Clean Run Magazine - August 2007 - 40

Testing Your Dog’s Understanding You may also wish to apply the same concept of incremental changes in position on a clock face to proof your dog’s understanding that he is to stay in the poles until they are completed. Up to this point you have been sending your dog to the weaves poles from multiple angles with his motivator straight out in front of the weave poles, lined up with the 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock positions. The motivator has been serving as a target for the dog to drive forward to, which has helped him learn to weave. The motivator is also an object the dog desires and wants to get to, so additionally it has served as a distraction for proofing. While learning, the dog had to exercise some degree of impulse control as the weave poles got more upright and/or closer together, impeding his speed to the motivator. If the dog did not enter correctly or failed to complete all the poles, he didn’t earn his game of tug or a treat from his motivator. You can further proof your dog’s understanding of his job in the poles by changing the position of the motivator. 6 Move the position of the motivator as though it is on its own clock face as shown in Figure 6. At first send your dog from 12 o’clock through the poles to his motivator positioned at 12 o’clock on the corresponding clock (labeled the “motivator clock face”). On subsequent repetitions, continue to send the dog to the poles from 12 o’clock, but incrementally move the motivator toward the 10 o’clock position on the motivator clock face. Then in a separate training session, work on moving the motivator toward the 2 o’clock position. Once your dog has the concept it is nice practice to release your dog to the poles from all of points on the clock that you practiced in the previous stages of training. This is an excellent foundation for the future when he is weaving in competition and can see lots of inviting options in the vicinity of the weave poles. He will have learned from the beginning to complete his task before exiting the poles. Sequencing the Weave Poles From a handling perspective, my focus has been primarily on 1) practicing lagging behind the dog while he weaves; 2) seeing how much lateral distance I can attain away from the dog on either side of the weaves while staying on a parallel path to him; and 3) seeing how far ahead of the dog I can get as he weaves. As the dog matures and gains confidence with weaving ahead of me, I will start to move away from the dog on a diagonal line as well. But I usually reserve this skill until the dog is very competent. At this point in your training you should be ready to start sequencing the weave poles with other obstacles. It is important to practice sequencing to the weaves from contacts, tunnels, and jumps with speed. Practice simple drills with front crosses and rear crosses both into and out of the weaves and pushes to and away from the weaves. 11 10 9 8 7 5 12 1 2 3 4 6 6 5 7 8 9 Motivator clock face 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 T Proof your dog’s understanding of his job in the poles by moving the position of the motivator as though it is on its own clock face. When doing a front cross to an obstacle beyond the weaves, I position myself near the obstacle I am going toward and delay my front-cross rotation until the dog has completed the poles. I use the rotation to turn the dog, and since the dog can see me while he’s weaving, I don’t wish to weaken that turning maneuver signal by rotating while he still has poles to complete. There is ample time to rotate once he completes his last pole since I am already ahead and my position near the next obstacle gives him information about where he is going next. Keep in mind that when the dog is exiting the weave poles to an obstacle to the left of the weaves that the last pole for the dog to complete is actually the next-to-last pole as shown in Figure 7a. If the dog is exiting to an obstacle to the right of the weave poles, he will need to bend back around the last pole as shown in Figure 7b. 7A 7B Last pole dog must complete. Last pole dog must complete. 40 Clean Run | August 07

Clean Run Magazine - August 2007

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