Cleo weaving 12 poles and agility fun day!

Cleo2014

Cleo2014

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Today I went to my friends house to have an agility play date. There were 6 Border Collies, a Dachshund, and Cleo. It was very interesting but fun. Cleo got to work on a regulation height dog walk and we worked on some great sequences. She also tries 12 weave poles and nailed them! I think this October I am going to enter Cleo in a few runs with my local clubs agility trial. Here are a couple of videos from this morning.


 
Ugggh I need all that stuff in my backyard! How great would that be?

Good job Cleo! That sounds like a fun play date! :) You weave like a pro!
 
Simba13 said:
Looking good :D What method did you use to teach the weaves? I'm having trouble with them at the moment!
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Honestly, I used high value treats and I walked backward while guiding her through the weave poles. I had her on leash at first because of agility class but at home I eventually removed it. Once she got better, I turned around and worked on walking forward with Cleo. Then I eventually stopped guiding her and just walked with the treat next to the weaves. Once she got good on the on side weaves I worked on off side. I didn't like the two by two method. That didn't work for Cleo. She seemed more cofused than ever by doing that. This is what worked best for Cleo.
 
Wow, you're doing great! Some tricky stuff in there too! I'm also having envy over your friend's set up :wink2:

Yes 2x2 weaves are not for every dog/handler. I used 2x2 for Epic and he was great at it AFTER we had the initial issues sorted (if you go back to about pg 14 of the Agility section there are some posts and videos of our efforts in 2014) but it was a struggle and quite demoralising (for me) at the beginning. With Angus I also found the start of 2x2 difficult, even with better knowledge on my part - and resorted to the (invaluable) Manners Minder. While he made progress and got up to 6 quite happily, I then switched to channels to get more speed through and have also been working Epic through channels recently to get the independence to drive on while I'm behind. I liked that Cleo stayed in the poles while you were able to get ahead, that is a super skill to have so early and shows she isn't reliant on needing you alongside, which I might have been concerned about with that method of teaching. I do think there isn't a one size fits all approach and in my relatively limited experience of teaching 3 dogs to weave (2 shelties and a border collie) they have all needed different approaches and adaptations. Shelties can be so sensitive and get demotivated so easily (not all, but many) that whatever method is used, the key thing seems to be a high rate of reward to build their confidence. With 2 x2s, they really have to be quite proficient with 'shaping' before starting out and be able to cope with some amount of failure. Like Cleo, another BC I know was trained with the 'guide through' method and she has fabulous weaves too.

I must repeat what I say every time I watch Cleo, she is so pretty!! Good luck in your training and look forward to hearing how you get on in your first trial :biggrin2:
 
seashel said:
Wow, you're doing great! Some tricky stuff in there too! I'm also having envy over your friend's set up :wink2:

Yes 2x2 weaves are not for every dog/handler. I used 2x2 for Epic and he was great at it AFTER we had the initial issues sorted (if you go back to about pg 14 of the Agility section there are some posts and videos of our efforts in 2014) but it was a struggle and quite demoralising (for me) at the beginning. With Angus I also found the start of 2x2 difficult, even with better knowledge on my part - and resorted to the (invaluable) Manners Minder. While he made progress and got up to 6 quite happily, I then switched to channels to get more speed through and have also been working Epic through channels recently to get the independence to drive on while I'm behind. I liked that Cleo stayed in the poles while you were able to get ahead, that is a super skill to have so early and shows she isn't reliant on needing you alongside, which I might have been concerned about with that method of teaching. I do think there isn't a one size fits all approach and in my relatively limited experience of teaching 3 dogs to weave (2 shelties and a border collie) they have all needed different approaches and adaptations. Shelties can be so sensitive and get demotivated so easily (not all, but many) that whatever method is used, the key thing seems to be a high rate of reward to build their confidence. With 2 x2s, they really have to be quite proficient with 'shaping' before starting out and be able to cope with some amount of failure. Like Cleo, another BC I know was trained with the 'guide through' method and she has fabulous weaves too.

I must repeat what I say every time I watch Cleo, she is so pretty!! Good luck in your training and look forward to hearing how you get on in your first trial :biggrin2:
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Thank you! I went to Rural King the other day, and the Cashier said she looked like a show dog! I told her she is not that kind of show dog! :lol:

My friend would have had her teeter in there but it needed some repairs. Also need to repair her A-frame or buy a new one, I can't remember on that one. But she has a pretty nice second half of her yard for some fun agility exercises.

My first trial is October 1st and 2nd. I am nervous but I will be starting a Novice Competition class that will start on August 23rd and go for 5 weeks. The goal is to do them right up until the local trial here. I am also doing one more Intermediate class before then next Wednesday. If all goes as planned this will be what is scheduled, but we are weather dependent so it will really depend on that.
 
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