Some time ago I attended an agility handling course given by a top Australian handler called Steve Leadbetter and he gave this method of speeding up your dog through the weaves.

I have not tried it myself and so I cannot say if it works or not but thought it may be of interest to agility folk and possibly worth a try! Dogs should be clicker aware to try this exercise.

He used it in training on a club night and with several dogs. On a table he placed two containers, one with ordinary dog treats and the other with something really delicious like sausage or liver. Then everybody took a turn at going through the weaves which were timed.

If the dog negotiated them correctly they were clicked and then given an ordinary dog treat.

If they faulted then they were stopped and taken to the back of the queue for another go in turn receiving no click at all.

Each successful attempt was to be timed and when the dog produced a faster time, no matter how small the improvement, then they would get a click and one of the special treats instead of the normal dog treat.

His theory was that the dog soon got the message and made an effort to do better thus improving the time.

As clicker dogs are quick to work out what you want I suspect this could be a useful tool in training. I am sure many of you will think otherwise! However, as they say do not knock it if you haven't tried it!!!!!!!!!!