Clean Run - August 2019 - 31

My handing is approached as if I am totally responsible for the weave pole entry. I am almost handling as if the dog is
not trained. I am giving it all I have and
helping the dog as much as I can.
Here are my tips for handling poles in
sequence and course work (including
competition). You'll see that it is very
different than what I am doing during
training and maintenance sessions.
The idea is that I need practice to be as
good as I can be at the trial.

* I make a strong plan on the course

map (or while walking in class) of
where I want to be for the entry and
exit. I prefer to minimize multiple
lane changing (moving in and out)
while my dog weaves.

* In the last phase of my walk-

through, the precision phase (another article or webinar!), I do a
detailed rehearsal of my plan.

* I plan to set the line with my on-side

(dog-side) foot as soon as possible
as I approach the poles. I set it to
pole 2 for a left-sided entry and pole
1 for a right-sided entry.

* I glue my eyes to the dog's path as

he approaches the poles; I want to
see every paw-fall on the approach.
I let my shoulders (upper body) turn
toward the dog's path to do this.

* After the dog hits the entry, I stare

hard at the weave pole base, one or
two gates ahead of the dog. I keep
visual contact with the base no matter where my feet need to go.

* I have my arm up if I am peeling

off the poles. I do that whenever I
change lanes and don't want my
dog to come with me because
many times when I change lanes, I
do want the dog to come with me!

* I use a verbal command to tell the

dog to weave. Mine is "poles." I say it
as soon as the dog has the poles in

his vision, distance is irrelevant. The
command has a consistent, specific
inflection. If I repeat the command,
the inflection is flat and consistent;
it does not crescendo.

* For some dogs, I use verbal com-

mands while the dog is weaving; for others, I am not. I do not
say multiple words (like "yes" or
"good" or variations of both) as I
might in training. If I speak at all,
it is one word or sound repeated
continuously at a specific cadence
and inflection to maintain the dog's
rhythm/speed. I would only try to
speed up an advanced weaver that
is used to that pressure. It makes
some dogs blow it.

When Handling Should Override
Training
Now comes the tricky bit. How much
to trust the dog in competition.
Combining the above training and
handling tips will help improve your
weave pole performance, but what
about the super difficult entries, like
the ones we see in Premier and Masters Challenge? Maybe you know you
have not worked on that specific scenario before, or it's been a long time
since your dog has seen it. Maybe you
have worked on it (even recently), and
you know your dog struggles with it.
Maybe you just watched a bunch of
pretty terrific dogs miss it.
I have to make one choice at this time.
I will decide if my weave pole house is
in order or not-that day, that dog. If
it is, I opt for first choice handling. That
is to do all the tips above, using everything I've got in my tool kit, and let
the course judge me as a trainer and a
handler (that is fun for me!). I'm choosing to do my best and let the chips fall.
If my weave house is not in order,
meaning I'm not able to trust my
training or handling for all the many
reasons we don't or can't, I will go to

second choice handling. That means
I will do something to help the dog.
What you need to know is this: a large
percentage of the things you can do
to "help" have a high percentage rate
of hindering. I'm sorry; sometimes, the
truth is hard to read. Here is a list of
things you might do to help the dog
with an entry. If you are not sure you
can do any of them well, you might
be better off with plan A (first choice
handling), doing your best and getting
some real useful information about
yourself and your dog as a result.
Here are some of the things you might
do if you cannot set a proper line to
the entry or don't want to trust your
dog that day (you may have good reasons!). I have listed them from most to
least desirable. None of these are intended to be ongoing "tricks" for every
future pole entry you face; they are for
extreme measures only:

* Using verbal directions if you have
them trained (out, left, and right).

* Doing a false turn or a "chop" (basically half a front cross) before the
poles to put the dog in a better
lane, meaning the line that the entry is on. See Figure 4.

* Doing a different side change than
you would prefer. See Figure 5.

* Adding some type of decel cue.
See Figure 6.

* "T-boning" the dog's path as they

approach to push them out to the
correct entry. This means you intersect your dog's path, making a T out
of the two paths so that you push
the dog out. Some dogs are more
sensitive to this type of pressure
than others. See Figure 7.

* Running to pole "zero" instead of

pole 1 or 2 (I call that a "line lie," it is
what I would do to tell the dog not
to go the poles). See Figure 8.

I teach my dog to weave no matter what, but I do not expect anything. When it is game time, we are a team,

and I hope we have the combined skills to shine. My skills are called "handling." It would not be fair to my dog
to withhold my help at a time he might need it the most.

August 19 | Clean Run

Clean Run - August 2019

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