HazelNutMeg
Trained
We Make a Hell of a Team!
Posts: 335
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Post by HazelNutMeg on Sept 24, 2004 20:53:30 GMT -5
Okay, I'm going to see if I can make a set my own or borrow 6 of the 12 that my friend has for the winter, set it up in my mom's "gym" room (consists of a weight lifting machine and a matress . Cuz those things are HARD! We're gettin the hang of the contacts, now what about the weaves!? I tried training him the way my friend said to but it's just not working. He's focusing on ME WAY TOO MUCH! He doesn't watch what he's doing and misses poles because he's just staring at me! How do i fix that? How do I get him to weave and watch on his own!? HELP!
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Post by Aussienot on Sept 24, 2004 22:38:58 GMT -5
I wish Finn had the problem of looking at me too much! LOL. He is fast but sloppy.
I would only use 6 poles until he's solid on the idea. Plus 6 is much easier for indoor use. (Either that or my living room is too small. )
Try the connecting "guide wires" that you string between the poles (odds to odds, evens to evens) to see if that helps. Finn thought it was some kind of new jump, and would serpentine jump the wires, so I resorted to a barrier techinque.
Set up a physical barrier (like a box, a piece of cardboard) on the left side of the poles at three and five and on the right side of the pole at 2 and 4.
Sorta like this where X is the poles and I is the barrier
-------------------I-------------------I x---------x-------x---------x--------x-----x -----------I------------------I
The barriers make it bleedingly obvious to the dog where to go, and has the added bonus of adding distance between you and the weaves.
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HazelNutMeg
Trained
We Make a Hell of a Team!
Posts: 335
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Post by HazelNutMeg on Sept 24, 2004 23:12:46 GMT -5
Oh thanks! That sounds like it just might work! I will try it on... Sunday... since tomorrow I'm stuck helping my sister move And let you know how it works! ;D Thanks so much!! ;D ;D
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Post by ripley on Sept 25, 2004 2:22:42 GMT -5
LOL Aussienot I agree, I wish Ripley had the problem of watching me too much! I too would go with 6, better for indoors and MUCH better for teaching focus. Ripley had a focus problem as well, he'd start off with a good solid weave, but halfway down the line his eyes would start to wander and he would skip a pole. Anywho, back to your question.. What are you doing to teach him to weave? What did your friend suggest that you do? Do you make exaggerated motions towards the obstacles? Kady, a dog in my agility class (Also a BC/Lab mix) stares at her owner and loses focus on the obstacles, so the handler directs ALL her energy into pointing, directing and motioning towards the weave poles. (A very exaggerated 'weaving' motion with her hands and arms) If you haven't tried that, it might be worth a shot. It sounds like you just need Coal to watch the POLES.. I've never tried this, but luring him into 'targeting' each pole with his nose sounds like it could also help him watch the poles. I dunno, I've never dealt with my dog watching me too much, so I'm not much help! Good luck though!
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HazelNutMeg
Trained
We Make a Hell of a Team!
Posts: 335
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Post by HazelNutMeg on Sept 26, 2004 12:06:40 GMT -5
First of all, I've never had him on 12 poles, only six. I'm not sure if I confused ya'll or what, but that tends to happen Mandi, my friend, has 12 poles here at my place though. She's going to be taking all her equipment back when the ground freezes and she'll probably want her weaves in the basement, but I was going to find out if she could practice with six for a while instead of twelve so I could practice with Coal in the winter too. I still haven't gotten out with him to try you're whole blocking thing, but will do that this afternoon! RG - I do have to jump around and move my body a LOT. I practiclly have to weave WITH him He's always been like that with all the equipment. When Lexie tried running him once it was halarious because her dog is like the exact opposite and so Coal kept getting so lost out there because she wasn't directing him with her body. Okay, before explaining how I started teaching him I gota tell you what kind of poles we've got! They have a metal thing that lies on the ground with metal slots in them, you just stick the poles in (if I'm not making sense I'll try and get a picture, STILL don't have freaking batteries for the camera though!), so the poles can't splay out, they are not training poles. But since we've got 12, what we did was stick them beside eachother, a pole in every other slot... like this... x------x--------x ----x-------x------x and then called him through. After about a week of that I moved them closer together. x------x--------x ---x-------x-------x After another week, closer together yet. x------x--------x ----x-------x------x Until finally he was weaving more with the smallest gap so that the poles were almost all in a straight line. X---x---X---x---X---x He just kind of lolls through them, no matter how long I keep them apart, so I move them together and he still does, but he gets more sloppy. Because he's not really learning to weave, he's just moving wear I tell him while he watches me. I don't think he really has grasped the concept that he's supose to be doing it on his own
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Post by FourPawsTwoFeet on Sept 26, 2004 12:45:29 GMT -5
He just kind of lolls through them, no matter how long I keep them apart, so I move them together and he still does, but he gets more sloppy. Because he's not really learning to weave, he's just moving wear I tell him while he watches me. I don't think he really has grasped the concept that he's supose to be doing it on his own I don't know if it'll work, but this is a drill we do before every flyball practice, and it works well to get the speed up (I'm assuming that's the problem you're referring to when you say 'lolls through'?) Start with you're original far apart weave set-up, and bring a friend to hold Coal at the beginning of the poles. You stand near the end with Coal's favorite toy (we use tuggies) and call him. Jump around, look like you're having lots of fun, be nutty. Hold the toy in your left hand and point your feet forward. So it'll look like this: ------------------------- x------x--------x Friend with Coal------------------------------------You and toy ------------------------------x-------x------x When Coal is all excited to go (after all you're calling and playing with the coolest toy ever) your friend releases him. When he's about halfway through the poles you start to run away from him, still dangling the toy from your left hand. When he catches up, you pretend that he's just discovered the secret to teleportation. During flyball most of the dogs get a good upbeat game of tug, but if you don't believe in doing that you can just make a big fuss over him and let him play with the toy. You'd continue to do what you've been doing and slowly bring the poles closer together. I hope that makes sense, and that it helps a little bit. I'm really, really sorry if that's not at all what you were looking for - sometimes posts set me off on tangents that don't help anybody, and if this is one of those times, I really do apologize. Hopefully it will be helpful though.
