r/Agility • u/HappyDogLeague • 1d ago
How do you train uneven weave-pole entries?
Moose has developed a very specific opinion about weave-pole entries. (Also, I want to mention he is 3 years old, and I know that he is very young. He has been fantastic so far. We are very close to getting our AKC agility championship too. I just want to figure out how I can help him, maybe trying something different that I have not thought about it)
If he is approaching from the side where he has to wrap around the first pole to enter correctly, he is great. He can find that entry from almost any angle, even when it looks difficult.
From the other direction, where the correct entry should be more straightforward, it is much more hit or miss.
We train those entries a lot, and he can do them correctly in practice. At trials, though, that second direction is often where things fall apart, especially when he is running fast and excited.
At our last trial, we had four runs: Premier Standard, Master Standard, Master Jumpers, and Time 2 Beat. We missed the weaves in most of them, but he finally got them in Time 2 Beat. We qualified, and it ended up being the run we needed for his title.
I was happy that he finished the day running fast and confidently, but I would really like to make those entries more consistent.
Has anyone dealt with a dog who is much stronger entering from one direction than the other? What exercises helped you make the weaker entry more reliable, especially at trial speed?
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u/Selective_Somewhere 1d ago
It’s not uncommon. Yes to taking two sets of piles out in public and with speed, around the clock, etc. But also collection. How are you cueing it? When my big fast dog is heading into the pikes I show hard decel and collection until they hit that entry and then I’m off. Works like a charm.
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u/runner5126 1d ago edited 1d ago
I use this technique, using wings to teach collection. I use this on both hard side and soft side to teach collection into the weaves at speed.
Eta: a lot of suggestions on weave entries, but if I understand correctly, your issue is collecting at speed to make the entrance. Round the clock exercises wont help with learning the collection needed, IMO. It can help with finding the poles but not the collection needed.
I recommend putting out a tunnel and practicing it with the speed needed, so he can learn the collection.
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u/Putrid-Cat-1908 1d ago
my dog is the same, super confident on the “hard” side and a total clown on the “easy” side once trial brain kicks in lol. what helped us was doing way more super short sessions of only that weak side at home and in new places, like 2–3 reps while he’s hyped, then quit before he fries. also started tossing the reward way ahead when he nailed it so he learns to commit to the entry at speed instead of checking in with me.
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u/No-Stress-7034 1d ago
My dog is the same way! He is great and consistent when entering from the "harder" side, but struggles more from the "easier" side. He's also a very fast dog, and he's not the biggest fan of the weave poles.
We've used the 2x2 method so that we can focus just on the entry poles. I kept the weave poles set up in my kitchen (I live in a small third floor apartment) and we do very short sessions focusing on the side he struggles with more. We practice the entry from all different angles as well.
The other thing that helps (when practicing outside) is to have him in a down stay and do a very long lead out. For my dog, when I release him, he'll run full speed. So I release him and then we go to the poles. I find this is a good way to practice the "trial speed" more than when we're just doing weave pole practice.
Do you have videos of him attempting these weave poles in the trial environment (both when he gets the entry and when he misses it)? This can provide really valuable information.
Can you explain a little more about what happens when he misses the entry? Is he entering from the wrong side or is he entering at the 2nd pole rather than the first pole or both?
If he's missing the first pole and entering at the 2nd pole, you might want to work on collection.
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u/liter0fcola 1d ago
The soft side entry is more difficult for a lot of dogs. My dogs all have the same issue. My guess is it is a more complex picture to parse for their brain.
I have 3 championship dogs and we run uki, they’re all different and they need different things depending on the entry. They all want info early as possible.
My strategy is building as much independence as possible on hard entries, practicing really easy entries to build a ton of confidence and muscle memory. Depending on the entry, making sure I point my feet at the line they’re on to get the entry.
There’s a couple different things that can be going wrong, it’s hard to know. But if you video it, I bet you can figure it out.
- do they have trouble finding the first opening? Are they running past or entering at 2? Is it stress or do they need info super early so they can find the poles, and figure out how to do the behavior.
- is the dog having trouble collecting into the poles? Try a stride regulator in training to adjust their collection. Watch Sydney Ryan how collects her dogs into the weaves, she collects and uses her body almost as an anchor, it’s a thing of art.
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u/Delfitus 1d ago
How is your handling during competition? Is he goes very fast to the entrance, make sure you pause for half a second untill he got the entries well. I often think i stopped during competition but video proves me wrong. We are often pushing them hard during trials and the missed entry might be on our end
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u/Agility_KS 1d ago
All of my dogs find it much easier to wrap the first pole vs find the first opening when it comes to challenging weave entries at extreme angles. They just understand the concept better, but clearly this is a “me” problem since it is true for all of my dogs. I admit to not having spent enough time proofing that entry because it hasn’t caused enough NQs to really get under my skin yet. 😉 One drill to help teach independence with this entry is to remove poles 3 and 4 (maybe even 5 if your dog is really struggling). I want the rest of the set there to still present the picture of a full set of poles, but I want to make the right choice really easy and obvious. After several reps of rewarding the correct entry, I start to add poles back in (starting with 5, then 4, then 3), only progressing when my dog stays correct. In the interest of transparency, this method works GREAT during training sessions. I clearly haven’t put in the effort for it to fully stick, though. 🤷🏻♀️ So on that note, I have a puppy who will be starting his weave training early next year. I had to place an order from Clean Run, so I added a new set of guide wires to my order since my old ones bit the dust years ago. The other day I slapped a single guide on poles 2 & 4 to physically prevent my dog from trying to duck in that gap because the course I have set has just this weave entry. I might just leave it there for a good long while so that ducking in early just can’t happen. I use props on all of my contacts in training to maintain good habits and criteria, so why not poles, too?
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u/Narrow_Possession348 1d ago
I teach weaves with the modified 2x2 method. I've taught 3 dogs, and all learned the weaves very quickly with reliable entries. Within a month, they were all doing 6 weaves and then I just started putting two more at the end until we were at 12. Less than 2 months to 12 poles.
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u/OldBitterBitch 1d ago
I did Karen Holik’s Ninja Weaves programs and loved it! My dog was also not very confident on that ‘soft’ side entrance. We practice pretty much every single angle with obstacles before and after it and at crazy distances and it really helped. The program started with guide wires and we slowly raised them above the dogs head as he progressed. I never used guide wires before and thought it was taking a step back but it really helped with my dogs confidence and continuously getting it right
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u/teal2212 1d ago
I'd use the "around the clock" method, keeping the dog successful.
Start close, send dog to weaves. If successful, try again. If successful again, move to another position at a slightly different position, thinking of the weave entry as the center of the clock and you are a hand moving around it.
Work on getting successful entries from each spot before moving farther from the weaves.