Clean Run - May 2012 - 29

No matter how good your weaves are, we can always take them a stage further, which just helps that bit when you need them in the ring.

then behind two jumps. So we have a dog that does weaves, jump, jump and then gets the reward (dead toy). I am attempting to teach the dog that when weaving he should never ever bother looking at the handler because nothing of much value ever comes from the handler. This way we don’t train the dog on body momentum or handler focus. It also gives the handler the freedom to move off to various places whilst the dog is weaving. Weave Entries It’s important with each training session to progress with the weave entry. I treat the weaves and weave entries like a clock. So a straight weave entry would be 12 o’ clock. Slightly to the left if we are facing the weaves is 1 o’ clock, slightly to the right is 11 o’ clock, and so on. As soon as the dog has realized that his job is to run through the chan-

R 10'7"

until the dog can enter the poles correctly when started from 4 o’ clock and 8 o’ clock. Do this over a number of sessions, remembering always go back to 12 o’ clock after each repetition. If you don’t go back to 12 o’ clock, after a few attempts the dogs may try to cheat and take a shortcut to his reward. Everything must be gradual, too big a leap at any stage can set you back a long way and it will take twice as long to put it right. It’s then important to do the clock but this time from jumps. So jump, weaves, jump, reward. Move the jump around the weaves but remember to go back to 12 o’ clock each time. A common mistake from handlers is teaching great weaves but, not with jumps to and from them and then they introduce them in a course and the dog doesn’t recognize them as they see them as a separate exercise.

nel, I start the dog just a bit off centre, so at 11 o’ clock. Then I go back to 12 o’ clock. Next I start the dog at 1 o’ clock, and then I go back to 12 o’ clock. I continue in this manner

A Method for Any Dog
I have helped handlers teach many breeds of dogs this way, from Spaniels to little Paps to Akitas. I would like to add that training two unmotivated Akitas to have total independence, reasonably fast, good technique, and reliable weaves (in a very short period of time) is probably my biggest achievement to date. This method is also perfect for the timid dog that doesn’t really “offer” much behavior. A lot of timid, nervous dogs don’t like to offer certain behaviors so shaping things can be difﬁcult. With my method they don’t have to over-think, they see their reward (which can be food on top of a bowl) so they have a focal point with a big fat lump of Natural Instinct dried liver on the top (that was me trying to plug my sponsors). They take a line through the weaves to their reward, which may be the toy or treat, and the weaves get conditioned en route. It eventually becomes, weaves, jump, and then treat. In the next article I will take it a step further and explain my weave prooﬁng, which is the second half of my weave pole training. If you do the training above then I have no doubt you will get great weaves. But no matter how good your weaves are, we can always take them a stage further, which just helps that bit when you need them in the ring.

Editor’s Note: If you haven’t yet seen the YouTube video of Lee’s weave pole prooﬁng demonstration, it’s deﬁnitely worth a look: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V24s_nj-EOI D

Lee Windeatt lives in Kent, England, in the UK. He has had dogs all his life and has been competing in dog agility since 1999. He currently owns two Border Collies called Shy and Bold that he says are his life. To find out more about Lee and his dogs please visit www.leewindeatt.co.uk May 12 | Clean Run 29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V24s_nj-EOID http://www.leewindeatt.co.uk

Clean Run - May 2012

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