Teaching Weaves On The Right

With agility weave poles, you generally start teaching your dog with your dog on your left, and you handling on the right of your dog. Once this has been mastered, however, you have to then teach your dog to weave with your dog on the right hand side of you. For your dog, this can be quite a challenge. Imagine you'd never driven a French/American car in France/America, when you were used to driving in the UK (or vice versa). Now imagine having to drive said car in said place for the first time; it would really throw you! The same goes for our dogs and the weaves. Teaching weaves on the opposite side to normal is like starting from scratch. It may be a little easier because your dog already knows the weaving action, however, send your dog into the weaves on your right hand side and I guarantee it'll be like he's never done them before in his life!

But of course, at competition, you really do have to be prepared to handle your dog on both sides. You could (and do!) easily find yourself in the wrong place, so it's important you know how to handle on both sides. Not only for emergency situations, but for ease of getting round the course and into the correct places to guide your dog over the next piece of equipment.

Here is a video of Ethel doing a set of 12 weaves on the right hand side of me. She picked it up quite quickly once I put her back on the lead. Once she was confident weaving loosely on the lead on this side, I let her off the lead, and this is our final result. I'm really pleased with her brilliant progress!

Something you really need to be prepared for in competition is the unexpected! Yes, you are able to walk the course beforehand, but your dog may be faster or tighter than you expected him to be, thus meaning you're stuck on the side you didn't plan to take. Or, of course, he could be slower or wider, meaning you have enough time to manoeuvre into a better position. Keep your options open, and you're bound to find it so much easier on the course.

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