Hi all, I trust you are all enjoying a great holiday season with your friends and family. John and I went to one of my brother for Christmas dinner last night. We had a blast. My sister-in-law Pat, made about a zillion vegetable dishes for me, and lucky John was in his glory, as Pat prepared roast beef & yorkies (she knows the way to the Brit’s heart). I really don’t get to see my family as often as I should, so it was great to be able to spend the evening with some of them.
Okay back to business. Again I have to thank everyone for the glowing reviews of the new DVD. I am so thrilled you are all enjoying it AND that the dogs are progressing fast, just like I predicted they would! I will re-state, as I mention in the DVD, not all dogs will be weaving in 12 days. Some have done it in only 4, others will take longer. What I do know is that your dog will learn ALOT faster with this method then with the other weave pole training methods out there. I hate to pick on you, but once again it is believing in your dog that is going to be the big difference. Allow the dog to choose! Here are the latest weave pole questions that have come in to me.
Now take a look at these two as they work through the early stages of 2×2 training with their dogs (both non-border collies for all of you that have been writing telling me it wouldn’t work as fast or the same way:)). In this first clip you will see a young woman named Lene train her dog Sisi. At one point she integrates Crate Games with her weave training. That is super! Crate Games, which are the foundation of my training program, are trained the same way as 2×2’s. It is all about creating VALUE for something and then allowing the dog CHOOSE correctly. Value and Choice, over and over! Rather than waiting for your dog to choose to go into his crate (stage 3 of crate games) you are waiting for your dog to choose to leave you to drive towards the 2 poles (stage 2 of 2×2 weave training). So if you have trained Crate Games already, by starting your 2×2 with a couple rounds of Crate Games first, reminds your dog that you are not going to help him, but that he must CHOOSE on his own!
You can see the full clip of Lene training Sisi at her youtube account by clicking on this link. Don’t forget to leave her a comment and tell her what a great job she is doing, everyone loves that reinforcement!
Next lets watch Barb train her awesome little Terrier “Blast”. Again some super dog training as Barb hits the reward line with her throws and spends tons of time tugging in between repetitions. Barb posted this video on Facebook and I got her permission to post it here (through Youtube, which is why you may think it is a Youtube video but it is not). You can contact Barb by becoming a Friend of mine on Facebook and from there you can find Barb & Blast. I will try to get to all of the video’s I have been sent, but I am sorry I can not promise to post them or get back to all of you, however I will do what I can. Good work everyone!
I am gratefully for brother Steve, his wife Pat and (now, fully grown kids) Mike, Jeff & Kate. It was a great evening and John and I really enjoyed our Christmas dinner with the five and them plus Mike’s girlfriend Celeste and one of my other six brothers, Brent.
Can we go back to 2×2 training if a dog already does 12 poles in straight line? I do know why with 6 he does it pretty fast but in trial he slows down so much on a 12 poles like he fears to miss…
Hy Susan.
I’ve watched your 2×2 dvd and read workbook and I have a short question – at what stage do you start using your cue for slalom? At stage 8 (now we’re weaving) or? I apologize if I missed it in dvd or if this is a wrong place to ask, but I’m new here 🙂
I started my grand dog (Giant Poodle Pascal) on 2by2’s last summer then winter reared it’s ugly heard and we stoped He was at the just beginning to turn to 2 and 8 the two sets when we stopped. Over the holidays I was fortunate enough to take 5 evenings of straight 2by2’s for an hour each night indespersed with play and tug and at the end of the 5 days Pascally wag was weaving 6 beautifully including over a jump or through a tunnel. Now the first of feb he is doing 12 with difficult entries and good distance This is the 6th dog I have trained with 2by 2 method and I get faster each time |I might even get to 12 in 12. My first dog learned them from the article and of course is not as good as the dogs trained with the video Thanks for it and the method. Now I need to get him to go on the plank It is very scary you know Lahni
Holy Cow!!!! I thought weaves would be something we never really would understand. My trainer suggested “susan garrett”…so i bought the 2×2 dvd. i watched it about 3 times, took some notes, and then started training. we have had 8 sessions spread over 2 weeks, and can hit entries that more experienced members of our club cannot. we are weaving 12 poles now, and my girl seems to understand exactly what is expected of her now, and she LOVES the weaves! i dont think we would have ever figured them out if it had not been for your DVD susan, thank you! 🙂
my question is somhow old should your dog be to start the 2x 2s some start their dogs at 6 months
My dog and I started agility training about a year ago. He can do 6 weave poles. We started with a new trainer who wants to do the 2 X 2 training before he lets my dog do weaves. Does that make sense if he already knows how to do them? By the way, I got your Crate Games DVD & started the training today.
