Weave At A Distance

From Dog Sport Magazine:

Many people struggle with training dogs to navigate their weave pole entries and perform them at a
distance. If you have this ongoing problem, here is a useful technique to correct it.

Start by asking your dog to weave, staying with them every step, encouraging them as they go. Praise heavily! You should spend 15 minutes a few times a day for three to five days working on this before taking the next step.

Next, send your dog at different angles to the weave pole entrance. This is called “around the clock.” Imagine a clock around the weave poles and send your dog to the entrance starting at each “hour.” Start easy and work your way up to harder approaches.

Now you should be able to fade. To fade from your dog means to start with him on an obstacle but end up farther away from him before the obstacle is completed. First, you will ask your dog to weave and fade only the tiniest bit. As you feel you are ready, add more distance between you and your dog.
You can now confidently ask your dog to weave at any angle at any distance. Now, who wouldn’t want to trial with a performance like that?

Emily Bart, Junior handler
Paris, Texas

Dog Sport Magazine