Agility help needed!

[Tiah]

I really need some advice on what to do with these weave polls! If my Pap could just get them down...we would be ready to compete. I get so darn frustrated because I try and try every tip I get...never works. My weave poles at home are the QVC pipe ones though, and I have heard that it DOES make a difference, but my dad is not willing to pay more money for something we already have. We have nearly every peice of equiptment in the backyard...so asking him for another set of weave polls isn't going to work. She is so excellent and FAST...and I mean FAST at this, I just wish she could get these darn poles down.

Any agility competers out there willing to help? :)

[jenfer]

I wish I could help you. But Gigi is still a beginner. :)

[Tiah]

Thanks anyways, Jenfer! :)

[cloverfdx]

I will catch up with a friend of mine from Dog Club on Sunday she was having terrible trouble with her JRT/ Aussie terrier mix but the dog finally picked up what to do. I will get back to you on what training method was used.

[Tiah]

Thank you SO much! :D

[Crikit]

There's a few methods that you could try. One would be using gates and setting them up around the poles. How the gates go is you take a gate and put it from the first pole to the third pole then from the third pole to the fifth pole and then you do the same with poles 2 to 4 and poles 4 to 6 and so on up to 12 if that's what you are working with making sure of course that the entrance to the poles is set up correctly (in otherwords that your dog is always entering on the left) after a while when you think that the dog is figuring it out being totally gated you can then turn the gates around so the dog has to think more, it would look kind of like this
/ \/ \ \/ \/
! ! ! ! ! ! (the first set) ! ! ! ! ! ! (the second set)
\ /\ / /\ /\

When you get to the second set you slowly move the gates out so that there is more space, if the dog goes between the space the gates make with the poles you'll know they don't get it and you'll have to go back a step or two.

Another method, which is still kind of new to me but that I myself is trying with my pap is to take a clicker and the weaves. At first you just need a pole or two and you don't say anything but kind of step side to side in front of the pole, if the dog goes through the first pole (in between poles 1 and 2) then you click, then you step the other way and click...it kind of works on the entrance. Eventually you can slowly move forward so the go through pole 1 and then head in to pole 2, when you get to that stage you click when they find the entrance to 2. It's a slow build up really, my pap is up to about three poles, and I know I didn't explain that one very well.

The other methods are the channel, where you set your poles up so that there is a channel down the middle (if you can do that) get the dog to go down the middle of the channel a few times and then slowly move the channel together. When the channel gets smaller so there is less space between the two sides you'll see the dogs starting to do the movement that is needed for the weaves (more obvious with the big dogs)

Another variation of the channel is to set up the channel but kind of angle the poles so the dog has to step over or under them at first they're angeled so the poles are making and x down near the bottom. Just like the channel you slowly move the poles together but this time you also have to decrease the angle that the poles are set at until you get them straight.

The final one is the painful one and that's just taking the treats and pulling your dog through while slowly weaning out the treats.

I myself have tried all the methods at least once, and have decided that for my dogs the first two work best but it varies for each dog really, I taught my lab cross how to weave using the channels and he's just starting to consistantly get his entrances.

Oh a couple more things, remember to ALWAYS give your dog a proper entrance, that means do not send them in to the poles at an angle as they are more likely to miss the next pole and that can be a fault in some organizations. It's better to take them to the poles straight on and then let the dog find the entrance (one of the reasons the first two methods work so well...the dog has to think) and remember to reward your dog at the end of the poles while teaching them only when they complete it properly, the reward can be food or a toy, for my bc it's usually a ball for my pap either and my lab cross food, whatever they like better. If your dog is having problems with 6 poles at first just focus on getting them to do 4 poles at first and then slowly increase the number of poles.

That's all I can think of at the moment hope it helps.

[Tiah]

Wow, thank you SO much! We will work on these, and I will let you know how everything goes. Again, Thank you! :D