Difficulty: Hard Prerequisite: Touch Items Needed: Clicker, Treats, Cones, Buckets, or Solo Cups
When you watch dog agility competitions, one of the most spectacular sections has to be the weave poles. These championship dogs have trained hard and long to weave back and forth in between the poles at break-neck speed. Trainers say this is one of the hardest sections of agility competitions. Although there is difficulty involved, most dogs end up loving the weave poles. So even if you aren't trying to enter an agility competition, you can teach your dog this fun and exciting trick, using basic household products, and of course your clicker.
Step 1: Set up obstacles, such as orange cones (bought at Wal-mart), buckets, or even red plastic cups in a straight line. Start with three or four, and space them 24-30 inches apart. With your touch stick, guide your dog in and out of the obstacles, starting from the left side. When he goes in and out of one or two, click and treat. Continue to do this until he goes in and out of all of them. Step 2: After getting your dog used to these motions, start saying "Weave" when he is finishing up his trick. Click and treat. Step 3: Do this several times until your dog will weave at your command. This is a hard trick to teach, and it may take many training sessions. Fully expect your dog to go after the obstacles and try and play with them. Gently guide his attention back to your treats, and get him focused again on the touch stick.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Using the touch stick, I guided Caspian through each obstacle. At first, I clicked and treated as he went through two or three obstacles. Then, I would click and treat as he wove through each one. At the end, I would say "Weave!" and click and treat. We did this several times until Caspian could weave in a flowing tempo. Soon, I was able to use less touch stick and let him do it on his own.
TEACHING TROUBLE
He does it with the touch stick fine - but he won't do it on his own! If you think you have used the touch stick long enough and would like to have him do it on his own, but he's not responding, try using your finger to guide him. That will help him know what to do, and you can gradually get rid of the hinting.
Tip: "Encourage your dog to weave faster and faster! Make him excited by being excited yourself. Give him bigger treats if he goes at a fluent tempo."
