Dog Agility Equipment

Dog agility equipment differs from obedience training tools. Your typical dog training collars aren’t used in agility dog competitions. In fact, any type of training collars is banned from agility competitions and local clubs don’t even let you use them on your dogs during practice. The reason is that it could get caught on a piece of equipment and injure your dog. Instead, they recommend using a flat collar that has a quick release for practice and letting them run “naked” or off-leash during competitions. You cannot have any tags on the collars because that could also get tangled and possibly injure your dog. 

Leashes and tabs are needed so that you can control your dog while on the course. Use a good latigo leather (tanned cattle hide) leash. Leashes made from chain link or webbed nylon don’t allow for good control and  the web type can hurt your hands. A tab is the best leash to use for a dog because it’s not long enough to get tangled up in your dog’s feet but it’s long enough that you can grab it if you need to. It’s about 6 to 12 inches long and it’s knotted at the end so it makes it easy to grab.

Another leash that can be very helpful in training your dog for agility is a thin long line. You hook it up to your dog’s collar and it’s so long that it gives the impression of freedom but when the dog acts up, it’s easy to reign him back in.

Positive reinforcement tools include anything that rewards your dog for a job well done during training or competition. Consider food or toys as your best bets. A food tube combines both because it’s a tude slit down the center and stuffed with food. The dog gets to pull out the food and play with the tube at the same time.

Other rewards include favorite foods like hot dogs, cheese, biscuits, lunch meat, or whatever treat your dog loves. Toys to use include flying discs, sticks, squeaky toys and tennis balls. Keep all the treats and toys out of site until you’re ready to reward your dog otherwise he or she will be focused on the prize instead of the work.