over the 2 horizontal weave poles, which she got the hang of very quickly.  Then we turned them a bit so that she wasn't just going in perpendicular to the weaves, and slowly moved the angle of the poles so that she ended up going in a straight line.  Awesome.  My dog can weave 2 poles.

Next, we put the next set of poles slightly in front of the first set, and at an angle again.  So she was able to go through the first set straight and the second at an angle.  We slowly closed the gap and moved them closer, so that they touched and were straight.  This was done over a period of a couple of days, while practicing a few times per day. Yay!  Now she's doing 4!

This is all well and good, and I'm super proud of my girl, but we have run in to a few problems.  First of all, the way I trained, I walked beside her a lot.  This caused me to almost steer her through the poles at times, and of course I wasn't aware that I was doing it.  I changed that, but she still wouldn't go through with my walking with her.  So I had to back track a bit, separating the poles again into the straight line for the first set, and the second set at an angle again.  I either had her wait at the beginning for me to release her through, or tried to send her through and throw the treat for her.  I slowly moved the sets of poles into the straight line again, and eventually we got through that issue altogether. And she's even got a bit of speed going!

So here it is - a compilation of Kimma's weave experience thus far!

I'd say we are about 1/6 there!  Yes, I can do math (4 weaves out of 12 is 1/3, not 1/6!), but we need to rework a bunch of stuff, basically starting from scratch.  Which is always fun.

I hope to make some 2x2s this weekend so that I can stop stealing them from Margie and Maui.  Between those and a few more jumps, I'm going to have an exciting next few days with my PVC pipe cutter!