On Location...........

In Dorset!!! 

I didn't have as much time to practice Reno's weaves as I'd hoped and it was quite difficult to sneak some practice without having an audience and several Dogs joining in. (As you can tell from the video - the commentary is quite amusing)

I'm working on the assumption that if Reno can train with all that distraction then he must be enjoying it.

As you can see we have now added a 2nd set of poles and decreased the angle to 1 and 7 o'clock. 

I'm not sure if I should be worried yet but Reno's success rate is getting worse. 

He is 100% successfully in the low challenge area but when I move further down the arc into the essential entry area he starts to go into the first 2 poles the wrong way around or goes into the 2nd set of poles.  (I'm not sure he understands that he needs to go ahead of me and turn back into the weaves). With perseverance he does correct himself but he is getting wrong more then right.

I thought that this may improve when the poles were closer together so I decided to try Day 5 last night at NADTC.

The stick in the ground poles won't stay in place in the sand of the Equestrian Centre so instead of moving the poles together bit by bit I decided to just go for it and set up a 4 pole channel. 

In my mind I couldn't see the difference between this and 2 sets of 2 x 2 weaves at 1 and 7 o'clock set at competition distance apart - obviously I was wrong as this session was a disaster. 

Reno blasted through the weaves when I set him up in the low challenge area but if I took him a little further back on either side he kept just doing the last 2 poles.  The poor little lad kept trying and trying but just couldn't work out what I wanted him to do :-(

I've watched and re-watched SG's video of Day 5 and although the Dog isn't getting the entry correct all of the time it is because it is circling the poles rather then going in to soon.  Maybe this is a breed thing?

My plan is to repeat Day 5 (correctly this time!!) this weekend at the paddock and video it so I can see what is happening.  Wish me luck!