Training The Weavers

[HTacd]

As a follow on to my other topic (call me obsessed :D ), I'm interested to hear which methods people prefer or are using to train the weave poles and why. With so many different methods out there, I am yet to be 100 percent happy with any of the ones of used, although thats more of an indication of me as a trainer than the method itself. Would you use the same method for most dogs, or do you vary?

[Arya]

great question - looking forward to other people's replies on this as I am such a novice on agility!!! The method I have used with my dog is to position myself up close to one side of the poles and lure her through with my hand, as my dog will target my hand. Then use my knee to gently (really, just to block her from going off) nudge her through the next bit. And also started with just a couple of poles and built up on it. I'm sure there's much better ways even though this is working quite well :D

[Kavik]

I am using the channel method. Haven't done much work on it lately, but was going well. I haven't got a dog up to competition level yet so can't comment on how it goes competition wise, but it has helped Zoe a lot who I had used lures/guides with at the beginning of her training. Kaos is doing the channel method from the start, but I haven't started closing the channel yet with him.

[Tassie]

V weaves for my bitch has worked really well, using a target at the end (or in the early days, after the first few.) It's handy if you have an extra person, so you can make sure the dog doesn't get the treat unless it has actually gone through the weaves. My goofy boy tends to want to jump the v weaves, so I think channel is better for him - gradually closing up poles - and again, targetting.

My girl has personal space issues, so she doesn't like me to be too close when she's 'working'. In any case, given that she is waaaay faster than me, I wanted independent weave pole performance from the start - so I don't use the luring/hand method. I also want the dog driving into and through the weavers.

A good tip I got was, if you're using V weaves, close up the last poles first, so the dog is still driving theough, before it gets to the staightened poles - and close them up gradually - same applies to channel, I think.

[Mokey]

This article really helped me. http://users.tpg.com.au/users/rloftus/weaving.htm

My club uses plastic mesh attached to the poles that forces the dogs to weave between the poles. After training on this, my dog understood the "mesh game" but was clueless about the poles themselves.

I had to set up a poles in my backyard and go through the training method explained in the article. Gigi now understands the "pole game" and we haven't gone back to the mesh game since!

-Mokey

[bordacollies4me]

i used the click and reward method with 3 poles for my old dog his weaves are good but he doesn't have full understanding of entries and his rhythm can sometimes be a bit off, for my 2 yr old who is now competing i used Susan Garetts 2x2 method, she has a lot better understanding of how to weave with great slalom style, head down and drives thru the poles , she has a great understanding of the entry and barely misses one. i have sort of retrained my old dog with this method and his weaves have picked up considerably

I think it is all because she has had to think what to do in the training process to earn rewards so they leasrn it faster

She outlines this method in her book Shaping Success which is a must read for any dog owner

[t(AD)pole]

I used the V-weaves method and my BC caught onto the idea of weaving very quickly.

[bridgie_cat]

im just starting with the V method after a while doing the in-out poop where they watch your hand - but this was very inconsistent & she had to watch me for every pole... have done a few sessions with the V and noticing some improvement... hopefully this will work better...

[Sayreovi]

At the moment i am retraining one of my dogs and training the other with the V pole method. Working really well and they are 'swimming' (cant think of a better word LOL) through them, where they are putting one foot on either side of the 'centre' of the weavers. I cant explain well, but its working LOL

The dog i am retraining i first started with the push pull method, works alright and he has the enthusiasm but i want him to drive through.

[HTacd]

I'm enjoying seeing the variation of ideas here and whats working for people.

I guess I probably should answer my own question I have used a few different methods, thankfully not all on one dog, although probably still too many on the one...

First dog I taught by luring through the poles. She learnt right sided weaving well but it took much longer to get weaving on the left side - I couldnt get my own coordination together on that side and had arms and legs all over the place It also took quite some time to wean off hand signals and getting the dog weaving independently. In all honesty I probably wouldnt use that method again, mainly for that reason.

Next I started basic training with someone elses dog using the V method. Initial progress was fanastic and she caught on quickly, but she soon started leaping through the poles in a hurry to get to the end. Even with the poles on the slightest slant she would jump..so much for teaching good foot work. I then switched to training her using guides on the poles which she was progressing with quite well when I stopped training her.

