Tuesday, March 10, 2009

2x2 training day 4

Well, the weather forecast proved better than expected. No thunderstorms so far! Unfortunately I had a lot to do today, so we only got one weave session in. But it's the quality, not the quantity - and Devon did great! 

Gotta love that latent learning. I set two sets of poles up, and they were about 10 feet apart. On the first time, I rewarded between the two sets of poles. She did great. I did three different entry arcs, including the one that gave her trouble yesterday and she was perfect!

So, I move them closer together, about 5 feet, and made the angles steeper to 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. This was a challenge! I again rewarded between the two sets on the first and third time through. Generally after the first and third time, I stuck to rewarding the first set 25% of the time.

After the forth request, I went back to that devil of a right hand entry that caused her problems yesterday.  The first time I asked, she turned too tight for the first set of poles, putting her on the wrong side to enter but she checked herself instead of making the wrong entry - hallelujah! I called her back and resent her and she nailed it! We had a HUGE party on that one! Talk about learning! Wow, this was impressive! I did one more at this entry arc to reinforce her success and she did great. 

Because she only made that one mistake, I moved the two sets to within 2 feet of each other, with the bases parallel but in line. If I would have moved the second set 2 feet, the poles would have been in line. I only asked for three attempts here, since I really challenged her. I did a left entry arc, low challenge entry arc and right entry arc. She was 100% on every attempt, and best of all she was bending her body to make the second set of poles.

Ok, it's official -- I'm sold on this method! I can see Devon thinking through what to do with her body to make these two sets of poles. I believe she's finally learned this skill. I can't wait to see her improvement tomorrow. I plan to start with the two sets right where they were today when we left off and increase her challenge in her entry arc. If she's successful, I'll move the bases even closer and keep going.

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