Prince And Agility...

[Dogz]

Hey guys...
I have been doing some agility with Prince, but there is something that he is having trouble with... I am trying to teach him how to go through the weave poles, but he is getting bored with it... I give him a treat at the end... Is there any ways that you know how to teach a dog to weave, or a way to make it more fun?

[slleipnir]

Thats actually one of the harder things to teach them, and it takes them a while before they learn to bend with it..or so my teacher said. Just be patient and keep working with it a little at a time and he'll get it..just remember lots of encourgment and praise Maybe even stop for a bit a just play

[wolfsoul]

Do you try the guide bars? The ones that go around theweave pole to help guide them?

I saw on T.V. the trainer just put the dog on the leash and pulled it through the weave poles with a treat in front of it's face for motivation..Is this what you do too?

[Crikit]

There are actually a few different ways to teach the weaves, what one is best really depends on you and the dog.

One way is to channel the weaves, that means to have them so the dog can run straight down the middle at first and at the end they get a treat. Then slowly move the weaves in a bit each time until the dog has the motion it needs and the poles are together.

Another way is to gate the weaves. What you do is put gates on each side of the poles. So you would go first pole with part of the gate touching it, skip a pole in the middle and then the next pole. In other words odd poles get gated on one side evens on the other, then the dog goes through the poles and learn the motion that way, it's sort of a no fail method, which is good for dogs who get discouraged easily. Once the dog gets confident enough with the gates facing the poles you can turn the gates around so that they are still on the poles but there is a little bit of escape room, but that's for when the dog is more confident.

There are a couple of other methods, one with wires which is pretty much like the gate system only using wires attached to the poles instead of the gates. And the other is hard to explain.

Other then that just keep the training fun and positive, and short you don't want to over do it after all. Oh and remember that the proper entrance for the weaves is for the dog to enter on the left side.

[Dogz]

Thanks! I looked at the "wire training" and thought that was a good way to do it, but it is sooooo expensive!

I saw on T.V. the trainer just put the dog on the leash and pulled it through the weave poles with a treat in front of it's face for motivation..Is this what you do too?

Yes, this is how I do it... he goes really slow through them like hes bored... I will try what you requested.

Another question. Do you know of any places where I can buy agility stuff?

[wolfsoul]

Heres a site where you can order eqipment from:
http://www.k9sports.ca/

[Crikit]

You can also try to make things like Jumps and weaves from pvc piping. It's usually a lot cheaper then buying them from someone.

[Dogz]

Yes, I make my own, and maybe I can get some pics and our homemade stuff... instead of a tire jump, we have a HULO HOOP jump!lol:P