Current dog I started using with using the guides due to the success with the previous dog. He was very enthusiastic as well but consistently got his legs tangled - he wasnt thinking so much about what he was actually doing, just more about getting to the end and his toy. We then stopped training for some time.

Later I decided to give the clicker method a go that Mokey posted the link for. Hmm, this didnt work as well as I was hoping. Going between the 2 poles was learnt very eaily. 2 sets of 2 poles some distance apart..still no problem. But when it came to linking the 2 sets together he would leap between the first 2, come back and then leap throught the next 2, but never seem to get the idea of linking things together. It may have come together with time, but I got frustrated..

I instead went to using 3 poles and shaping him going around the centre one to start with and we had much more sucess. And then built it up to 4 etc poles by tossing the reward around the next pole introduced. (If that at all makes sense!!).

I found this method worked by far the best for him, but he's less consistent the more poles there are, and now we're having the problem with duration.

As I mentioned in the other thread I'm now thinking about going back and using the channel method to increase his drive through more poles.

I would have thought by now I would have made up my mind on whats best for me, but I'm still not completely happy. I guess thats why theres so many different methods out there! And of course each dog is different.

Edited May 29, 2007 by HTacd

[HTacd]

A good tip I got was, if you're using V weaves, close up the last poles first, so the dog is still driving theough, before it gets to the staightened poles - and close them up gradually - same applies to channel, I think.

Great tip

I would think the oposite (closing up the first poles first) would work well too to train the entries without the pressure of the rest being straight?

[HTacd]

At the moment i am retraining one of my dogs and training the other with the V pole method. Working really well and they are 'swimming' (cant think of a better word LOL) through them, where they are putting one foot on either side of the 'centre' of the weavers. I cant explain well, but its working LOL

I get what you mean.

Are you slowing the dog down going through the poles to concentrate on their foot placement, or does the dog seem to just "get it"? Have the dogs tried at all to jump over the poles? As I said, that was the problem I had with this method & I would be interested in knowing you might stop this happening.

[Sayreovi]

The dog i am retraining tries to do it fast because he knows weavers but only on the left so it is very slow work with him on his foot placement and working on my right, if i tried to him to go fast he did jump over the weavers.

My other boy is picking it up very well, did try to jump over them when they were too low now they are higher he cant do that, so he 'swims'. He naturally got the foot placement once they were higher.

Poles for both dogs are nearly straight, there is still a slight V but that should hopefully be worked out in a few days.

[whatevah]

I used the Susan Garret method with Moses took about 4 weeks. Here is an example, I wanted to be able to send him from a distance. Notice I am out of the picture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfNduEBWaYk

[Cosmolo]

CTD do you have any videos of the training you did with the weavers?

[t(AD)pole]

At the moment i am retraining one of my dogs and training the other with the V pole method. Working really well and they are 'swimming' (cant think of a better word LOL) through them, where they are putting one foot on either side of the 'centre' of the weavers. I cant explain well, but its working LOL

single stepping :D

[Sayreovi]

Is that what its called?

I have no idea of what things are called :D

[J...]

Later I decided to give the clicker method a go that Mokey posted the link for. Hmm, this didnt work as well as I was hoping. Going between the 2 poles was learnt very eaily. 2 sets of 2 poles some distance apart..still no problem. But when it came to linking the 2 sets together he would leap between the first 2, come back and then leap throught the next 2, but never seem to get the idea of linking things together. It may have come together with time, but I got frustrated..

I've had the same problem with the same training method - tends to weave well first up (i.e will do the entire set off 12) but tends to be in such a hurry in later goes that she does the 1st two, skips a few here and there and then does the last two :D I'm sure I've missed something along the way - have gone back to a slight channel in order to make it a little more clear for her ;)

[Sayreovi]

A good tip I got was, if you're using V weaves, close up the last poles first, so the dog is still driving theough, before it gets to the staightened poles - and close them up gradually - same applies to channel, I think.

Thanks for the tip, i tried this today and it worked very well. Managed to get Darcy to do 6 'open' and 6 normal weavers driving through them and working clean, so very impressed got too dark to do anything else but still very happy with what he did.

[whatevah]

I just used Susan Garrett's "Shaping for Success" and followed it step by step, you really need a clicker savvy dog and one that likes toys for this to work.