34 A series AbOut mAintenAnce trAining fOr Agility behAviOrs train to › › › › › MAINTAIN by mary ellen barry This series is about maintenance training for agility behaviors. While some of this work is very similar to how the behavior is trained, these articles will not go into detail about how to train. These sessions are intended to be short and easy to set up while accomplishing quite a bit in a short period of time. Behavior: Weave entries Equipment needed: One set of 6 weaves, 5 jumps Setup time: about 2 minutes Training time: 10-15 minutes Recommended: Once every 2-3 months My expectations of my dog’s weave poles are that when given the cues for the obstacle (physical and verbal), my dog understands the correct entry without needing my help to shape his approach. My initial training is done with 2 x 2s (see CR April 2009 for my article “A New Twist on Training with 2 x 2 Weaves”). If your dog currently does not have the entries you hope for, I suggest going back and working through around-the-clock work from this article using two and four poles to help your dog learn how to find the entry. The maintenance of my weave entries comes from my friend Rachel Sanders and is very similar to her article from CR May 2006, “Nail Down Your Weave Entries.” These exercises offer several handling options on different angles and provide 45 different weave entries overall. © Lynne BruBaker PhotograPhy, Inc My expectations of my dog’s weave poles are that when given the cues for the obstacle (physical and verbal), my dog understands the correct entry without needing my help to shape his approach. Clean Run | December 10