Clean Run Magazine - January 2007 - 32

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yourself or let us custom make your equipment for you! Sherry Kluever
Sherry, a full-time agility instructor, was a 2003 AKC World Team Member,
a twotime ESPN Great Outdoor Games Gold Medalist, a three-time Grand Prix
Finalist, an AKC Nationals Finalist, and a Steeplechase Finalist. Visit
Sherry’s website: http://SherryKluever.com. Affordable, quality agility
equipment for competition or your backyard I’m assuming that the dog is
running past the poles as if he doesn’t see them. If this is the case,
there can be several reasons for the problem. Most of the time, it’s the
handling, a stride collection/entry problem, or stress. The ﬁrst and
easiest ﬁx is to review your trial handling: videotape your runs and
review them. When I ﬁrst started trialing my oldest JRT we had a problem
with the weave poles. I reviewed the tape and it was obvious that I was
handling them much differently in a trial situation than in training. I
was completely overmanaging them. Once I noticed this, we never had a
problem again. Some handlers are much more tentative in a trial than in
training, which can cause the dog to perform the weave poles incorrectly
as well. The next thing I look at is entries. I go back and retrain to
make sure the dog completely understands his entries. When I initially
train entries, I use a clicker to mark when he wraps the ﬁrst pole
properly. I start with right-hand entries and move to left-hand entries
when the dog has a good understanding of the right-hand one. Then I train
them from all different angles and at all different speeds. If you’re
certain the dog understands his entries but seems to be moving too fast to
hit them, check whether the dog is collecting his stride properly to make
the entry. Sometimes dogs won’t collect their stride in a trial since
they may get a little “higher” in competition. Fun matches can be a
very good resource to help recreate the same high atmosphere of a trial
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Lodging Rob Michalski This month’s question hits close to home for me.
I’ve had a devil of a time with the weave poles with my youngest dog,
Fate. Obsessing over achieving a single-footed style caused me lots of
problems in teaching her the weaves, including her not properly doing the
weaves in competition, even though in practice I thought we had sorted out
the problem. What I did to tackle this was to take a few steps back in
training to make sure that she understood the weaves. I used channel
weaves and wires to teach her the obstacle, so I returned to this method
to do some brushing up. At Nancy Gyes’s suggestion, I worked through a
particular width of the channel, gradually lowering the wires until they
were on the ground and Rob, from Salinas, California, and a student at
Power Paws Agility in San Jose, teaches his own agility classes at several
locations in northern California. Competing in agility for 14 years, Rob
has handled several ADCH dogs, a USDAA Top Ten Finalist, and a USDAA Grand
Prix Finalist. Reach him via email at rmichalski@scu.edu. © ALISSA
BEHN/PET PERSONALITIES You may have to take a few steps back in
training... Maria Glinski, DVM, LAc Veterinary Director Two locations to
serve you: CARE Center 918 Houndslake Drive, Aiken, SC 29803 SC Veterinary
Referral Center 124 Stonemark Lane, Columbia, SC 29210 Phone: 803-649-4965
Fax: 803-649-3949 Email: K9rehabcenter@aol.com eventually off the poles
completely. Each time I narrowed the width of the channel, I put the wires
back on and repeated the process. W h i l e sending her through the weaves
with these additional aids, I eventually introduced distractions like
other obstacles, toys, and other dogs working nearby. I suspect that for
most dogs that weave in practice but not in competition the big problem is
the much greater level of excitement present at a trial compared to
practice at home. The Clean Run | January 07 32 Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid
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http://SherryKluever.com http://www.arfandrunning.com

Clean Run Magazine - January 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - January 2007