AG225: LOVE’EM From the Start: Foundation Weaves

Welcome to LOVE’EM From the Start!  I am so excited to introduce you to my world of weaves and how to teach your dog to love them, fight for entries and drive through them with speed!   

Weave poles are the hardest obstacle to train in agility because they are the most unnatural for the dog.  If you take your dog out running in the woods, they will do most of the behaviors you see in agility like running, jumping and climbing.  The one thing you will not see them do is weaving between trees.  

Weave poles have a very specific behavior chain.  The dog must always enter the pole on their left shoulder regardless of what side they are coming in on. They must learn how to use their bodies efficiently to not only get the entrance to the poles but then hang on to the additional poles and they must complete all 12 poles.   That is asking a lot!   

There are many different ways to teach weaves.  The most common ways are channels, guide wires and 2x2s.  There are other methods but these are the most common.  There is no right or wrong way.  There is only what works best for you and your dog.  I teach weaves with the 2x2s.  I find this method teaches the dogs entry understanding and builds the muscling along the spine right from the beginning.   

Throughout the next 6 weeks we are going to teach the dogs from the beginning how to find entries independent from us, use their bodies correctly in the poles and stay in the poles no matter what we are doing.  This will give you so much freedom to get ahead of your dog on course without worrying about them leaving the poles because you are not there at their side.   

For your first assignment, you are going to start out with one set of 2x2s.  Stand to the left of the poles with one hand on each pole and angle them at a 45-degree angle with the right pole closest to your right foot.  Have a high value toy or high value food ready.  A toy is the easiest reward to use because it is easiest to see but if your dog is a food motivated only then use something like large chucks of cheese that are easy to see and do not crumble.   

Try to start off standing no closer than 4 feet from the poles to prevent you from babysitting the entry.  If your dog is struggling with understanding of going through the poles you can move in closer but make sure to fade yourself from the picture quickly.  You will vary your distance as your dog progresses.  Picturing a clock around the poles, start at 2:00 with your dog on left (refer to map) by bringing your dog around your body clockwise.  How you send your dog into the poles is very important.  I bring them around my body to create the muscle memory right from the beginning of bending tight and driving into the poles.  I know you can get dizzy spinning but this is an important step not to overlook.  Throw your reward out on the line fairly close to the poles.  It is important not to throw the reward so far out that they do not associate the poles with the reward.  It is also important to throw the reward on a straight line off the poles so they don’t learn to curl into you for the reward.  Move your position on the clock each time your dog gets an entry correct.  Do not stand in the same place twice if your dog is correct.  Constantly change it up.  Do no more than 3 reps in a row on each side when they are correct.  Change sides after 3 correct reps and work the other side.   

Vary your position from 1:00-3:00 & 9:00-11:00.  Do not stand at 6:00 or spend very much time at 5:00 or 7:00.  These are easy entries.  The only time the dogs struggle with these is when you start adding in the sequencing and the dog comes in at speed.   We will address this when we add other obstacles.  At this point I want to increase their muscles for bending and hanging onto the poles at speed.  Always send your dog on an arc from the side of your body teaching them to dig in and hang on to those entries.   Stay away from the straight entries at this point.   

The key to excellent weave poles is keeping your dog’s arousal level high so they are dying to play the game.  This also means keeping the sessions very short and keep them wanting more.  No more than 5 min sessions at a time but 3-4 times a day if you can manage it.  Do not attach any verbal at this point.  With my dogs I say “go” which means interact with whatever obstacle I am standing near.   

There will be no forward movement from you at this point.  The only movement from you will be rotating in place as you send your dog to the weaves.  We want the dog to be completely independent from you at this point.  Never stand in the same place twice on one side unless your dog is struggling with a particular entry.  Keep the entries changing every time.  As you have probably noticed I cannot stress this enough.   

As your dog gets consistent with the different entries on both sides you will move the poles straighter in small increments.  If your dog gets 2 or 3 entries correct on each side then go ahead and straighten them more until it is in straight line.