# 20" vs 24" weave pole spacing...



## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

With the exception of USDAA all agility venues allow 24" weave pole spacing in their regs - though no venue specifically requires the use of 24" poles (though AKC is considering it). Six months ago we didn't ever see 24" poles and we had held off buying or training for them until they started showing up. There was some concern amongst the training group that training on the 24" spacing would affect performance of the 20" and 22" poles. I actually found the opposite - and perhaps that is because Teller's style is to bounce through the poles. With the longer spacing it really affects his striding through the entire set of 12. So I bit the bullet and purchased a set of 24" weaves - they arrived mid-week and I got them put together and setup last night. I did some comparison video of 20" vs 24". I'm liking the less upright and less collected style he's offering in the 24" poles and I've never really examined how much compression he's really doing in the 20" poles...Holy cow though, those 24" weaves really take up a lot more space in the training center though!






What are you folks training on and what are you seeing in trial?


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Keep in mind that I have very limited experience with agility, but to my amateur eye it looks like the 20" poles gives him much more of a "zig-zag" movement, while the 24" poles are allowing him to keep his movement based more on a center line concept (does that even make sense? I'm sure there's better words to describe what I'm trying to say).

Like I said, I have such limited agility experience. Colby would have made a great little agility dog, but I got so frustrated with weave poles I just quit training. He would fly through them so fast, but I never could get across to him that he couldn't just skip poles whenever it suited him. His only goal was to get to the end as fast as he could. Except when he was getting moody with me. Then he would hit all the poles, but would move so slow it looked like his feet were sucking in mud. Moody Lhasa Apsos are not fun to work with.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to pursue agility with Flip. I know he would love it if I did. I've read you're not supposed to do weaves with a young dog, at what age is it okay to start?


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

Loisiana said:


> Keep in mind that I have very limited experience with agility, but to my amateur eye it looks like the 20" poles gives him much more of a "zig-zag" movement, while the 24" poles are allowing him to keep his movement based more on a center line concept (does that even make sense? I'm sure there's better words to describe what I'm trying to say).
> 
> <SNIP>
> 
> I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to pursue agility with Flip. I know he would love it if I did. I've read you're not supposed to do weaves with a young dog, at what age is it okay to start?


Exactly - the 20" he's more upright and more up and down - as a result with that much momentum he's more side to side too. At the 24" spacing he's less upright - and more forward. I think his natural pattern will still be a bounce stride though - that's what he's comfortable with.

I don't start puppies on weaves until they're 15 months at least...I might start a puppy on a set of two weaves just run through the uprights to play with entries, but even then it's just something I'll do for my own sanity (mostly to convince myself that when it comes time to weave the weaves will be there ). Even with adult dogs that know how to weave I never work weaves more than a couple of reps at a time. Today's experiment for the video was more than I ever ask of them.

There's no reason you can't start playing with agility with flip though - so much of agility is groundwork and obedience stuff - all things that are safe for puppies and complementary with what you're teaching him already. Even jump work can be taught with bars on the ground and contacts with boards on the ground...I'm not advocating that you go overboard (and I know you wouldn't) - just that if you're careful and knowledgeable there are a lot of "agility" type things your puppy can start to learn.

Erica


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## kgiff (Jul 21, 2008)

Both my boys have no problem adjusting to 24" inch spacing and they both have more confidence and speed at 24.


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## Finn's Fan (Dec 22, 2007)

Erica, as you well know, I know diddly about this. I do know that I like Teller's movement much better in the 24" poles than the 20", and he appears to be having more fun in the former.


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## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

Jodie, you should definitely try agility with Flip! The usual recommendation is no jumping, very low contact obstacles, and no weaving until 14 months (well I've heard 12 months for weaving, but there's so much else to train with a puppy, you'll have your hands full anyways).

Boo had a little bit of trouble adjusting to the wider spacing, but after a couple weekends he settled into nice footwork. It's definitely easier on him and he's faster now. I think most big dogs are doing better on the 24" poles, other than the ones who are a little bit slower or smaller so they're sort of stuck between single-stepping and hopping.

It looks like you could get single-stepping with Teller on the 24" poles if you got him really driving toward the end (put a toy or target out, and/or be more ahead of him while he's in the poles). He was just too big to do anything comfortably in the 20" poles, but you can see a couple spots where he starts trying to single-step on the 24", and he's still pretty big to be trying to bounce those. Or if you can find a set of weave-a-matic poles with 24" spacing, that would probably make it easier too.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I LOVE the 24" poles. Most dogs do better with them. Sure they have to adjust their strides a bit but like the point earlier made, they are FASTER as they do get to move forward more easily. I think small dogs too have an adjustment but I have not heard one complaint from anyone about 24" weaves.

Teddi LOVES them, she can easily adjust her stride through them. She struggled with the tighter spacing, she would end up popping out near the end because she ran out of room and did not understand "how" to shorten her self up in the weaves. She does not need to worry about that any more. 

Ann


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

I also LOVE the new 24" weavepoles! We are now using them in our trials and I recently got a set at home. (Before I was using 20" weaves as well) It seems to me that both of my dogs move better in the 24" weaves and there is much less twisting, so better on the spine. A few dogs seemed to have trouble at the trials, but most took to them pretty quickly.

I think that Teller moves much better in the 24" poles, I also think if you continue to run and train on them exclusively he could single-step them! It looked like he wanted to...


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

sammydog said:


> I think that Teller moves much better in the 24" poles, I also think if you continue to run and train on them exclusively he could single-step them! It looked like he wanted to...


He really does want to single step them - and he does from time to time and he's increasing in frequency, we've had the new weaves for a week and he's had maybe 15 reps on them so he's got some time to work things out...

Erica


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

The biggest issue I see is a less bendy performance, so definitely better on the spine!


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