Agility Games with Archie

I gave Archie a few days off from the weaves, and a full day off from agility training. That doesn't mean we don't do any training--at CircusK9, even play is a training exercise. Archie has finally learned how to retrieve and is starting to become rather enthused about the game. His drop it is getting much better too since he's connected that with the retrieve game.

So how did Archie do on the weaves after his short hiatus? Bloody fantastic! This is what I set up in the yard this morning:

The jumps in the pinwheel at the far end were more widely spaced than he'd seen before, although still not as widely spaced as he might encounter in a novice course. I worked that station for a bit to get him used to that pattern so I didn't have to babysit the middle of it.

Archie likes the tunnel. I initially thought about sending him away from me to the far end of the tunnel but decided to use it to work on our start line stays instead. Tunnel to pinwheel was fast and furious.

And the weaves. I always work both sides, though like most dogs he performs one side better than the other. Today, my goal for him was to practice entering the weaves at speed. Jump to weaves, then pinwheel to weaves--both went pretty well.

But the most exciting thing he did was tunnel to weaves. That's a fast, difficult weave entry. At this stage in his training, I was at the exit of the tunnel. Eventually, he will need to execute this move without my being there, that is, he will need to learn how to read my signals that tell him he will be doing the weaves even before he enters the tunnel. 

The dog has to make two 90 degree turns in quick succession and still have enough control to stay in the weaves. Archie nailed the weaves in both directions! I was floored, started capering about and giving him handfuls of treats and telling him what an amazing puppy he is. 

Mimi got to run the entire thing as sequences. There are some fun crosses to be done in the middle and some long sends. Even Azza got to do the pinwheel to tunnel sequence. But as I mentioned earlier, I am really trying to keep Archie's training short and focused. He is certainly able to do most of the same sequences as Mimi but I think that, at this stage, he gets much more out of skills work with its shorter bursts of activity and much higher rate of reward. He's coming along nicely. No need to rush.