How to Build a Backyard Agility Course

By Eric Letendre

Agility has been described as the closet thing to an amusement park for dogs. A lot of dogs and their owners love to do agility; some dogs like border collies, labs, Jack Russell Terriers and Shetland Sheepdogs were made for agility.

The problem for most dog owners is that they can only do agility when they are someplace that has agility equipment. In this article I have provided instructions on how you can make a backyard agility course using stuff you can find in your garage.

Basically an agility course is made up of jumps, weave poles, tire jump, tunnel, see-saw, cat-walk and pause table. We are going to focus on jumps, weave poles, pause table and a short cat-walk.

Jumps can be made up by using the cinder blocks and pieces of plywood. The plywood can be cut to different heights and can be propped up using the cinder blocks making a decent jump for your dog.

The cinder blocks can also be used to make the cat-walk (or dog-walk whichever you prefer to call it). Cutting a strip of plywood 12 feet long you can place it on some cinder blocks. It won’t be very high but your dog can practice walking across it.

The weave poles are very popular in agility. Ski poles are a great way to make simple weave poles. You can place them in the ground and teach your dog to go through them. Most flea markets and yard sales have ski poles that you can get cheap.

You can also find a good, sturdy, wooden coffee table at yard sales. Find one that is fairly low to the ground and you can use it as a pause table. An old bike tire hung from a tree can be used for the tire jump. Make sure you hold the tire as you teach your dog to go through it.

A tunnel can be purchased for very little at Wal-Mart or Target. They sell kids tunnels that are fine for a backyard agility course. Now you have some jumps, weave poles, tire jump, dog-walk, tunnel and a pause table. Set them up in your backyard and you and your dog are ready to go.

How important is a well trained dog worth to you? Do you want your dog to stop jumping, come when called, walk on leash and more? Eric Letendre created the ultimate, easy to follow dog training ebook “101 Ways To Improve Your Dog’s Behavior.” Complete with dog training videos, step by step instructions and more. Best of all you can get it free! Get it here => http://amazingdogtrainingman.com

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If you are doing agility training just for fun, you only need to spend about an hour or two a week at the most. Spend about fifteen minutes a day teaching them the basics and then when you feel they are ready for the more complicated aspects of dog agility, you’ll want to bump up your time a little bit to accomodate.

If you decide to take a class, count on at least one hour a week and you know you’re going to have homework.

When you start teaching them jumps and other obstacles, you’ll be spending a little more time because it’s a little more complicated for you and your dog. You might have to go slower because you may turn your dog off of the sport if you get impatient with him. Remember that you won’t need to spend so much time on the basics as your dog progresses so it all evens out.

If you decide to join a club or get involved in trials and competitions, then you’ll start to spend a lot more time on the sport. Going to trials and competitions means you’ll be spending a lot of time waiting around and watching other dogs compete as well as your own dog. But if you and your dog are enjoying it, you may find it’s worth it because you are meeting a lot more people with similar interests, you’ll be learning more about agility when you’re there and you’re spending quality time with your dog.

It’s best to start out slow and just enjoy the sport and the time you are spending with your dog. The amount of time you spend on agility training is really up to you and the goals you have set for your dog.

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When you teach the “go out” command, you’re going to reward your dog by tossing their favorite treat or toy away from you when they leave your side. I know this is hard to envision but imagine when you are playing “catch” with him to know what this training will look like.

Throw the treat away from you and click when the dog moves toward it. Let him get the treat, then call him with the “here” command, click and treat. Repeat this exercise but click before he gets to the treat. Once he gets the idea that you want him to go away from you, add the words “go out” when you toss the treat and click as he goes away from you. You want him to associate the command with going out (or away) from you. Next, you say “go out” and wait for a moment before tossing the treat and clicking. You want to see him move away from you before clicking and the treat.

To teach the “go over” command, you are finally getting in to some agility training. Use the simplest hurdle and set it at the lowest possible height. Put your dog on a leach and lead him over to the hurdle. If he steps over it, click and treat. Repeat until he learns that he will get a treat when he goes over it and then add the command, “go over”. Continue to click and treat. Once you feel that your dog has mastered this, you can raise the height of the jump by one notch.

The next post will focus on using hand signals in agility training and teaching your dog the difference between left and right.

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Get your bag of treats, clicker and a target stick that’s available online. Or you can make your own by getting a 12-inch dowel and covering it with colorful tape. Show the target stick to your dog and let him get acquainted with it the way dogs like to do. If he happens to touch it while sniffing it, click and then give him a treat.

