[Sam1491]

I taught Mabel originally with the 2 by 2 then switched to the 2 plus 2 which I found immensely better for her and "getting it", 5 months later and we have solid weaves from most any angle and obstacle with border collie speed, and she even recovers herself! If she pops out a little to far she stops thinks and continues on perfectly, or if she goes in a bit to fast she adjusts in the blink of an eye and never misses a set! This girl loves to weave!

But anyways, i'm just curious:

1. How did you teach weaves?
2. How long did it take before you felt you had "solid" weaves?
3. What made that the best method for you?

:thanx:

 

[Adara]

But anyways, i'm just curious:

1. How did you teach weaves?
2. How long did it take before you felt you had "solid" weaves?
3. What made that the best method for you?

:thanx:

For the last 3 dogs, I've used channel weaves. Love them. But I also love to screw the dogs up. The dogs get it, I screw them up. Havoc learned them in 10 lessons literally. He's a fast learner. However, he's not confident enough to always do them in a trial. The other 2 learned them pretty quickly.

Flirt is my best weaver. I love to watch her weave. An earlier training tape, she misses the last 2 - also notice I'm NOT in the picture. The good sign is they could do them without me. The bad sign is at a trial, I crowd...they pop out...bad trainer bad trainer! We also had some issues with not having weaves at class so it took my dogs and I longer to do them at trials.

flirt weave 2 in miss last.AVI - YouTube

 

[Sam1491]

For the last 3 dogs, I've used channel weaves. Love them. But I also love to screw the dogs up. The dogs get it, I screw them up. Havoc learned them in 10 lessons literally. He's a fast learner. However, he's not confident enough to always do them in a trial. The other 2 learned them pretty quickly.

Flirt is my best weaver. I love to watch her weave. An earlier training tape, she misses the last 2 - also notice I'm NOT in the picture. The good sign is they could do them without me. The bad sign is at a trial, I crowd...they pop out...bad trainer bad trainer! We also had some issues with not having weaves at class so it took my dogs and I longer to do them at trials.

flirt weave 2 in miss last.AVI - YouTube

Wow! Mabel's speed just got trumped, but I also assume more speed will come with confidence Flirt doesn't have her titles for no reason, handler errors be damned!

We just started doing some training outside of my work at a beautiful indoor agility facility and she is amazing me with how she is perfectly fine doing them somewhere new and we've only been twice! Shows me what I know...

I haven't done channel weaves, but my mom is attempting them with Hannah to no avail, she just doesn't get that she has to weave.

What makes it work best for you?

 

[Adara]

I can't compare 2x2 - sorry I don't always communicate well. What I like is that speed starts from day 1. I don't have BC rockets or even Dobe rockets. I want to do everything I can at full speed without slowing them down. For contacts that means lowering at first too so they don't kill themselves. I don't hve to babysit entrances or weaves with channels. I open them very wide to start and put a target at the end and say go push. So the weaves are always independent.

The downside I had was that Flirt went so fast she wasn't "weaving" but breaking through the poles. She broke 2 poles. 2x2 teaches that right away though.

With channels I work entrances around the clock. At every step of the process, I work the whole clock of entrances. Then I move them slightly closer. Repeat the clock work entrances, etc.

The really SAD part for me is that the DOGS CAN weave and I screw them up handling I did too much distance work in the beginning.

The only two methods I would use are channels or 2x2. I also did NOT want to spend another $300 on weaves for 2x2s and the DVD since I have channels. I think the 2x2 is also a fantastic way though. One day I'll learn it

 

[brw1982]

I've taught both my girls using the 2x2 method (Susan Garrett's method for anyone reading who may not know what it is). Fiona does pretty great with the weaves as long as I don't crowd. If I get too close, she pops out. But if I stay back she finds the entry and follows thru with little to no guidance from me.

Both girls learned the weaves really well in about 4-weeks (with 2 times per week formal training/class and working at home a few minutes each day).

Both girls' weaves are pretty solid but, honestly, it's one of those things that takes consistent work. I don't have to drill it into them or put a lot of time into weaves constantly, but I do have to give it at least a little specific time and attention each week with Tali or we start regressing. Agility is just Fiona's thing, so she doesn't take nearly as much encouragement or reminding as Tali does. As long as we're training in general, Fiona's got it. But Tali requires specific attention to certain things to maintain.

I think it's been a good method for me and both girls but I'm not married to it. I'd be willing to try any method to find what clicks with an individual dog. The 2x2 method just happens to be the one I tried first with each dog and it clicked with both so that's what we moved forward with.

I really love to watch a dog weave. When it starts coming together it can be just amazing to watch. There's such speed and grace involved. It's awesome.

 

[Sam1491]

Brw1982:

Same here as far as Fiona, Mabel just loves to weave so it doesn't take to much work to keep them in tune, it's just been the easiest in a small room over winter lol, it also takes a lot of effort for me to shove her out too, she stays very well committed, her only faults are going to fast and popping out or loosing focus. Once we switched methods, she had the idea and was doing a solid 2 or 3 sets in about 6-8 weeks, and the rest didnt take long, it was the "finishing" and time constraints that snubbed us.

I started with the 2x2 but after my boss started training with Dana Pike we switched to the modified version/2 plus 2, instead of angling the entrances, you start with one set and it's set straight and they're weaving in a straight line from the beginning. One direction from both sides at first then add a second set 6-12 feet away, and gradually moving it closer, then both directions once that's finished.
It was a life saver (more for me than her I think) we both just clicked with it right away, it just flows much better for me than 2 by 2, plus it's easy to click train like the 2 by 2. Plus it's been so much easier to add in jumps before and after and work from odd angles, at least for me and my learning/training style.
I'm hoping to be able to do the weave comps. someday, It'd be amazing and so fun.

 

[the_discowhore]

I think 2x2 is best if you use toys, anyone I have seen with problems modified it to use food and you really don't see the same results. Everyone I know that has used 2x2 properly have amazing fast weavers. Elsie will be trained with 2x2, but as it's a very fast method to train we'll leave it until she is 16 months. Can't stress enough that the toy drive is important, my friend trained it with food and her dog was weaving in about a month, but not really well, quite slow... she is retraining with a toy after spending a few months working on getting her dog to play with toys and drive to them, and it's going sooooo much better.

At my club, people who aren't as into training as others (newbies, oldies who can't be bothered) use 2x2 to teach entries, and WAM to get the whole thing going, it's slower, but it works. If a newbie is really dedicated we'll go over 2x2 with them. We also have channels which some people like to use.

There is an old guy at my club (like 70+) who has a really great little Huntaway bitch, he taught her to weave by just tying a long rope to her collar and pulled her through it again and again... She has beautiful weaves, though entries aren't super great if he isn't near by (often the case with slow handler + zoomy dog).

 

[Jonesy'sMom]

I've only done channel weaves with Jones, and actually I didn't stay on those long I WISH I HAD, I moved to normal poles too quick and lured him through with a toy. (6 poles) but doing that he ended up with no confidence and he is a little slower, he can barrel through them at times and other times he is super slow. Only problem I have is that he has very little confidence in weaves (or obstacles in general) but he's still fairly new to trialing (a little over a year) and 1.5 years in Agility. I am now just starting to incorporate distance work...

Like Adara after Jones knew how to find the entrance head on I slowly shifted to the left of the weaves til almost parallel with the weaves then worked the other way with Jones (I think going right is harder then left, because going right there is no pole to wrap around)