Weave pole question...

corbinam said:
I can't remember how you taught weaves...did you use channels? Or 2x2s? I ask because sometimes once the dog seems to understand the ask, we move forward to the completed obstacle (6-12 closed poles). But really, they can really benefit from taking a step back to build speed and confidence. Again, not sure which method you used but I would recommend going back a step (opening up the channels, or spacing out the poles) and really getting her excited and build the confidence.
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We have always worked with closed poles. This is what I was taught in my Agility class. She would be onside and I would walk backwards as I guided her through the poles with a treat. She caught on after that and I no longer needed to guide her through. Onside she is great, offside still needs some work. She is still good but not as good as onside.

Here is a more recent video I had done.

 
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Cleo2014 said:
Ah, that was my thought too. However, when I did that, she would try to keep up with me making her go faster. And that would also make her pop out of the weaves. I may have her in a standing wait and maybe go halfway down the weave polls and then call her. Maybe that would work?
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it's worth a try.
mine go faster but as long as they see me, they keep weaving- mostly. there's always times when there's a pop out- usually during a trial. with Dixie, I really have to keep my rhythm consistent and the weaves really need to be straight or she'll pop out.
we also used regular weave poles to learn. Cran learned entries with 2 x 2s but we just didn't get it for actually learning weaving....
 
One thing you can try is putting her on a long line, placing a reward at the end of the weaves, put up yard fencing gates to discourage popping out (put the fences perpendicular to the poles, alternating sides, so she has to turn in the right direction during the weaves - so the first gate is extending to the right of pole 2, the second gate extending to the left of pole 3, etc), then try sending her through from different angles. The long line sort of helps guide the dogs to complete the weaves correctly - you can put a little pressure on if she tries to pop out (you should remain at the starting point). This is how Spirit learned weaves and she's GREAT at weaves! I believe that since she did them correctly over and over she just has muscle memory at this point with weave poles.
 
Yes had this problem but with Angus it is the left side which is his weaker...I know dogs like people can have right/left hand (paw?) preferences so maybe that plays a part. I was videoing the weaves and it helped to see if I was doing anything different on one side and not the other too. It is something though which definitely seems to improve with experience, providing training is done on both sides.

Cara's method is interesting - never come across it done like that before.
 
Love the video. I didn't really come to any conclusions as I had a ton of things going through my head as to what it could be. I will say this though....Miko was obedience trained and he HATED to walk on my right side. Vogue was a show dog and dislikes walking on my left side. When I got Koji, because of the weird issue with Miko, I made sure to walk him on both sides. Granted, it helped, but because Miko prefered the left, when I'd walk both, Koji would be on the right. Guess which side Koji prefers? All three dogs won't potty either, unless they are on the correct side and the grass is the side that I'm not on (assuming I'm just walking). So it seems that they do have a preference by whatever we taught them.

Therefore, my conclusion is I think it has to do with you training obedience first, especially if you didn't make sure to mix it up from the time Cleo was a puppy. I would start walking on her on the opposite side all the time. Get her comfortable there. I'd also go back to basics. I noticed in the video, you tend to hesitate on the side she's slower on and even you're not walking very confidently. Wonder if she's picking up on that at all. Your arm/hand placement and bag full of treats don't seem to make any difference. Start over, and if she pops, go back a step. Meaning, take it slow. Also, while you're doing that side, you can start working on proofing things on the "good" side. Like, being farther away from her (maybe she needs more room on her "bad" side?), going ahead, going behind, going away at an angle, etc. Do this slowly, but at least that way, she doesn't feel like you're pushing just one side.

BTW, for the fun of it, I tried to do agility with Miko when I was doing it with Koji (after class, bars really low cuz he was older by then). Nope, still absolutely refused to go on my right side. We did Rally-O instead, perfect! Haha.

Good luck. Sounds like this is a common problem that you just have to work through.
 
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