Lay the ladder flat on the ground and coax or shape your dog to walk it.  When they trot along the length of the ladder confidently, flip it onto its legs and ask the dog to walk that way, raising each foot high, like a football player.

Ladders teach the dog not only to be aware of their feet, but also to walk along a long, narrow length.  By training your dog on a ladder, you are helping them learn how to run over a dogwalk beam.

After your dog has mastered ladders, start them on a plank on the ground, then on cinderblocks.  Soon you’ll have a brilliant dogwalker!

How can I make my dog like running weave poles? My dog does them well, but is so slow!

Weaves are difficult for dogs. I suggest rewarding the weaves heavily when you do them. Does your dog do them perfectly? if so, she might be bored and a week off of weave training could help. Start afresh and make the weaves a happy, fast place, not a stressful experience. Don’t overdrill them, keep the rewards changing – sometimes a ball, sometimes food, sometimes a different favorite obstacle and then rewards.

This is a hard question, and different for every agility learner.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you choose what you want to buy, borrow, or practice in class.

Does my dog have difficulty with this? If so, why? Would more interaction with the obstacle help? If so, it might be beneficial to purchase one. If your dog has issues with wrapping jumps, it would probably benefit from at home practice. Weaves especially need to be practiced at home, in my experience.

Do I have room? Chances are, you can’t fit an entire dogwalk in your back yard. There are ways around that, using benches or a contact trainer to help your dog learn contact behavior, and steady footing on planks.

Is it something my dog enjoys? I think it’s a good idea to have an obstacle your dog absolutely adores on hand, to use as a reward, or just for a quick five minute practice pick me up. It’s a lot of fun to be able to go outside (or in the basement or barn or wherever) and do a five minute tunnel training day. The dogs get so excited!