Clean Run - October 2013 - 36

Proof against handler motion until you can run past the obstacle and the dog stops on
the coaster.Then slowly raise the seesaw to full height. Gradually during this time, you
can also make your coaster smaller and smaller. But always make sure it stays right at
the end of the ramp.

Weaves
Without going into the whole teaching process with weave poles, I will mention that
dogs that have been taught a shaped entry have more confidence and independence
than those that aren’t shaped. Let me also mention that you don’t have to do 2 x 2
weave training to shape a weave entry.You can also use channels but shape the entry,
which is how I teach my large dogs.

Handler Motion
Make sure that every behavior you shape for agility is proofed against handler motion
afterward. For example, I have seen dogs that have been shaped on weave poles and
have good entries, but then fail at a trial when the handler is ahead and moving fast
since handler motion hasn’t been properly proofed after the shaping. Shaping is excellent at showing our dogs exactly the behavior we want on any given obstacle. But
because it requires the handler to be static during the shaping process, a concerted
effort has to be made to gradually add handler motion. Also make sure that the shap-

ing you do with regard to the obstacles
is the behavior that you eventually want.
It can be easy to click and reward the
intermediate behavior for too long. For
example, when the dog gets on the table,
if you keep clicking and treating for getting on and don’t add the down soon
enough, then you can have a hesitation
with the down position. Shaping requires
moving through the stages of learning at a decent pace and not staying at
the same place for too long or the dog
thinks that is the finished behavior.
All the behaviors I have shaped with my
dogs have been their strongest and most
confident ones. Therefore, shaping is going to be the best choice for long-term
success and motivation on the agility
course. The better an understanding a
dog has of what is required, the faster he
can perform the behavior. D

Dawn Weaver has been an agility trainer in the U.K. for over 25 years. She is a 7-time FCI World Team member and a 3-time IFCS World Team member. She has won many
gold medals with several different dogs and has won at Crufts in the large category with Ag Ch It’s Easy with a Beezy (Beardie-Border Collie cross). Dawn has won every
major British final in recent years. Her Poodle Ag Ch Piquant Painted Sunshine has the most championship tickets of any dog in Britain. She is also the only dog to have
won Olympia four years running and all the major Crufts finals. Ag Ch Tonring Just a Puzzle is the only Papillon in Britain to have become an agility champion and is the
2011 Crufts Singles winner. Dawn is the author of the training book, Knowledge Equals Speed! She also offers online video instruction at www.dawnweaveragility.com.
To contact Dawn, send email to info@dawnweaveragility.com.

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Clean Run - October 2013

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