Agility Training for Dogs Guide

USDAA and AKC Dog Agility Information

ecoughlin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:47:26 +0000

When it comes to finding out more information on dog agility training,trials and competition, there’s no better place to turn than the internet, right? Well, you might be chasing your tail at some point because a lot of the agility dog blogs aren’t very helpful.

The best place to start (besides this blog) is on the USDAA web site. That stands for United States Dog Agility Association. They have all kinds of helpful links, including a section that helps you find agility dog groups in your area, news and events that are going on in the dog agility world, even a place where you can track your data and stats whenever you compete.

The other organization that is very helpful is the AKC. That stands for American Kennel Club. The scope of their organization is a lot broader than what the USDAA covers but they do have a section on their website devoted to dog agility information. Check it out here.

I would recommend doing a little digging (so to speak) on both of these websites for the most comprehensive and valuable information you can find on dog agility anywhere on the web. Getting involved in a local dog agility club in your area will also help you understand how agility trials and competitions are organized so that you and your dog can have the best possible experience.

Teaching Ladder Obstacle to Your Agility Dog

ecoughlin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:37:28 +0000

One of the hardest agility dog obstacles to teach is the Dog Walk. It’s hard because dogs aren’t used to watching their feet. Start with a ladder that’s laid flat out on the ground to get them used to placing their feet in the right position. This video will demonstrate how to get started.

Dog Training Obstacles: The Ladder -- powered by eHow.com

Building an Agility Dog Course in Your Backyard

ecoughlin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:21:19 +0000

There are 3 ways to build a backyard agility course for your dog. You can buy ready-made agility equipment for your dog, you can make it yourself using PVC pipe and lumber or you can use stuff that you may already have laying around your yard. The first two options cost money so if that’s an issue for you, here’s a helpful article I found that teaches you how to build an agility course for your dog on the cheap.

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

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Letendre
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Build-a-Backyard-Agility-Course&id=1485229

Agility Dog Contact Obstacles Video

ecoughlin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:10:44 +0000

Contact points on an agility dog obstacle course is where a dog needs to touch the obstacle when running through the course during trials or competition. We can see them because they’re painted yellow on the obstacle but a dog doesn’t see them. You need to train your dog to see it by position on the obstacle rather than color. Here’s a video that clearly demonstrates how to teach your dog about contacts.

Introduce Contact Obstacles in Dog Agility Training -- powered by eHow.com

More Training Dog Treats Recipes

ecoughlin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:09:05 +0000

With Valentine’s Day coming up, you don’t want to forget your dog! They need to feel loved, too.Show them how much you care by baking them some of these sweet training dog treats. Chocolate is what they’ll be craving but we all know that’s bad for dogs so try this recipe that uses Carob instead. They’ll never know the difference!

Choco-Dog Treats

In a large bowl, mix the first 4 ingredients until well-blended. Then add the carob chips, water, molasses, peanut oil and corn oil (or margarine) and mix until blended. The dough will be stiff. Roll it out to 1/2 inch thick and then cut into shapes. Prepare a cookie sheet with cooking spray and place shapes on it. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Recipe makes 2 – 3 dozen.

This next recipe probably won’t tempt you but your dog will be delighted. A warning: some people may not like preparing this because it calls for raw liver. If you can stomach the preparation, your dog will love you for it!

Cookie Bonz

Bring the liver and water to boil over high heat in a 2 quart suacepan. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until no longer pink in the center. Pour through a strainer over a bowl and reserve 1 cup of the liquid. Cut liver into 1 inch pieces. Put the liver in a blender or food processor and whirl. Add reserved liquid and and blend until it’s a smooth puree. Pour into a bowl and then stir in wheat germ and flour until well-moistened. Place dough onto a well-floured surface and roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes using a bone-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 1/2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until browned. Turn off the heat and leave in the oven at least 3 hours.

Refrigerate in airtight container up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze for longer storage. Recipe makes 7 large bons, or 11 medium bonz or 46 small bonz.

Agility Training Dog Treats Recipes

ecoughlin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:06:50 +0000

You can save money and protect your dog’s health with these nifty recipes for training dog treats. These treats are out of the ordinary so maybe you save them for trials and competitions. That’s up to you but either way, your dog will love them and you’ll feel good about giving them something healthy and homemade.

Apple Cinnamon Bites

Combine the first four ingredients together in a bowl. Then add the apple and water and mix until it starts clumping together. Put on a lightly-floured surface and knead well. Roll out to 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick and score (don’t cut through it completely) the dough horizontally and vertically with a straight edge to make 3/4 inch squares. Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray and bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Let cool and then break into pieces. Recipe makes 1 1/2 pounds.

Cheezy Nuggets

Pour hot water or broth over oatmeal and margarine. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Stir in next 4 ingredients. Add wheat germ and mix well. Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time and then knead 3 to 4 minutes. Add flour until the dough is stiff. Roll out the dough to 1/2″ thickness and cut into shapes. Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray and bake nuggets in 300 degree oven for one hour. Turn off heat and leave in oven for another 1 1/2 hours. Let cool before giving to your dog.