I just wanted to share this with you : after only 45 days ( and i’m only training her twice a week) my wonderful Poodle perfectly weaves 12 poles and has smashing entries ! All we have to do know is to proof all this ! I’m very proud of my dog and very greatful to Susan to have realeased such a great DVD !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Susan,
Thanx for all this extra 2×2 info!
I am really, really excited as my 2 yr old puppy has been given the okay from his orthopedic vet & physio to start his 2×2 training!! Only 9 months after he broke his leg. We’ve had lots of fun training silly tricks & doing physio exercises in the meantime but since I watched your 2×2 I knew we’d have a blast working through it together.
Thank you for all these brilliant resources.
Alice Barnett,
NZ
Hi,
I just wanted to thank-you for the great Q&A posts on the blog. I love the video format! I’ve been working through the DVD for a few days, and have found the answers here to a few of my initial problems. In fact, after listening to the Q&A and watching the two videos on this posting, I just went outside for our best 2×2 session yet.
Thanks again,
Christine
Hello
I’m at stage 2 with 4 weave poles at 2 and 8 o’clock. I should reward my dog 50% of the time
in between the two sets. The problem is that sometimes my dog is too fast and i’m too slow
to reward her between the two sets. Do you think :
a) i should ignore her ?
b) i should wait for fer to come back to me to get her reward ( grrrrrrrrr. i don’t like that idea)
c) i should work with only one set ?
d) i should reward her after the second set no matter if i intented to reward her after the first
set ?
e) say “oops” and do the exercise again ?
Am i clear ?
Thanks for your help !
Sandrine
I am going through the 2×2 program with my standard poodle. He is already weave trained, but I wanted to solidify the weaves for him and increase his understanding. I am loving the process so far, and he is doing great. My question is: Can I use a Treat N Train (Manners Minder) on the reward line? He is more treat motivated than toy, and he gets excited over the Treat N Train no matter what is in it. Thanks!
I actually have a question about the 2×2 training. I’m training my youngster as well as re-training my older dog, and being that it is winter here in the cold, windy, snowy, icy northeast, I only have my living room/kitchen to work with. My living room is only about 12×10, carpeted. My kitchen/great room is much longer, but hardwood. I have done the first stages – they are both shaping wonderfully and showing tons of enthusiasm for the single set of 2x2s. It’s now time to add on the second set, but I’m hesitant because the only place I have that is big enough is my kitchen/great room, and I’m worried the slippery hardwood isn’t the best for learning on. I can get to an indoor facility, but only a few times a week. I’m thinking it may be better to do sessions only a few times a week at the indoor facility with the room, rather than cramp them in the house with sessions daily – what do you think?
Thanks!
I was just watching your blog entry and reply to Jen. If you train the dog in the same sequence she asks the questions in – how will the dog know that the reward line has changed for your second sequence? I understand what you say but when you go from the 1st sequence she mentions to the second – how is the dog to know where the reward line is ‘this’ time?
Thanks!
Thank you for clarifying which side the dog should be on as you work the arc. I was switching the dog from one side to the other! This will simplify matters.
I don’t know what to suggest Sarah, maybe go through someone you know that has me up as a “friend” on their page?
Hmm maybe I need the video after all. 🙂 My BC learned with the 2×2 method very quickly. My new rescue collie girl is having a harder time.
If you are looking to view more dogs training with your method, I am in the process of video-documenting my 16-month-old Sheltie learning weaves with your method and am taping *every session*, start to finish. I am a lot slower getting the videos up than I am training, but the first ten sessions are here: http://strata2x2.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the question and answer from Nath in Canada. My dog has got good weaves (taught using 2×2), she’s only ever missed two weave entries in a trial and both times those entries were on side straight on entries. I’m planning on going back and retraining now that I have my DVD so hopefully I’ll be able to strengthen those on side entries. Thanks.
Am a bit unsure why dogs are being rewarded for entering on the wrong side of the weave?
Hi Susan,
Love the blog you have set up for the 2×2 dvd! I have the workbook, am waiting for my belated xmas gift to arrive in early Jan 🙂 Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for offering the additional support of this blog. Very, very helpful to watch the videos you put up here. Also, I especially liked your post about perceived baggage– helped me to feel excited about the challenges I am experiencing with my new girlie. Thanks for going the extra mile in writing/updating this blog. Best, Sarah PS Befriending you on Facebook is not so easy… there are many Susan Garretts, and none are from Ontario!
Great blog! I was very happy to see my student Lene’s video here. She and Susi are a great team and that dog will be amazing, she is so fast!
Fanny from Norway