SUMMARY: I think I've found Boost's weave pole problem.
I've been worrying that Boost's problem with skipping was my crappy set of weave poles where the bases rusted out, so I've been using only a better half set, plus occasionally poles pushed into the ground, but they're all more flexible than most competition & class poles. And she blazes through them at home without skipping, in between skimming past poles in class & competition, so I've been more and more suspicious of their give.
So, after this week's class where we talked about making the poles stiffer to solve an entirely different problem, I bought rebar for the push-in-the-ground poles and I finally found stakes that'll fit my good half set, so I can have a full set of 12 very solid poles--and, voila! She's skipping like crazy at home, too. Victory! This means that it's something I can work on here, and probably make very fast progress with. I'm so relieved! (How often do you hear someone say "I'm so relieved that my dog is messing up"?! But naturally, in training, if you have a problem, you can't fix it unless you can reproduce it in a situation where you can do something about it.)
Of course, it might not be so easy as it seems at first glance, but i'm very hopeful at the moment.
Ellen,
ReplyDeleteSeveral weeks ago, after a class in which Flirt did quite a few weavepoles (we were doing weavepole entry exercises) she came up lame the next day. Her lameness seemed to surprise her and when I palpitated her leg there was no local pain. I just rested her and leash walked her for a week until we could see either our dog chiropractor or the dog PT. We got to see the dog PT 1st, about 1 week after the lameness (it did go away on it's own) and determined that the slamming of the weavepoles had bruised Flirt's shoulder muscle. There was still a little soreness, but it just needed to heal. And she has been fine since then. And as a matter of fact, her weavepoles are better than ever.
Since you are using your poles as stick in the grounds, you might try spreading them like channels a little bit where she usually skips, so she can be successful getting through alot and then slowly close them up again.
Skipping poles is usually one of 2 things. Lack of collection or pushing the poles (which often leads to a smack or two that hurts). In Boost's case, from your description, it sounds like she just shoulders the poles aside.