Healthy Food for Your Agility Dog

ecoughlin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:08:38 +0000

An agility dog’s nutritional requirements are going to be a little bit different than a regular dog. They need higher amounts of protein and fat in their diets. They need more protein because they’re feeding their muscles and repairing injuries. They need higher amounts of fat because it’s a more efficient source of energy than carbohydrates.

You want the quality of the fat they’re eating to be good so look for dog foods that have Omega 3 fatty acids which is a healthier source of fat. Don’t add supplements because too much fat can be harmful. A dog food that has a balanced amount should be fine.

Once you start feeding your dog a new food, give it at least 6 weeks to see how well he or she responds to it. You don’t want to be constantly switching back and forth between different kinds of dog food because it can cause stomach upset and it’s also hard to see the benefits of one type of dog food if you’re switching al the time.

Establish a regular meal time and avoid “free feeding”. That’s where you just put a bowl of food out for your dog to eat whenever he feels like it. It’s a lot easier for your dog to overeat this way because you lose track of how much you’ve fed him and when. Your dog also needs to see you as their food provider so letting him see you put the bowl down helps to accomplish this. And you can also track if your dog is not feeling well because you see if he’s eating or not.

Avoid feeding your dog table scraps because they’re usually high in bad fat, salt and simple carbohydrates. Also, when they train, they would be less interested because your treats wouldn’t be as good as the stuff they get from the table.

Teaching the Tire Jump to Your Agility Dog

ecoughlin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:49:43 +0000

Teaching your agility dog the tire jump obstacle can be challenging because the dog doesn’t see it as a jump and doesn’t understand what you want him or her to do when they get to it. First, use treats as a motivator to get them through the tire. Starting your dog at low heights and then increasing them as they learn to jump through the tire can help you avoid the problem of a dog walking under the obstacle to get the treat.

With larger dogs, you have to start them at regular height because of their size so this training video will give you a tip on how to make sure your dog goes through the tire rather than around it.

Dog Training Obstacles: The Tire -- powered by eHow.com

Help Your Dog Conquer Agility Obstacles

ecoughlin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:48:51 +0000

Once you’ve got your dog trained to respond to basic agility commands and hand signals, you need to teach them how to conquer the obstacles. All of them are challenging in different ways for different breeds of dogs. Champion agility dogs make it look so easy on TV as they go up, over and through the different obstacles but if you look at it from a dogs point of view, there are specific “fears” that have to be overcome before they can perform well.

Many agility dogs are hesitant to go through tunnels and chutes training because of the enclosed space and I found this article to have some very helpful tips on how to do it.

Dog Agility Training For Tunnels and Chutes
By Adam Fulford

In the world of dog agility training, there are a lot of different obstacles that you must train your dogs on. These range from climbing objects to jumps, as well as obedience objects. There are a wide variety of obstacles used in major competitions, and you must familiarize your dog with all of them if you want to win the event. One of the more difficult obstacles for large dogs to train with are the tunnels and chutes.

Some dogs, especially the naturally burrowing breeds like the terrier, are particularly good with these obstacles, but other dogs, particularly large dogs, do not like the enclosed space. Depending on the size of the chute, some dogs may not even be able to stand fully upright in the tube.

In order to get your dog used to the close quarters of this obstacle, many trainers will work first with a familiar object like a blanket. This also mimics the darkness present in longer tunnels. Have your dog stand or lie underneath a table, and drape the blanket over the sides. By repeating the process, they will eventually learn to be more calm when in close quarters, especially when it is dark.

The second thing you must do is to find a way to train your dog to go forward through the tunnel. Some dogs, especially those who have been trained to heel their owners, have difficulty with this change in procedure. By encouraging your dog to enter the chute and stay, then running down to the other end and encouraging them to come, they will eventually learn how to navigate this obstacle successfully without breaking their good habits of trailing their owner.

Another idea to try is to work with distances and viewpoints. One of the reasons that dogs are uncomfortable in the chute is that they cannot see their owner. If you tell your dog to sit and stay, and then move behind a tree or an object in a public park, then their behavior may tell you a lot about why they are unwilling to work on this particular object.

If your dog still shows a preference for going around, rather than through the tunnel, then consider putting a treat in the center of the tunnel to entice them to enter. Food will certainly get their attention! You may also want to work more with the blanket and table trick, and try some variations.

There are also tunnels with collapsed ends, and these are particularly difficult to get fearful dogs involved in. In general, it is best to work with open ended tunnels first to get them used to the idea, and then work with blankets and other short closings.

If they have difficulty with the closed chutes, then look at how they approach them.

Train your dog to approach the obstacle with their nose out, and their feet back, as they may be getting caught up because they are stepping on the materials.

Adam Fulford enjoys writing articles and screenplays, and has a production company to produce original documentaries (including information products) dramas for film, video, and Internet, covering a myriad of topics from dog agility events to wheelchair dancing.

Article Source: Dog Agility Training For Tunnels and Chutes.

How Much Time for Agility Training?

ecoughlin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:29:27 +0000

Many dog owners who are thinking about getting involved in dog agility training are concerned about the time commitment it takes. Well, that all depends on what your goals are for your training and what level you’d like to achieve.

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.