One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

135 days to go...

That's what it feels like sometimes. I may have an absolutely fantastic training session with the dogs where they astoud me with how well they have progressed, then I'll have the next one which frustrates the hell out of me and makes me think we're going nowhere fast.

Last night, possibly enthused due to have having been out to watch the Games trial, I came home and set up my two sets of 2x2s. It was a GREAT session, both dogs were SO good, getting some excellent entries and going through the two sets of 2x2s. Still a few errors but I was generally very happy. I re-watched some of the 2x2 DVD yesterday to make sure I was on the right track, and did adjust my training slightly by rewarding the entries about equal to the times I rewarded dong both sets of 2x2s in succession. Since I want to work on Josh's retrieve before going back to toys with him, I am now using food with both of them, throwing either large pieces or the plastic container. The other thing I realised I need to work on is where I throw the reward for correct entry i.e. making sure it hits on the reward line and doesn't go out wide, as I think this may be encouraging them to look out wide of the poles instead of coming back to aim between them.

So, feeling very good about last night, I got myself organised and have done two sessions so far today. The entries have definitely improved, both dogs finding the entry a lot more consistently now, but still not as good as I'd like. Hopefully my being more aware of the throwing on the reward line will help this as well. Their hitting the second 2x2 though has probably gone backwards a bit (probably due to me rewarding in the wrong spot for the entry) which is disappointing and frustrating. The dogs are no doubt equally as confused as I am, and resort to trying different things, such as in the session just now when Fyre had trouble going on to do the second 2x2, and when he didn't get a reward for hitting the entry, went back and did other things like drop, bark, walk backwards near the poles, stand just at the entry and look at the poles or at me. It's time like these when one becomes SOOOOOO tempted to lure the dog to get it right, but I grit my teeth and simply circled the dog back into position for another try each time, remaining quiet and calm except for the occasional 'Oops!' when the dogs made a mistake. Eventually, Fyre did get some good 2x2s in succession. It wasn't REALLY that bad of a session, when you look at it plainly like that, but still disheartening when you watch the DVD or go online and see dogs weaving 12 poles beautifully in under two weeks and here I am still stuck at two sets of 2x2. Have I been going too slowly? Should I have challenged the dogs more quickly rather than wait for them to improve on the exercise at hand? Obviously I have not been able to do several sessions a day, which has slowed us down, but ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH sometimes I just want to punch the wall! Had my dogs been with someone who was familiar with this method I'm sure they'd be doing better by now because they would not have made all the errors that subsequently require more training to fix as have I.

At times like these it is tempting to just set up several jumps, tunnels, etc and run the dogs over them rather than all this foundation stuff. 'Porter worked out ok,' says a little voice in the back of my head 'And that's how HE was trained.' But then I remind myself of all the things I wanted to IMPROVE with Porter, and how much better he COULD have been if I'd trained him right from the start. I won't be happy with myself or my dogs unless I do it properly.

However, to look on the bright side, I must remember the fact that when I first started this training, Fyre would pay no attention to the poles whatsoever and would often spend several minutes just sitting or lying next to me. THAT was frustrating too, so at least I know we HAVE progressed.

Also, Billie is doing so well in her crate now, every time the other two are doing their 2x2s she is close by in the crate, receiving rewards for being clam and quiet, and has improved by a vast amount even just in the last few days. I can now do several run throughs with one of the others without any whining or barking or carrying on.

I think we'll have time for one more session later tonight, so at that one I will aim to hit the reward line, and get some more good 2x2s in succession.