31Aug
Q. I have an 18-month-old Labrador called Charlie. He started agility a couple of months ago and was excellent, but lately he has turned into a social butterfly. He ducks and dives in front of me and then sprints out of the ring in great excitement looking for four legged friends to play chase with him. As soon as he gets a little distance from me he runs off to party. What should I do?
A. Charlie is still a baby. He doesn’t have years of agility behind him and the world out there still holds surprises and temptations. You can help him learn to stay with you, though… Continue reading »
Tags: agility training
29Aug
If you like a unique challenge, the Window Jump is definitely for you. The UKC and K-9 units use window jumps in competition and training. This jump requires precision and implicit trust in the handler. Your dog can not see what is on the other side of the jump (a drop, a walkway? It could be anything!) and has to jump clear through the opening.
Training a window jump isn’t much harder than training a dog to jump through a tire. Start your dog walking through it, then hopping, before raising it to your dog’s jump height!
Tags: agility obstacles, agility training
26Aug
With Hurricane Irene coming, everyone, please stay safe! Go here for good information on hurricane preparedness.
Don’t forget to batten down your agility course in the face of this, or any big storm (if you have time!). It may be a good idea to bring your equipment inside, or if that is not possible, lay it flat on the ground. This will minimize the surface area for the wind to catch and toss your equipment. Most agility obstacles can handle rain – we make our equipment out of durable materials – but tunnels will recover best if they’re rolled over to sun-dry after the rain.
Tags: Affordable Agility News, agility obstacles
24Aug
Completely and utterly confused is how I would describe Quick last night. We started playing ‘the weave pole game’, and he lost steam very very quickly. He enjoyed all the cookies he gets as part of the game, but since he couldn’t see the point in looking at a pole, then putting his side against it… he got pretty upset. I’m not sure that’s the best way for him to learn weaves. I may go back to using the channel method with wires (and 2×2 to learn entries). There’s no real right or wrong way to train weaves – there’s what works for you and your dog, and what doesn’t! I don’t like it when he shuts down!
However, he was on fire for everything else! We re-lowered the contacts since most of the dogs had been having trouble (last class, Quick took a nose dive off a full height dogwalk. Talk about heart attack!) and he did very well. He is also doing amazingly well on his teeter! We’ve graduated to about a 10” drop, and a run-back both ways. I’m beyond grateful that he really enjoys teeters. There are a few dogs in our class who would rather go to the vet than get on a teeter, and their handlers are doing great with them, but I’m grateful I have the dog I have.
Especially when he surprises me the way he did! We were heading to our corner of the agility course to practice (he was leading me like always) and he decided that today would be a great day to try out a triple jump! He cleared it beautifully. I know that I hadn’t asked it of him so it doesn’t really ‘count’, but at the same time, it was very exciting to see!
Tags: agility beginners, agility training
22Aug
Krzypuppy” Hi, I am new here! I have not had much time to read many posts but I am looking forward to reading and learning from everyone here. Due to medical problems I am forced to train my dog using a wheelchair. I was wondering if anyone here has information on the special difficulties training and showing their dogs from a wheelchair and the difficulties with directing their dog, manuevering the course etc. that using a wheelchair causes.
Kai and I hope to be able to show soon but we could definitely use some insight into training and showing with a disability.”
I do not personally have any experience with this, I’m sorry! – does anyone else have any tips for krzypuppy?
The only ideas I have to help is working on distance training, such as you can find in Leslie McDeavitt’s ‘Control Unleashed’.
Tags: agility training
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