Dog Agility

[Poodlelovergirl2010]

I am after some tips to do some agility training at home (low cost) without joining a club or that. Plz tell Me your suggestions.

[Kavik]

There is a lot you can do at home

There are a lot of handling skills you can practice at home:

Sending to a reward.

Circle work

Hind end awareness with a ladder or the 'elephant trick'

Walking backwards

Rear cross flatwork

Lead outs (sit stay release)

Targeting

With limited equipment:

Walking on a plank on bricks

Contact behaviour on a board (2on2off or running PVC box)

Wobble board (you can make one)

Tunnels are not too expensice (Airdogs sells some - not competition quality but good enough for backyard work. If you have a small dog, you can use children's tunnels)

PVC jumps can be made or again not too expensive to buy

You can use stakes in the ground covered by PVC for weave poles

[Agility Dogs]

What Kavik said, but there is also the option of joining a club and not competing.

[pie]

This thread has some ideas about home made equipment but it is a good idea to learn how to use the equipment for the safety of your dog.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=190917

Also, if you are going to be putting your dog over jumps make sure the dog is not overweight.

[poodlefan]

Join a club. There's no compulsion to compete. There is usually an expectation that you will commit to meeting the same standards as that expected of competiton dogs.

Honestly, without instruction, you can make a lot of mistakes and flounder around a bit.

I'd suggest you try a club and see if you like it.

[Kavik]

Clubs are great

Some people at my clubs compete, and others just do it for fun and don't compete.

If you don't like big classes, there are clubs which are small, or ones that are privately run. They will give you a good start at least, you can also practice stuff at home. I like that there is a lot you can do at home once you know how, means I can still train for agility on my walks with no equipment.

[Prydenjoy]

Some really good ideas, I'd suggest getting one jump and the Susan Garret DVD "Success with one jump", so many great ideas in there. I haven't got my jump yet, but can still work on the other activities, and it's obvious when I do go to agility and am trying to learn front crosses etc, Berri picks on much quicker than the other dogs, and I'm not getting all tripped up either!

[Poodlelovergirl2010]

Thanks for all your thoughts I have thought about joining a club but the problem is that my dog that likes to jump and weeve but doesnt walk off lead because he just runs away!!

I also have a female puupy, what age should you start agility training.

[Prydenjoy]

Depends on the breed. Our clubs guideline is 10 months which I think is generally way too young, if you have toy or mini poodles though (guessing by your name!) you should be able to get away with 10 months. Most clubs will expect you to complete a basic obedience course before doing agility. In the beginning Berri would run off every now and again, it's just a matter of me having really high value rewards, keeping his focus, and picking him up as soon as he's finished the run. You'd start by showing the treat, perhaps putting the dog over one jump, give the reward, and then another straight after while picking up/putting on the lead. Once the dog is going to you to anticipate its reward you can start trying 2 jumps or whatever etc.

Practice about 50 x recalls a day around the house and yard. Once you get that really strong you can move to an empty paddock or whatever on a long line, ask for a recall every 5 seconds - 1 minute or so. Once the reaction is really strong you can start to remove the lead (no distractions). Just take it slowly, work on a really strong recall reaction. My dogs each come to their name on a walk, because when I call them I rarely want them all at once. I take turns calling each of them, every day, all through our walk. As soon as I say one of their names you'll see them put the brakes on, skid around and come pelting back to me. If you can get speed and focus like this in agility you're stepping off on the right foot. Good luck

[poodlefan]

Thanks for all your thoughts I have thought about joining a club but the problem is that my dog that likes to jump and weeve but doesnt walk off lead because he just runs away!!

I also have a female puupy, what age should you start agility training.

The first rule of agility training at our club is that no obstacles may be completed on lead. If you have control issues, then these need to be worked on before the dog goes near any obstacles. Perhaps some obedience training might be a good introduction to your local dog club.

I'd not recommend a dog do weaving or any jumping before 14 months.

[mmoo]

Hi poodlelover2010, the age for all dogs in Vic to start agility is 18 months, however if there is no jumping, only contact or weaving then, start now.Where do you live, in my area there is a campanion dog club that trains agility for fun, if you have no experince, then a guiding hand could help you.