Chip's Weave Pole Training - transition to straight poles

I know you can't hear me on this video...sorry about that...but here's the gist. I teach puppies to do channel weaves and run through, throwing a ball for them. When they are 18 months I begin this process of clicker training straight poles. I start with just 3 poles and I stand facing the dog. This allows me to see what they are doing and helps them decelerate their motion to get the entrance (as you can see, he still wants to run as fast as he can through them). I find this method helps them make that sometimes difficult transition between channels to straight poles. After I have 3 poles, I graducally add one pole at a time, up to 6 poles, so the dog understands to go until the poles end. This is the stage we are at in this video. Note I start off facing him and clicking/treating every few poles. After I was able to get a few successful times of 6 poles and one reinforcement I began to pivot and face the same direction. Note that he wanted to race me as soon as I faced the same dirction. :-) So I went back to facing him for a few reps to help him with the decel aspect. Eventually, I will switch back to throwing a ball low on the ground as a reward (which is what I used for channels), to keep his head low. However, right now I am using food to help him stay calmer and think. To see the original three-pole start, see my video on weave drills. I have a clip with my small black and white mixed breed Inca. After Chip and I get 6 poles with me facing the same direction, I use the same process of facing him to teach the "off-side" weaves". We will then begin the other drills in the Weave Pole drills video to help cement all entrances. I credit this method to a drill Nancy Gyes showed me years ago (also done on the weave drill video).

[@mgodlevski]

I know you can't hear me on this video...but here's the gist. I teach puppies to do channel weaves and run through. When they are 18 months I begin this process of clicker training straight poles. I start with just 3 poles and I stand facing the dog. This allows me to see what they are doing and helps them decelerate their motion to get the entrance (as you can see, he still wants to run as fast as he can through them). I find this method helps them make the transition between channels to straight poles. After I have 3 poles, I graducally add one pole at a time, up to 6 poles, so the dog understands to go until the poles end. This is the stage we are at in this video. Note I start off facing him and clicking/treating every few poles. After I was able to get a few successful times of 6 poles and one reinforcement I began to pivot and run in the same direction. Note that he wanted to race me. :-) So I went back to facing him for a few reps to help him with the decel aspect. Eventually, I will switch back to throwing a ball low on the ground as a reward (which is what I used for channels), to keep his head low. However, right now I am using food to help him stay calmer and think. To see the three-pole start, see my video on weave drills. I have a clip with my small black and white mixed breed Inca.