Weave through legs

Your dog weaves a figure eight between your legs while you walk — a showpiece that takes precise two-handed work and a steady rhythm.

🐾🐾🐾🐾 · ~21 days · 5 min/session

Learn first: Peekaboo

Step-by-step

1. Check your stance and the floor

   Stand wide — the whole dog must fit through the gap between your legs without brushing your calves. With a big dog, widen the stance further or keep the trick stationary rather than walking. Train on a non-slip surface: the turns are tight and the paws need grip.

   💡 Tight turns load the spine and shoulders — keep this trick for a healthy, fully grown dog whose growth plates have already closed. With a long back, short legs or any disc trouble, ask your vet before you start.

2. Lure a single pass

   Stand with your legs wide and the dog in front of you, a treat in your right hand. Lead them around the outside of your right leg towards the back. As their nose passes behind the leg, reach your left hand through the gap between your legs, take them over and bring them forward — they come out on the left. Reward the moment they emerge.

   💡 Keep your hand low, at nose height. Lift it and the dog hops up and bumps into your thigh.

3. Mirror it on the other leg

   Do the same in the other direction: with your left hand lead the dog around the outside of your left leg to the back, then reach your right hand through the gap and bring them forward. Practise the two directions separately, five reps each. Most dogs have a weaker side — give it extra reps before you join anything up.

4. Join the halves into a figure eight

   Now alternate without a pause: the right hand leads back around the right leg, the left takes over and brings them forward, then the left immediately sets off around the left leg. Reward every second figure eight so the rhythm doesn’t break. Stay on the spot — you’re not walking yet.

   💡 Have the receiving hand waiting in the gap before the dog gets there. If it arrives late, the dog exits sideways and the figure eight falls apart.

5. Add the cue “Weave”

   Once your dog runs two or three figure eights in a row confidently, say “Weave” as the movement begins. Then work with empty hands — the same gesture on the same path, with the reward coming out of your pocket after the last pass. Don’t change where your hands travel, only take the food out of them.

6. Start walking slowly

   Take one single step forward while the dog is passing between your legs, then stop. The dog should go through the gap exactly while the leg is lifted — that timing is the whole trick to the walking version. Add one step per session; three smooth steps look better than ten stumbling ones.

Common mistakes

• A stance that is too narrow — the dog knocks into your legs and after a few of those starts refusing.
• Offering the receiving hand too late — the dog exits sideways and learns the wrong path.
• Walking before the stationary weave is smooth — the leg lifts at the wrong moment and the dog trips.
• Long runs because it looks impressive — all those tight turns tire the back; ten figure eights a session is plenty.

Problems & solutions

My dog refuses to go between my legs.

Open your stance wider and go back to peekaboo — a few days of nothing but stepping in and being fed there. Don’t pull on the collar and don’t lean over the dog as they pass. Once they walk in willingly on their own, extend the movement into a full pass.

My dog does one figure eight and then sits in front of me waiting.

You reward exactly when the dog is in front of you, so that is where they think the job ends. Keep your hand already moving towards the next leg and reward after the second pass, while they are still moving.

On the spot it works, but the moment I walk my dog falls behind.

You’re walking too fast for their stride. Take one step, stop and reward, then take another — the tempo only goes up once the dog beats your leg to the gap. With a big dog, the walking version can simply stay slow for good.

Reward ideas

Tiny treats that go down instantly — one rep packs a lot of passes. Reward from the hand that has just brought the dog forward, so they don’t turn back to look for the food.