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Post by ripley on Sept 26, 2004 14:42:28 GMT -5
Good idea FourPaws, I was thinking something along the line of that. Only thing I would change is that I would have the assistant there to guide him if he messed up and skipped poles. (Which my dog always does when I call him from the other end, because he thinks that he should be coming in a straight-line recall style.) I've started teaching Dakota a VERY modified, puppy version of weaves (it's about 3 feet between each pole and the poles are set off so far that he really can just walk right through them..) and he purposely walks around them because he would rather be focusing on the toy. Anyway, Coal is still just a pup, he probably starts out and then says "Oh, I bet mom has something more INTERESTING for me to do!"
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Post by FourPawsTwoFeet on Sept 26, 2004 14:56:35 GMT -5
The idea is actually for the dog to start off running between the two rows of poles - they should be set far enough apart for him to run full tilt to the handler without weaving at all. They are very slowly moved closer together to make the dog weave. The idea being that you get speed first and always, so that you don't have to work on that later. It also allows the dog to slowly get used to the idea of weaving, and do it without any guidance from the handler.
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Post by ripley on Sept 26, 2004 15:43:07 GMT -5
Oohhh ok, makes sense. ;D
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HazelNutMeg
Trained
We Make a Hell of a Team!
Posts: 335
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Post by HazelNutMeg on Sept 26, 2004 20:28:30 GMT -5
okay, I've searched high and low and there is absolutly NOTHING for me to block it off!! I KNOW! NOTHING! No cardboard, or anything. I tried chairs but then realized he can't weave, he comes around the pole smack into a chair *sigh* I guess I'll just have to keep luring him through. I practiced the weaves a lot today and he seems to understand a bit more the concept of going between the poles, cuz he'll run ahead and do it, he just doesn't do it right He misses poles, figures he should do every other one and that's good enough FourPawsTwoFeet - Thanks for the advice! I'm not really looking for speed right now, I rather get him doing the obstacle perfectly and comfrotably and THEN build up speed, which usually naturally comes with the confidence anyway he knows that "GO GO GO GO GO" means go fast! So I'm sure that'll work once he gets the idea of weaving. When I said he lolls through, he does go slow, but it's basiclly like he's just goin for a stroll, he doesn't care WHAT he's doing. It's like what I'm asking him is WAAAAY too easy. So I know it's not really a matter that I moved too quickly, because staying with the poles far apart is just too simple for his "great mind". See, we have no boxes though cuz the ones we DO have are full of junk (mom did say we're going to clean out Anna's old room though so I may gain some from that) and my sister Kat just moved so the spare boxes we DID have are now at her place... bah *sigh* I'll keep ya'll posted on Coal's progress though And thanks for the replies!! ;D
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Post by Aussienot on Sept 27, 2004 22:10:08 GMT -5
Ok, so you've tried the chute method, and the barrier method is not available.
If he really doesn't know the process of weaving, put him back on lead. Use your left hand to hold the leash straigt up above the poles (short poles help!), and use the leash to help guide him.
Use your right hand to lure in and out with treats. Your two hands have to move together in the snaking action. This third technique is just in the teaching stage. Once he gets the idea and does not need as much guidance, stop using your right hand (with the treat) but leave the guiding lead on until you don't need it.
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HazelNutMeg
Trained
We Make a Hell of a Team!
Posts: 335
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Post by HazelNutMeg on Sept 28, 2004 20:01:01 GMT -5
HE'S WEAVING! HE'S WEAVING! HE'S WEAVING! HE'S WEAVING!! Well, not PERFECTLLY, but he did it about 4 times without missing a pole! And he's starting to watch what he's doing more than me! YAY YAY YAY! I just started practicing a lot, short periods but many times during the day, and he's getting it!! ;D ;D I so can't wait until he does it PERFECTLY! so I can get some pics and show you guys! I'm such a proud dog mum now! I can't get over how much he's progressed with Agility this summer! I'm so sad that winter is comming and I'll have to put away all the equipment for the next... 7/8 months
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Post by Aussienot on Sept 28, 2004 22:16:38 GMT -5
Congratulations! The weaves are really tough because they are so un-natural for a dog. All the other agility equipment has at least some resembalance to the running and jumping things a dog does naturally in the course of a day. But a dog would never see a line of trees and think "Hey, it might be fun to run alternating left and right sides of thoses trees". I think we all know what most dogs think when they see trees
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HazelNutMeg
Trained
We Make a Hell of a Team!
Posts: 335
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Post by HazelNutMeg on Sept 29, 2004 22:33:54 GMT -5
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Post by Aussienot on Sept 30, 2004 19:17:23 GMT -5
Great picture! Love the live action shot. Look at his legs, no wonder weaving is so hard to learn. I'd trip for sure. ;D
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