• 13Mar

  Agility Vision

  Dog Agility Training 2 Comments

  Q. Can visually impaired dogs do agility?

  A. Fully blind dogs can not compete in agility, however, several venues accept dogs who are blind in one eye or have visual impairment.  I have a dog, Quick, who is diagnosed with Collie Eye Anomaly – he has serious holes in his vision.  He does just fine, since he’s learned to trust me, and also to turn his head to look for the obstacle (or sheep!)  Some dogs, however, have what is called Early Take-off Syndrome (for more information, check out  Linda Mecklenburg’s site.)

  For practicing with your visually impaired dog, I suggest discussing with your vet first, and then your trainer, to come up with effective strategies to work with your dog. Maybe verbal commands would be better, or handling from their seeing side. Does anyone else have a dog with visual issues? how do you work with that?

   

  Tags: dog safety & health

• 09Mar

  Conditioning: Cavalettis

  Dog Agility Equipment No Comments

  Cavalettis are step-obstacles. You should use a row of at least four (preferably more) cavalettis that are at the right height for your dog. Cavalettis should be set about a stride apart, and come to your dogs’ hock. The idea is to walk over the obstacles, not jump.  Think of how horses prance in a show, or how football players run through steps, lifting their knees – that is the motion your are going for with your dog.

  Set up the cavaletti row or circle, and coax your dog through.  Some dogs take to it naturally, and some don’t.  Be sure to reward your dog and keep it positive! At the end of the row, reward, turn around and go back. If you hear your dogs’ feet ‘ticking’ on the bars, the spacing may be off, or they may be too high. Space them differently for walk and trot so your dog picks up their feet as they pick up speed.

  Make sure you stop while your dog still has energy, and is having fun. This gets your dogs’ muscles toned and solid, much like high repetition, low weight works on a human. If your dog is in good shape, they are less likely to be injured on-course, and if they are injured, are more likely to heal quickly.

  Tags: agility training

• 07Mar

  Fatal Attraction

  Dog Agility Training No Comments
  

  Neener, neener, neener!

  Does your dog have a fatal attraction to anything?  Well, perhaps ‘fatal’ is too strong a word – but Quick will go sprinting off at a second’s notice if he smells grilling food. What’s your dogs worst distraction?  I know a dog who is long-gone when a squirrel is in view.  How do you combat your dog’s desires?

  Tags: agility beginners, agility training

• 05Mar

  March Contest!

  Contests, Dog Agility Competing 12 Comments

  What is your biggest on-course challenge? I think my biggest challenge is keeping Quick from bailing if I get too far from a contact – but then, we still haven’t started weaving independently, I have a feeling that’s going to be a huge challenge for us! What challenges your dog? Share for your chance to win this month’s prize, a free leash tab of your choice!

  The winner will be chosen via random number generator on or around April 1st, and announced/emailed on or around the same. You must comment to this post in order to be entered.

  How to enter this contest:

  If you have never done so before, you must first register your email address on this blog.  We will then notify you if you are a winner of this contest.  You only need to do this once, and you will be good for all future monthly contests (and get priority notification of when they occur)!

  Scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your comment/answer.  Or, if there is no box, click on the “comments” in the upper right corner. Free shipping of prize to the 50 contiguous states.

  The lucky winner is comment #3, zosiaulinski!

• 29Feb

  Riches

  Inspirational No Comments

  No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich.—Louis Sabin

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