dogdayz Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Could anyone recommend (or otherwise) some books for agility training a beginner dog. I want to do some basic exercises with him but dont want to fall into any boring ruts with him from lack of ideas to vary routines etc. At this stage i am just looking for what i can do as groundwork with an older pup...too young at this point to do serious training as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 These are some ideas I posted in the Breeds for Agility thread ********************* There are some things you can do for agility when your dog is young, which involve no equipment. Teaching the dog to follow your hand as you move, on both sides Send aways to food or toys Getting the dog to focus ahead and not on you Shaping a touch and touching a target (useful for contacts) Good recall Start line stays Coming to the hand presented Sit and Sit/Stay Drop and Drop/Stay With minimal equipment Susan Garrett's One Jump DVD has heaps of good ideas for one or no jumps as well Contact behaviour on a board running along a raised board Wide board with ball underneath to help with getting the dog used to movement for the seesaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Shaping Success by Susan Garret is good. I am half way through and it has answered some questions that I had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippi Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Go to Cleanrun.com and check out the books and DVD's in the foundation section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdayz Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Thanks for the replies. kavik, yep we do most of those exception being moving to hand presented....working out how to deal with this as it clashes a bit with herding. General obedience stuff we do, but more at a distance than close control, as i want him to maintain some independence at distance for herding and tracking, and ive seen/experienced a few dogs that are a bit lost when asked to move away from their owner. i do need to start introducing some equipment type stuff so the raised plank and tilting board are good as i dont wnat him getting any frights once he is old enough for club training. Pippi; i looked on cleanrun and its bemusing how many choices there are, Im thinking more books are written on agility than obedience....and as for the toy section btw, does anyone know, do the sheepskin containing toys get into australia okay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laffi Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Pippi; i looked on cleanrun and its bemusing how many choices there are, Im thinking more books are written on agility than obedience....and as for the toy section btw, does anyone know, do the sheepskin containing toys get into australia okay? CR is addictive. There are two threads about it right now And yes you can get sheepskin toys to Au without any problems! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitka Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Teaching the dog to follow your hand as you move, on both sidesSend aways to food or toys Getting the dog to focus ahead and not on you Shaping a touch and touching a target (useful for contacts) Start line stays Coming to the hand presented Can anyone explain these for those that dont really understand, well mainly me They sound like good ideas I should do with my puppy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddii Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 I'm not sure that I am 100% on all these, but will take a stab at them....... Teaching the dog to follow your hand as you move, on both sides - Some people handle with their hand out and the dog follows the hand all the way around the course. You start training ti by having your dog 'touch' your hand and then progress to having them follow. I prefer to teach the dog that they take the obstacle in front of them unless they are told otherwise (with a hand signal - hand out - hold your line and continue to follow the line of my shoulders as I move, hand in/across chest - come to me.) hard to explain without video. Send aways to food or toys - be able to 'send' your dog from where you are standing and have it drive independent of you to a toy or food reward. Getting the dog to focus ahead and not on you - you don't want the dog totally focussed on you, you want it to focus on the next obstacle. If for example you have a quick dog it will constantly be turning around to see where you are - you need it to check in for commands, but to know that it needs to drive to the next obstacle. Shaping a touch and touching a target (useful for contacts) - Teach your dog to touch a target with it's nose. When they reach the end of a piece of contact equipment you cue the nose touch as the end behaviour. This way you guarantee they won't jump off the contact equipment. (Good theory - Laffi will tell you how well it works in the ring for my girl!) Start line stays - you want your dog to be able to stay in front of the first jump so that you can move out into the course and basically assume the best possible position to handle the first few obstacles instead of chasing a quick dog. Not as easy as it sounds if you have built up a lot of desire for the jump! Coming to the hand presented - not sure. Hope this helps. Cheers tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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