Clean Run Magazine - November 2007 - 48

Anatomy of an Entry PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOE CANOVA Level I, Station 0; Action: Dog on right. Handler indicates poles to dog and then lets the dog pass and go ahead to find entry independently. Dog rocks back slightly or “digs in” to control speed of entry; handler still indicates that dog should move ahead to poles. Level I Your advanced weave entry training begins with Level 1. The setup is shown in Figure 1. Work all five actions at each station before going to the next station. The process is the same for training each handler action at each station. 1 2 7 If the dog was correct proceed to the next action at the station you are working. Training Notes • Important: Do not skip ahead in actions or stations or, even worse, levels. The whole system works because each step builds on previous steps. For example, it doesn’t matter if your dog could do a straight-on entry from a jump and the chute, a Level IV skill. You should not be practicing that until your dog can do all the angles (stations) and actions at Levels I, II, and III. Do every step in order. Don’t progress until you master the current step. Put the dog in a sit a few feet from the jump. Lead out about 5' ahead of the jump, on the same angle as the weave entry. Do not stand on your dog’s line to the weaves. You should be slightly to the left or slightly to the right depending on the action you’re training. Release the dog with O.K., Weave. (We “stack” the weave command and don’t give a jump command.) Let the dog pass you and hit the entry. It is your dog’s job to find the weave entry independently. 3 • Exception to marking between poles #1 and #2: When doing a rear cross, do not wait for your dog to make the entry before crossing; we want to cross early as a proof. There is an important exception in where we mark the entry when doing a rear cross versus other entries. With a rear cross, we want to wait until the dog’s head turns back to pole #3 and mark there, not between poles #1 and #2. We wait because a dog could theoretically hit the entry between poles #1 and #2, be marked correctly, and then, as you cross right to left, the dog pulls out with you and never turns back to pole #3. So, this is why we mark one pole later and why the rear cross at the poles is learned after other maneuvers that don’t require a rear cross. You can move toward the poles once the dog has passed you; however, the dog should be ahead of you probably 3'-4' feet when hitting the entry. This is paramount to the dog’s learning to weave independently and a core tenet of this system. 4 Watch very closely and if the dog is successful mark the entry between poles #1 and #2 (see exception below) with a verbal reinforcer, such as Yes. • You have to be very careful what you mark and don’t mark. A partner or video camera can be very beneficial in helping you determine your marking accuracy. It is better not to mark than to mark a missed entry. Accuracy is very important. After marking the entry, speed up to catch up to your dog. With a fast dog doing only six poles you probably will not be fast enough to pass the dog, but be sure to throw the reward ahead. In actual trial conditions with 12 poles you should be able to catch up and pass the dog and get one or two poles ahead to prepare for where the course goes next. Do not hang back and let the dog wrap the last pole. 5 6 Keep your dog driving forward by rewarding him past the last pole. With only six poles there is usually not enough time to pull the toy out of your pocket or pants quick enough to reward ahead properly, so keep the toy to be thrown in the arm farthest from the dog. Throw it underhand and forward (as if you’re bowling) in a straight line about 8' past the end of the poles to help keep the dog’s head down. • Training sessions should be short with a high success rate. Troubleshooting: If the Dog Misses the Entry If your dog misses the entry you are working on, just stop where you are and be neutral. It is a big mistake to rev your dog up and repeat the entry. I see handlers doing this a lot; the handler is trying to not “demotivate” or stress the dog by letting him know he was wrong. So the theory is to rev the dog up and he’ll be happy and then do the poles correctly for mom. Wrong! If you are doing this you are anthropomorphizing. You believe the dog thinks like we do. Dogs don’t. What you are doing is training the dog to miss entries. You are rewarding a missed entry or a pull-out by revving the dog up and when he does it right on the second try, you act overjoyed. You just trained your dog to do the poles on the second attempt. No “nice try,” and reward either. It should be that the dog gets the entry or Note: When working on staying in 12 poles later on, there is enough time to get the toy out; so in that case you would hide the toy and not take it out until the dog completes the weaves. You don’t want to have a hidden toy that comes out of your pocket around pole #10 or #11. This can cause big problems. 48 Clean Run | November 07

Clean Run Magazine - November 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - November 2007