• 31May

  Bring on the Weaves

  Dog Agility Equipment, Dog Agility Training No Comments

  Weaves don’t come ‘naturally’ to dogs. Practice makes perfect!  What can you do to encourage speedy and accurate weave performances?

  • Don’t overdrill your dog; quit while you’re ahead.
  • Take it easy Weave poles are not trained in one session.  Accurate fast weaves often take weeks of five minute sessions to train
  • Give it up  treat your dog like it’s their last meal with you.
  • Keep your criteria clear Don’t reward less than perfect weaves.
  • Make Fast festive Once your dog learns to weave, reward enthusiastic, fast weaves.  Give a good job and a cookie for any weaves at all, but throw a party for a fast run!

  With patience and practice, you and your dog can succeed on the weavepoles. What method you use doesn’t matter as much as the way you approach the training itself – positively and carefully!

  

  Tags: agility obstacles, agility training

• 27May

  Oh Dogs!

  Dog Agility Equipment, Interesting and Funny No Comments

  They keep you young! I like how these dogs enjoy playing with their teeter. (and please note, the handler says she did not encourage this behavior- it’s just the dog’s idea of fun!)

  

  Tags: simply funny, videos

• 25May

  Water Works

  Dog Training (General) No Comments

  Summer is coming! It got into the eighties here week before last! why not turn on the water works for your dog this summer, to keep agility cool?

  A great cool summer treat is cubed watermelon- hydrating and cooling for you and your dog.

  

  Tags: Affordable Agility News, dog safety & health, videos

• 23May

  Stay!

  Dog Agility Training, Dog Training (General) No Comments
  

  Nova's stay - as Quick walks away! More work needed.

  Stays can be a problem area for agility (or any!) dogs.  Agility means running as fast as you can, which dogs love! That little bit of staying required at the start line (if you do a lead out) and on the pause table dampens many dogs enthusiasm.  It feels like an end to fun!

  How can you take the stink out of staying? If your dog absolutely loathes staying, start all over again, with a whole new word and a whole new approach!

  • Start slow Stay for one second… two seconds… threeeeee…. Slowly build up the length of time your dog has to stay still.  Start close to your dog, and slowly build up distance as well as time.
  • Reward Make certain you reward the stay.  Make it awesome. Make it amazing.  I have found three chunks, one after the other, of freeze dried liver makes Quick consider staying to not be torture.  Or, at least, worth trying to stay.
  • Repeat Practice in varying lengths of time, various distances, but never exhaust your dog.  This is something I would be careful not to ‘drill’ too much.
  • Release This is something that you can work on at the same time as the stay!  Release words should be powerful and evoke a response from your dog – they don’t have to do what they were doing, they should do what you say to do next, or just be free!  I use ‘okay!’.

  Stays are an important part of dog training, and useful beyond just the agility field.  Working with your dog to make them fun is a big challenge, but the end result is totally worth it.  Do you have any tips to share? or just funny times your dog broke (or held!) their stay?

  

  Tags: agility training, dog training

• 20May

  Dogs Love Food

  Interesting and Funny No Comments

  This movie made me laugh – well worth sharing for a Friday pick-me-up!

  

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