|
Make a weave |
|
Home > Equipment Index > Make a Weave
My
first weave was made from bamboo canes with lengths of plastic pipe slipped over
them. Jamie broke them. |
Making the weave
|
Anything to do with
Jamie obviously has to be robust, so for the weave I finally put my hand in my pocket and
bought some metal straps from the DIY shop. They are almost 24 inches long and they
cost 75p each. I bought seventeen.
|
| The basic frame is made from these straps bolted together with some going crosswise as stabilisers. I bent six of the straps to form right angles and bolted them to the framework to take the weave poles. Here's a picture of part of the weave framework. | 
|
| I covered some of the
boltheads with waterproof tape in case they hurt Jamie's tootsies. I don't really
think he appreciates the trouble I go to sometimes. Anyway, here's our six pole
weave. It cost me less than £20 to make and that includes the straps, the poles and
the bolts. |
| The Finished weave
|
| A Couple of things I
found out about making weaves Bamboo is dangerous. It splinters and it can injure a dog. Spacing is important. I thought "Jamie is quite a big dog so I’ll make the weave poles the maximum distance apart which is 24 inches between the poles." Now when we eventually learned to speed things up Jamie shot through the weaves perfectly in training, but in the ring he popped the poles. Hair tearing time came and went and then the penny dropped. The weave poles in competition are only 20 inches apart and Jamie hadn’t learned to bend enough to get through them quickly. I adjusted our weave and Jamie doesn’t pop the poles any more.....at least we didn’t until we met a five pole weave in Starters jumping. A five pole weave, I ask you. If you’re not used to doing odd poles try it and you’ll see what I mean. |
