Clean Run Magazine - October 2007 - 39

Send The ﬁrst thing I teach a dog is a send through the weave poles to a target. I like to use a placed target rather than a toy on the ground and then throw a toy if the dog is successful. This prevents a smart dog from exiting the poles early and self-rewarding with his toy before you can catch him. I hope the send has already been taught to your dog when the poles are open. But if not, you might have to go back a few steps and help the dog. If your dog will not send through the poles while you are stationary at the beginning of the obstacle as seen in Figure 1, show your dog the target at the end of the poles and bring him back to the beginning of the poles. Send the dog through the poles, but go with him to the secondto-last pole as shown in Figure 4. Stop there and then send the dog to his target without moving forward. If successful, the next time don’t go quite as far forward with the dog. Your goal is to be able to send the dog to the target without your moving as shown in Figure 1. As your dog becomes comfortable being sent through the poles from all different approach angles as shown in Figure 5, start to add distractions on either side of the weave poles as seen in Figure 6. Recall Next, I should be able to recall my dog through the poles while I stand stationary at the end as shown in Figure 2. The recall is easy if you have taught it from the beginning when your poles are still slanted or open. If your dog cannot do this, however, you can start near pole #2 facing your dog. When your dog enters correctly, turn and face the direction the dog is going and run with him to the end as seen in Figure 7. The next time, you can start at pole #3 or #4, facing your dog, and when he enters correctly, turn and face the direction he is going and reward at the end of the poles. Eventually, you should be able to stand at the end of the poles and call your dog though as seen in Figure 2. Once your dog is comfortable working on a straight recall through the poles you can start to challenge him. Your goal is to be able to recall the dog through the poles from almost any position as seen in Figure 8. A Few Things to Remember • Help your dog after two bad attempts. • Run back to your start position when your dog is losing enthusiasm! • No corrections in the poles; simply use Try Again or something similar. • Let the dog be successful and fast in the poles before increasing your distance from him. • No bending over, pointing, or guiding is necessary. All these things could be hurting instead of helping your weave performance! D Running with Your Dog With your dog doing all of the above, it should be easy to move laterally with the dog from both the right and left side of the poles. It should also be easy to do a front cross at the end of the poles, a rear cross at the beginning, or move laterally while your dog is in the poles. (See “City Dogs” in CR August 2006 for help with weave entries and “City Dogs” in CR April 2007 for help with weave exits.) October 07 | Clean Run 39
Clean Run Magazine - October 2007

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