Teaching a Dog to Weave Through Your Legs

To teach a dog to weave through your legs, stand in one stationary spot with your feet comfortably apart and build each single-leg loop back to the front before joining them into a voluntary figure eight—rather than stepping forward over your dog while walking.

Prepare the space

Remove the lead before starting: the AKC advanced-tricks guide warns that an attached leash can easily wrap around your legs during weaving.

Practise in a secured, non-slip space where you can stand steadily with a wide stance and your dog can pass through the gap without brushing or squeezing against your knees.

If either you or your dog lacks room or physical comfort, choose another trick. Never squeeze your legs inward or pull your dog through by the collar.

Build the right loop, left loop and stationary figure eight

AKC first rewards a simple pass through the leg gap so your dog is comfortable walking between your legs before curving around into a complete loop.

Start with your dog standing in front of you. Reach your right food hand behind your right leg to draw your dog through the centre gap, curve around the outside of your right leg, and bring them back to the front; mark and reward. Next, use your left food hand behind your left leg to guide the matching left loop back to the front before linking both loops.

Top-Down Path Frame (Stationary Stance)	Active Lure Hand & Position	Dog Path & Return Point	Safety & Clearance Check
Frame 1: Right-leg loop back to front	Right hand holds food behind the right knee, then sweeps around the outside of the right shin to the front.	Dog starts in front, steps through the centre gap, circles outside the right leg, and returns to face your front.	Keep both feet planted shoulder-width apart; leash removed so nothing tangles around the right ankle.
Frame 2: Left-leg loop back to front	Left hand holds food behind the left knee, then sweeps around the outside of the left shin to the front.	Dog starts in front, steps through the centre gap, circles outside the left leg, and returns to face your front.	Maintain an open, unclamped gap between your legs; reward back in front before starting another pass.
Frame 3: Complete stationary figure eight	Right hand guides the right loop to the front midline, handing off smoothly to the left hand behind the left leg.	Dog completes the right loop back to the centre gap and flows directly around the left leg in a figure eight.	Stand still throughout; never step forward if your dog pauses or stalls partway through the gap.

Choose one complete cue-transfer route

Route 1 — Battersea sequence (join the food-guided figure eight first): Battersea links the right and left food-guided loops into a full figure eight first, then repeats that figure eight using an empty guiding hand while delivering the reward from the other hand. Once the empty-hand path is smooth, Battersea changes the broad hand guide into a smaller pointing signal, reduces that gesture, and finally adds the spoken cue word (suggesting a clearer knee bend if the smaller hand signal loses the response).

Route 2 — AKC sequence (remove food on each single loop first): The AKC stationary leg-weave guide instead removes food from your guiding hand on each single side loop before joining the two empty-hand loops into a figure eight. AKC then introduces the spoken cue word on the empty-hand figure eight before gradually shrinking the hand signal.

Simplify or stop

If rounding a leg feels awkward, drop back to rewarding a straight, voluntary pass through the open gap before asking for a full loop.

End the session immediately if your dog seems unwilling or uncomfortable; never hold them in the gap between your knees or step your feet while they are stuck.

See our nose-target lesson for an optional hand-following skill that can make guiding smoother without being a mandatory prerequisite.

Record which loop (right, left, or full figure eight), food prompt, and hand signal worked in your session notes. Log a failed smaller hand signal separately from a hesitant passage through the leg gap so you know which step to adjust next time.