How does one start training their dog for agility competitions?
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at
5:09 pm
And how old should they be before starting to teach them how to do agility?
Tagged with: Agility • competitions • start • Their • Training
Filed under: Dog Agility Training
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The lifers start training their puppies as soon as they get them, but they take it in very small steps. Teaching stay (and other basic commands), recall, body awareness, targeting, drive, and focus. There are beginning puppy agility classes you can take. In terms of more traditional training jumping, getting on the equipment etc. usually you can start at around a year old or a little before, but dogs should not jump their full jump height until they are 12-15 months old.
Clean Run is the name of the major dog agility magazine.
Major dog agility organizations include USDAA, CPE, NADAC and AKC you can get additional information on any of their website and some will have information for helping you locate trainer or classes.
A dog should be a year old before you start jumping & weaving them much. (You can’t compete, at least in AKC agility trials, until your dog is a minimum of 15 months old.)
Obedience is an important foundation for agility work. Many agility trainers require you to take an obedience class (or demonstrate your dog’s obedience training) before starting an agility class.
To find a trainer in your area, check this website. This have trainers from all over the US, and some in other countries as well.
http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=clubs.search
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I started my pups while they were still in the whelping box. They really aren’t ever too young or too old to do at least something agility-wise.
Dogs under a year old should not be jumping higher than a few inches and should be carefully spotted on raised obstacles to prevent injury to developing bones and joints.
When you’re ready to start, sign up for an agility class. That’s the best way to start out. It’s very easy to accidentally teach a dog wrong when you aren’t already familiar with the sport. A good instructor can teach you the correct techniques for introducing obstacles so that your dog does them safely and correctly.
If you have to wait for a course to start, you can do some work now with body awareness. Lay a ladder on the ground and teach your dog to walk the full length of it, putting paws between the rungs and never stepping outside the ladder. This takes some coordination to do, and coordination is what agility dogs need most.
Lay some poles or tree branches randomly on the ground and practice stepping over those too.
Make sure your dog has a solid recall. That means that when you call he comes running every time, the first time. Agility is done off leash and with your dog some distance away from you. A good recall can save his life when you can’t reel him in with a leash.
u can start training as young as possible but definately hold off on the jumping till there at least a yr 1/2 old as they are still growing and causing strain on their hips at a young age can cause problems later in life.
id get a tunnel
ramp
weaving poles(u cud use ski poles)
a low table to train to jump on
some jumps
a triangle ramp(like an a-frame type thing)
tire/hoop to jump through
anything else you want.
use rewards when they do something right and reinforce it as being fun!by throwing a squeaky toy and letting them play/chase when they do something really gud.
also if u want them to go over something/jump etc.hold a toy(gud if it squeaks)on the side the dog is on to keep them going straight.
id go to some agility classes wth your dog as the instructor ca demonstae how it should be done and how to do it or teach them to do it.