Keegan's Mom Posted January 5, 2004 Report Share Posted January 5, 2004 Keegan hits his entry fine and does his on-side weave correctly 90% of the time. However, an off-side weave just really confuses him, but I think it is more his handlers fault, , than his own. Do any of you have any suggestions for teaching an off-side weave? Also any suggestions for getting him to do weave poles at all with me at the end rather than walking along beside him while he performs them? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted January 5, 2004 Report Share Posted January 5, 2004 Go here for a good weave training article by Chris Parker: http://www.monmouth.com/~speedoggie/weavearticle.html Basically, weaves are just like any other obstacle, teach the dog to focus on a target instead of you. As far as sides, shame on your agility instructor for making the dog think there's a difference. When you go back and teach independent obstacle completion (as in the article referenced above), make sure you work both sides equally from the beginning. Also, you can work the two components of weaving - entry and rhythm - separately. When working on rhythm, it's easier to use 12 poles so the dog can actually get into and practice a rhythm. Work straight-on, at-speed entries first before moving to anything trickier. My pup just finished her main weave training and is getting ready for her first trial in March. Took about 3 months using a method similiar to Chris' above and I was going slow, which was hard because I'm a very impatient person! Let me know if I confused you with anything! -Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan's Mom Posted January 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2004 Laura, I might say that my agility instructor does make us work both sides, I fear that I've made the bigger deal out of on-side versus off-side weave. We are currently taking private lessons to work on Keegan's fear items...dog walk and teeter, which he got over in two lessons. But now we are taking private lessons because I need working on. So, he is improving drastically, but I'm learning slowly. Rachel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted January 5, 2004 Report Share Posted January 5, 2004 My students aren't allowed to refer to weaves as "off-side" or "on-side", just "weaves". I get some students who've never done formal obedience and honestly don't know the difference (not that there is any), which is how I like it. About Keegan's previous fear issues (congrats on working through those!), I have one student with a BC who took a couple years to get over the BC's fear of the teeter. She recently competed in her first trial and did great - no teeter issues at all. It's great to see them doing the teeter now like a "normal" piece of equipment. -L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan's Mom Posted January 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2004 Yeah, basically what it boils down to is this...we joined an agility class for beginners and we were not pleased at all. First of all, we had to drive like 45 minutes to get there then the class progressed way too fast and we were trying things with our dogs that they didn't even know the fundamentals of. So, fast forward a few months and we started taking Keegan to an unofficial dog park, pre-assertiveness issues, and we were told of a lady who did agility at her home. So we signed up and I absolutely love her. We never thought we would love agility after that first class. Keegan met the teeter straight on in his first class...with a big bang. Then he was scared and they forced him to go over trying to lure him with treats but he is not treat motivated. The new instructor noticed that he seemed to like to tug with his toys that we brought to class thus we found Keegan's main motivator...tug toys. As soon as he figured out that he got to tug after teeter or dogwalk, it was a breeze from there. I tell you, if you like the instructor and training techniques, it makes all the difference. However, I am envious of all the training facilities and options in Raleigh, we don't have as many to pick from in Charlotte!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSnappy Posted January 6, 2004 Report Share Posted January 6, 2004 I hate out-weaves. Tweed has some, errr, problems assimilating movement from one side to the other (for example, he knows how to swing behind me on both sides, but on the one side he has to turn in an opposite direction complete circle first because he just can't do it). So while he can fly through the weaves like a pro, on the out-weave he gets mightily confused. Tweed's not normal. RDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Wolf Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 RDM, have you had Tweed checked out for a physical problem? i have a bitch with a bad shoulder (injury) and she will often not turn in one direction, or will circle in order to change direction. Pam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSnappy Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 Originally posted by Pam Wolf:RDM, have you had Tweed checked out for a physical problem? i have a bitch with a bad shoulder (injury) and she will often not turn in one direction, or will circle in order to change direction. Pam I actually have, and there appears to be nothing wrong with him ... well, physically, that is. Tweed is not a, umm, mentally healthy dog. He's a bit of a weirdo. He is capable of lightning turns in either direction on his own terms, but when you start asking for precision movements he gets very very confused. RDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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