Weaving Case Studies
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Lessons we have learned
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| She had not been socialised at all,
nor housetrained, and was something of a psychological wreck. Casey was very
difficult. When we got her she showed signs of nervous aggression to people and dogs, but
could also give appearances of being quite dominant.
In short, I was determined that Casey would weave for herself so schooled Colin (who was new to agility) not to over work the weaves. Casey tended to leap over V weaves, so we had to start with them quite close together, maybe 6 to 12 inches apart at the top. Casey loved it. We migrated to upright poles and Casey kept missing poles. First it was the entry, then the end and then finally she settled on missing poles in the middle. Casey’s history made it virtually impossible to guide her by hand, as she became too distressed. So, we tried the wires. |
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To start with Casey jumped them. We moved them up a bit. Then she went under them. So we added a second wire. After a few weeks, Casey was flying through the weaves with complete success. Then it came to transferring the skill to the environment of a show. For the first few shows it worked, with Casey winning out of Elementary and Starters in her first three shows. Then she started getting ‘cocky’ and no-go! Casey reverted to skipping weaves, now typically coming out at the tenth pole!
So, how did we
solve it?
This time with advice from Sue White, we put a second pole beside the tenth pole (one
the outside, thus making it subtly more difficult for her to bypass the pole). We had an
opportunity to do that in the show environment in a ‘practise ring’ at Supadogs. We only had a
minute, so I ran in and ‘planted’ one of the long jump uprights by the tenth weave. It worked
and now Casey generally weaves fast and accurately.
Lesson 6: If a dog is struggling, find ways to make it easier for them to get it right.
Lesson 7: If there is a practise ring, use it to transfer a skill into a show environment.
Finally,
my new pup Mace recently started weaving upright at 15 months. Again, we used a combination of
both the channel method (at Aylesbury CTS) and the V method at home from around ten months,
keeping it lots of fun and using toys and treats. But this time, I taught him the entry
separately.
I did this after talking to several good handlers who ‘back chain’ weaves, starting with very few (three or four) and doing that confidently before building up to twelve. So, I started with three weaves, at a very slight angle, in the living room before his breakfast! We then moved on to four upright weaves, a slight angle and so on. It does seem to have helped. (I still trained a whole set of twelve weaves using the channel and V method though.)
A key advantage is that Mace has got some experience of different types of weave pole, wooden and plastic and does seem to look for the entrance. He still sometimes misses a weave, but not so much as Casey did so I don’t feel I need to resort to the wires. I have forced myself to hold back from over handling the weaves - believe me it has been hard at times - and to let him do it for himself. We had a patch of very slow weaving after coming upright, but he does seem to be speeding up a lot now he is getting more confident. Mace seems to be quite sensitive, so I do force myself to stop if he is successful once and make it lots of fun, throwing a toy at the end and playing tuggy. Time will tell, but fingers crossed.
Lesson 8: try to let the dog work for himself or herself.
Lesson 9: Stop if it works!
Lesson 10: Break the training into separate stages, such as training the entry separately on a few weaves.
To summarise
We have had quite different experiences training our own five very different dogs. Each dog is
different and there is no one best way to train. Do what
works for your dog. If I have two words of advice, it would be:
Make it easy for the dog to succeed the first time and stop right there on a positive.
Buy the guide How to Train Your Dog to Weave for Chilterns Dog Rescue Society (please).
About
the author...
Lesley Harpley is one of the team of Instructors at Aylesbury CTS, where the club
has a great variety of rescued and mixed breed dogs as well as some rather lovely pedigree
dogs!
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Is
there a ‘best way’ to teach the Weaves? Lesley Harpley has tried them all. Her conclusions are
that all dogs are different. There is no 'universal best way.' Here she shares some personal
case studies spanning the last decade and the lessons she has learned!
Now
14, Barnie was a rather timid rescued cross breed, from Chiltern Dog Rescue Society (CDRS),
with some definite ‘Lurcher’ tendencies (all or nothing!) In those days, most of the training
was still on the left, and we were generally encouraged to train on all the weaves in upright
position.
In
1994 I went to CDRS determined to ‘get a collie’ and came out with a five month old Whippet/Staffie
cross with a bit of terrier thrown in for good measure.
At
last, my dream girl, my puppy, my border collie! Oh, the months of anticipation. This time, I
was determined to let Star work ‘for herself’ and not to ‘over handle’ the weaves. 
After
four very stressful months with Star restricted in a cage, we resumed training, and
miraculously, according to the orthopaedic vet, Star still loved her agility and was even still
able to weave. Of course, I was very nervous and so passed this on to Star. 