"Can you change a dog's weaving style?"
Question
"My young dog doesn't weave well. He seems to lose focus and gets slower, although he doesn't usually pop out of the weaves. He was very slow to learn weaving. I have videotaped him, and he starts out fine, then starts to break his stride taking extra steps towards the end of the weaves. Can you change a dog's weaving style? My other dogs (terriers) bounce through the weaves, but my young dog (he is 2,5 years) runs through the weaves, changing his lead leg with each pole. He entries are very good. I trained him using channels, and recently went back to using channels again to get him to run consistently.
Answer
Yes, it is possible to change a dog's weaving style. The method you use in training will have an effect on the style your dog weaves: one method works great for one dog, while another dog will learn a better style with another method. If your dog does not learn the weaves quickly and well with the method you have chosen, I recommend you retrain your dog using a different method than you originally used.
Different kinds of methods
All methods for teaching the weaves have their pros and cons. When teaching with a weave alley, many dogs struggle with the last phase, where the poles are moved to a straight line. When starting with the weave alley training, the dogs get used to just running through the alley. They don't have to use their body at all, and when the poles are in a straight line, the dogs need to use different step patterns as before. The advantage of training with a weave alley is that it causes less stress for the dog's body, so you can start with the basic training earlier. None of the teaching methods is good or bad: they are just different. All dogs learn in different ways, which means that the method that is the best / fastest way for each dog, varies.
The correct mood
When teaching new things for a dog, we always try to get the dog in the correct mood right from the start. My favorite example of this is from a lecture by a Finnish animal trainer who trains animals for movies and commercials. She was asked to train a dog for a commercial. The dog was expected to act frightened and move close to walls. The dog was naturally not harmed in any way during the filming. The trainer brought the dog home with her for a few days to see if the wanted behavior would occur in some everyday situation. When the trainer started to vacuum her house, the dog would escape the situation by walking close to the walls of the room. The trainer then decided to add a hand signal to this behavior. She gave the hand signal to the dog, and took out the vacuum cleaner. After repeating this a few times, the dog started leaving the situation, moving close to the walls, as soon as he saw the hand signal. The trainer then used the same hand signal at the film studio, and the dog behaved in the way the director expected.
Changing the mood
An animal associates the mood of the learning situation to a certain verbal cue, hand signal, place or an agility obstacle. We talk about building drive: when we want to teach the dog to perform obstacles at high speed, we get him into the same state of mind that we want him to have later when he hears the word "weave" or when he sees the weaving poles. The mood that the dogs initially learn is hard to change later. If, for example the dog lies down slowly, getting the dog excited before hearing the verbal cue does not help. As soon as the dog hears the cue "lie down", he enters the mood in which he was when he learned to connect the cue for that behavior, and he will lie down slowly again. Usually you can change this mood only by retraining and switching the verbal cue or hand signal to something else than it originally was.
Fear of making mistakes
Some dogs weave slowly because they are afraid of making a mistake. With this type of a dog I would retrain the obstacle starting with just 6 poles, to minimize the risk of a mistake. I would also reward the dog every time he weaves quickly, even if he missed a pole. When training a dog you can only change one criterion at a time. This means that when you have a problem, you will need to choose whether you reward for accuracy or speed. If I had to go back in teaching one of my dogs, I would practice six poles with a Weave-A-Matic. That way the dog needs to use his body more and focus on the step patterns better than with a weave alley.
Reward and motivation
There's one more important thing that you always need to remember in dog training: the value of the reward. When you want to add speed to a performance, the reward needs to be something that the dog really, really wants. No one else can define how valuable the reward is but your dog, so remember to listen to him. Is the reward valuable enough to motivate him to try to get to it as quickly as possible? A "nice" reward is not enough. Often when you have a problem, the Premack principle is the solution. Instead of trying to motivate your dog with toys or food, you will figure out an activity from the dog's life that is rewarding in itself. For example if your dog is extremely excited when your spouse comes home from work: arrange so that you meet at the training field, and the dog gets to greet your spouse only after performing the weaves. Or your dog can get to play with his favorite doggy friend after weaving. No one else can tell you what this most valuable reward is: you will need to find a situation from your dog's everyday life where your dog is the happiest, and turn it into a reward.
Janita
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