You might have to shape your dog’s behavior if he’s reluctant to touch the target stick. You do this by rewarding every time he looks at the stick until he touches it. Eventually, he should get the idea that touching the stick means he’ll get a reward.

Help your dog to know the difference between “nose it” and “paw it” by using those cue words, then clicking and giving him a treat. Knowing how to do this will help your dog later when he’s learning how to respond to your commands as he navigates the agility obstacles.

Clicker training may not work for every dog. You can use another positive reinforcement technique that suits you both better. No matter what technique you use, it’s important not to coerce, or force, your dog into doing something he doesn’t want to do. The best agility dogs are the ones that enjoy what they’re doing with their handler.

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Step 1: Start when your dog is hungry, right before mealtime. Show your dog the clicker, click it and then give him a treat. He might be startled by the sound of it so you can muffle it in your hand at first until he gets used to it. Once he associates the click with a treat, he won’t mind it at all. Do this activity with your dog no more than 5 – 10 minutes a day until he associates the click with a treat.

Step 2: Once they’ve learned the association between a click and a treat, you need to vary the amount of time between the click, treat and receiving the treat. To do this, click, wait 5 seconds, then give the treat. Change the amount of time to be more or less each time. Your dog may be impatient or confused but once he learns to wait patiently for the treat, you can move on to the next step.

Step 3: Now they must learn that they can receive the treat anywhere, not just from your hand. You do this by clicking and then tossing the treat in the air for them to catch wherever it lands.

Whenever you spend time doing clicker training with your dog, always do it in 5 – 10 minute increments and have some playtime afterwards. My next blog posts covers the final steps in clicker training.

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First, you should attend a match or trial without your dog to see if agility training is a sport that you would both enjoy doing. What looks like fun on TV may not appeal to you once you see it up close and in person. You also want to do this before investing in any equipment because it would be a shame to spend a lot of money on agility equipment only to realize that you or your dog just don’t like agility training.

Make sure your dog is healthy and fit before starting agility training with a trip to the Vet. Let them know what you are planning to do so the Vet can check the dog’s joints, gait and weight for any problems.

Once you’ve decided to start agility training, you’ve got to teach your dog the rules of the game. If your dog has already learned obedience, this might not seem that hard to do. The difference is that you want to use positive reinforcement when training a dog to do agility.

Many trainers use clickers to train their agility dogs because it’s fun and easy to do. Basically, the dog learns that if he does what his handler wants him to do, he’ll hear a click and then get a treat for responding correctly. If he doesn’t respond correctly, no click and no treat.

You don’t have to use a clicker to train your dog for agility. You can make another sound or a simple command like “Good Fido” instead when they do the required behavior. But if you do that, make sure you only use that phrase or noise when you are training. Otherwise, plan to have a treat handy so that you won’t disappoint your dog. A clicker is good to use because you’ll always and only use it when training.

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Use Agility To Build Confidence In Your Dog

Author: Martin Elmer

Is your dog sensitive to sounds or is it timid around other dogs. Then agility training can provide the right environment and a good structure to build the necessary confidence in your dog. The classes are great places to learn about the training and sport. But it can still take a long time, before the dog is ready to leave your lap or the hiding under the chair.

A timid or shy dog can only learn inside their comfort zone. So, training must begin where they feel safe and behaviors must be taught in very small increments. Home will probably be the best place to train and have learning takes place for your dog.

But how do you train your dog at home? You need two things: guidelines and equipment. You can find multiple websites with information on agility training. Other options are books and videos with details, visual aids and lesson plans for both beginners and experts.

There is a variety of equipment that is useful and helpful to have at home. Equipment recommendations are based on your available space and location of training. Do you have a large yard that will hold 10 obstacles? Do you have a small yard where you will need setup equipment and then tear down before you can setup again? Will you be training in your garage or basement, or as some agility addicts, in your living room?

When you are training a timid dog the equipment has to be sturdy and safe. A pause table is a good starting point for dog training. Buy a 12″ high pause table, which is good for dogs in all sizes. Set it up in a familiar area, if your dog is shy. You can leave it in the house or yard for a couple of days, if your dog is the barking type. Then it can smell and inspect it in its own pace. Always remember to use baby steps training an insecure dog.

To encourage it to get up on the table you can use treats or its favorite toy. And remember it may well take several lesson. If it loses interest, you should try something new like placing yourself on the table. Then you can either hold it or have it on leash, while you are sitting on the table. But remember only to treat it when it comes against you. Never reward it, when it is pulling away.

