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Starting weaves?


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So, Psyche's still taking agility classes, and they've started training weaves now. They're training 2x2 (Susan Garrett), and are assuming people will only train in class and take a while to get their dog weaving.

 

Now I come to the problem that Psyche's a fast learner, I'm serious about her agility training (while the others aren't so much), and I want to train her weaves without dragging the training time out. Now the biggest problem of all. Psyche's the youngest dog of all in the class. She's only 10 months.

 

Susan Garret prides her training that I can train my dog to weave 12 poles in 10 days. Now, I don't know if Psyche could do that, but I know that she wont take as long as the trainers want it to take in class to learn. Should I tell them I'm going to wait and train her weaves later, or do it now in class?

 

She's a lab/border collie, if that matters. Just not sure what age is healthy to have her weaving. Opinions?

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10 months is too young to learn weaves IMO. Their bones aren't completely knit and it can put a lot of undue stress on their spine from bending. This can cause problems later in life. IF you did 2x2's once a week for 10 minutes over a long period....maybe, but it is really designed to do in 2-4 weeks (every dog learns differently). I started Grady at 14months and he was weaving 6 poles in no time. I haven't been consistant with them and he still has problems now and then, but all in all he learned FAST!

 

There's a lot of thing in agility (and even flyball) you have to carefull not too push too fast too soon. Dog's growth plates don't stop growing until they are between 12 and 16 months. Not too mention the muscle conditioning and maturity it takes to handle some sports. Take it slow and they'll be able to train longer in life. I know it's hard to resist the urge to push them faster because they learn quick, but it's worth the wait.

 

I told my puppy trainer that I wasn't going to train 2x2's until Grady was ready to weave 100%. She completely understood. There were also a few other things I backed off on or pushed harder because of his learning curve and age. A good trainer will understand that YOU know your dogs limits and strong points and should be able to work aound that, even in a group class. All dogs in a group don't (and can't) progress at the same speed.

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Definately wait on the weaves until shes at least a year since you're using 2x2's. I trained on channels and by the time we were ready to close them Whim was over a year old and I felt comfortable with him doing all that bending. Although weaves are the toughest piece of equipment for some dogs, in my opinion it should be one of the last ones for the dog to learn as there is so much more you can do without them. Whim trained with channels for about 6-8mos and the transition from channels to normal weaves was seamless.

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Oh, my trainers agree to not train her now. And I agree since I want to train my 2x2s quickly.

 

So would 14 months be an okay time to start them? Until then I'll just perfect other things in the 2 mins they work weaves in class.

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Z learned her weaves at around 13-15mo and she's doing wonderfully on them. Kes is starting open channel weaves right now and 9mo, but we'll wait until at least 14-16 mo to start him on actual close to in line weaves because he's still growing at a high rate. Z quit growing at between 10 and 13 mo.

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Good stuff. I'll wait to start training her until then... We'll just work on all the other fun agility stuff until then - but I'm really excited to start training weaves!

 

I couldn't wait to start either. It's soooooo cool to see them learn 2x2's and having them weaving 6 poles consistently in about 7-10 days :rolleyes: To see the progression and watch how fast they figure it out makes me smile :D Lucia learned the old way by luring. It took at least a year before she was proficient and at 3 1/2 y/o finally two stepping them with confidence (she was retrained on 2x2's).

 

Good luck and let us know when you start!

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I started a bit with my girl just after she was 12 months. Spent maybe 4 days on it - so we were really just working 4 poles at that point. Then we left it to one side. I wanted to do some while the weather was still ok before it started getting to wet. Then I spent another couple of weeks on it on and off and she had no problems and now at nearly 16 months can weave a full set of poles fairly reliably and was doing them at the trial grounds the other weekend.

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Teaching weaves to Chase has been great fun watching him undestand what I'm asking. My aussie was trained using channels, she was also my first agility dog. Despite my lack of knowledge and experience, she did great at it. With Chase, I was very interested in the Susan Garrett method so we started that when Chase was 14 months. I think I did a modified version since I really never saw any of the videos in their entirety and my instructor wasn't/isn't teaching that way in class. I put together the 2x2's, the weave-o-matic and very little luring.

Chase was weaving a full set of 12 upright in about 2-1/2 months!! He just got it and understood and really likes to weave. And he's fast and getting faster. He's the only one in his class that is weaving like that right now. I'm proud.

I love the 2x2 for teaching the entry. My aussie wasn't always reliable on the entry but Chase is almost 100% reliable on the entry and that part is really cool after having a dog that didn't quite understand the entry. (maybe he could have been better if I didn't modify the Susan Garrett way, don't know)

It also helps that I have my own set of weave poles so I can practice a little bit every day. I do agree with what someone else here said, it pays in more ways than one to take your time.

Enjoy your dog!

Michele & Chase

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