Teaching your dog to weave, where they weave in and out of your legs in a figure of eight, is a great way of teaching them hind end awareness and it makes for an impressive trick.
Watch our video and take the first steps towards getting your dog to weave between your legs.
STEP ONE:
Holding a treat in each hand, start with your legs shoulder width apart and your dog in front of you.
Bring your right hand round the back of your right leg to lure your dog through the middle of your legs, you will find you naturally bend your leg as you do so. Continue luring your dog using your right hand to come round to the front of your right leg and back into the middle position.
If your dog suffers from joint pain, or any medical issues which might make this type of weaving movement uncomfortable, check out our Youtube channel for other tricks you can teach them.
STEP TWO:
As your dog resumes the middle position, give the dog the reward from your right hand and bring your left hand (which should still have a treat in it) around the back of your left leg and to your dogs’ nose, move your right hand away and using your left-hand lure your dog around the outside of your left leg and reward them.
STEP THREE:
Repeat steps one and two until your dog is confidently following the treat lure. As your dog starts to understand the behaviour, you can start to hold off the reward until they have completed a full figure of 8, and then gradually increase the speed that of the movement.
STEP FOUR:
Now that your dog is confidently following a treat lure in a figure of eight, you can try to remove the treat and lure them with an empty hand. Follow steps one and two without any food in your leading hand and reward your dog from your other hand after they have completed the full figure of eight.
STEP FIVE:
You can now start to change your lure hand into a pointed hand signal. Continue guiding your dog in a figure of eight directed by your hand signal. Reward your dog once they have completed the full weave through your legs.
STEP SIX:
Gradually start to reduce your hand signal, making it smaller and more subtle each time. If your dog is struggling with this, try exaggerating the bend in your knee to see if this prompts your dog to walk through.
Once your dog can confidently do a figure of eight with minimal hand signals, you can start to add the verbal cue ‘weave’.