Eventually, you want your dog to be able to jump on the table with your cue word like Table (or whatever word you use), Stay to have it stay on the table as you back away and then Come when you call. Build your distance slowly so that your dog is not pushed too soon.

Following the above instructions, you can slowly introduce new obstacles. When it is able to succeed new pieces of equipment, you will see its confidence grow.

About the Author:

Martin Elmer is the editor of Hundefan – a website about udstyr til hunde. Here you can also read about hundeskål.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Use Agility To Build Confidence In Your Dog

Above all, have patience with your dog as he learns these new skills and before you know it, you’ll see some great improvements in your dog’s attitude.

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While agility is great exercise and great fun, think of it as any other sport- you don’t just ‘start jogging’. You start out walking, jogging, walking, jogging, and so on, until you can jog those ten miles easily! Do the same for your dog. Engage in regular exercise in addition to his agility training so his agility will improve as he gets in better shape.

Start agility training slowly at first. A conditioning ladder or set of cavalettis are great for getting your dog moving and conditioned for agility!  Try interval training for your dog by first walking your dog  then playing a game of fetch and then do some agility. Afterwards, walk to cool down, and then belly rub as a reward for doing SO WELL! The idea is to motivate all the exercising and training without (or with fewer) treats for a bit, hey? 

Doggy treadmills are becoming a popular item for many dog owners although the jury is still out on whether this is a practical item. It seems like it would be a waste of time to put  them on a doggy treadmill and have to watch them on it rather than just taking your dog for a stroll yourself.

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Extremely large dogs like the Great Dane and Saint Bernard understandably have difficulty with agility because they are not fast enough and they find some of the obstacles, like the tunnel and planks, hard to maneuver because of their size.

Northern breeds that you normally find in colder climates, such as the Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky and the Smaoyed are seldom found in agility because their independent spirit and unreliability to obey commands makes them difficult to train.

The conformation of the Basset Hound, Dachsund and Bulldog make it hard for them to do the jump obstacles in agility.

Movement easily distracts the Greyhound, the Whippet, the Saluki and the Borzoi so they may end up running after a feather blowing in the wind during an agility competition. They also have an independent spirit that makes it tough to train this particular breed.

But don’t be afraid to try agility even though you may own one of these breeds. They just may take longer to train and you may have to try some unusual training methods to get the best performance out of your agility dog.

Margaret Bonham, author of Introduction to Dog Agility Training, owns an Alaskan Malamute agility dog and she knows that her dog gets bored after too much training so she tries to give her long breaks between competitions and trials. This method of probably wouldn’t work for a regular agility dog. You just have to be willing to experiment with different methods with your dog.

Attitude is everything when choosing the best dog breed for agility training and competitions. You’ve got to have a dog owner that’s patient and willing to work with the dog, no matter what the breed.

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Is your dog obedient around other dogs??

Before taking your agility dog to a competition or a public agility course, you need to make sure they can behave in the presence of other dogs. Sometimes our dogs go absolutely nuts when they see other dogs. He may be the best behaved, nicest dog when he is around you and your friends. But let another canine come into the picture and he doesn’t even remember who you are!

You need to work on your dog’s socialization. The problem is that he or she hasn’t been around enough other dogs in various situations to choose you over a canine companion. You should expose your dog to other dogs in a variety of situations so that he may be accustomed to being around them without attacking them, in one way or another.

A great place to start is with dog obedience training classes. Look in your local yellow pages, ask your veterinarian or talk to employees at your local pet food supermarket to get information about classes near you. Teaching your dog obedience in a group setting will not only get him accustomed to other dogs but will strengthen the bond between the two of you. This will help when you are at dog agility training and competitions. Plus, he’ll learn to be better behaved as well!

Once you and your dog have some basic obedience under your belts and you know your dog is friendly with other people and animals, you can take him to other locations for socialization. You may want to go to the local dog park. Or talk to some friends from your dog class about arranging a “play date”. There are even some businesses that offer “doggie day care” that will give your dog an opportunity to interact with other dogs.

Once your dog has been socialized with other dogs, he won’t be so frantic when he sees another one of his own kind. He will be much more willing to focus on you when you are doing fun and interesting things like learning obedience or playing at agility.

By the way, unless you’re a dog breeder, it’s a good idea to spay or neuter your dog. This will go a long way towards making sure your dog doesn’t get too “friendly” with other dogs and get in more than one kind of trouble!

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