AG315: Precision Charged Weave Poles - Where Energy Meets Accuracy

Lecture 2.0 - How To Progress

The challenge of creating a course for dogs to learn (or retrain) weave performance is that no two dogs will progress at the same rate. Some individuals will require additional steps in the earlier training, which will take a little extra time. Others will progress quickly through the initial stages of this training (appearing as if the training is moving forward quickly), and then progress will slow as the weaves are closed or the guides are faded. The dogs learning weaves for the first time usually take longer getting to six poles than the dogs that are retraining weaves. Your goal as a handler is to trust the process and trust the pace your dog needs for success.

I want you to make a promise to your dog that you will progress at its pace, "listening" to the mistakes, making adjustments based on those needs, and focusing on the present (not the future and how much the dog needs to learn). Teaching your dog to perform weave poles correctly can be frustrating for both you and your dog when they make too many mistakes and reinforcement is withheld or the flow continues to break.

Mistakes start to occur when

• You help your dog too much instead of allowing the dog to learn to perform the obstacle without assistance. Instead of helping the dog, you adjust the setup so the dog can perform it on its own. When you help your dog too much, it can give you the impression that your dog understands more than it does. And eventually, there will be fallout.
• You progress too quickly, and the dog makes many mistakes. These mistakes will negatively impact your dog's confidence, focus, trust, and enthusiasm.
• You train too long. Keep your sessions short and successful. Stop earlier, rather than later. If things start to unravel and the session has gone on for a long time, stop anyway. You don't have to end on success. Continuing to try and get a successful attempt when the dog is already tired can do more damage than quitting when things start to go downhill. You can review the session and return to an easier step.
• Keep your energy calm and upbeat. This energy level doesn't mean wildly cheering and partying, because that can be distracting and confusing to the dog. There is no need to attempt to energize and speed up your dog. Allow your dog to move at the pace it needs to process the information in front of it. Don't rush your dog's thought process because the speed at which they move forward is usually when they self-regulate themselves (and appear to be SLOW and "unenthusiastic"). Don't try to change the speed - they will need that careful information processing (which slows execution) in the future as they learn to solve the puzzles while increasing their speed. It won't be as dramatic, but your dog needs to do this in a way that feels best for it.

As you start closing the weave poles, progress at your dog's pace to maximize the training. Trust your dog's response. It's okay to have emotions about your feelings on progress, but stay open and curious about why this might be happening. Please refrain from being overly critical of yourself or worrying about your dog's progress. All dog trainers deal with training issues because it's never a linear progression - there are improvements, regressions, and plateaus. That's what is normal for building any complex training skill.

It can be challenging to organize a class progression into steps over six weeks. Releasing all the steps at once so students can work ahead can be demotivating for trainers whose dogs need more help during early training. And it can also distract a trainer, causing them to skip necessary steps (or add more steps) and move ahead too quickly. I don't want either to happen. Given the wide variety of learning styles in dogs, I might suggest a slightly different approach than what is described in the lectures. 

As a general rule, keep moving forward in the steps when your dog has two successful reps in both directions (clockwise and counterclockwise) of the sequence: jump wrap, weaves, jump wrap. Keep the sessions short and end them before you want to. If the dog makes two errors, avoid repeating the repetition without making a change to help the dog succeed. Do this without helping your dog too much with your movement. Usually, this indicates that things have become too challenging and require a change in the setup, rather than excessive assistance with handling.

If you have any comments or questions related to progressing in this class or the organization of the lectures, feel free to post them in the forums or the study group.