One of the most important things you need to teach your agility dog after the basics are learned is how to focus on the obstacles and on you, the handler while they’re running through the course. Using the clicker method helps a lot and in this video, you’ll see how a good agility dog should be able to run through the obstacles and still keep tabs on the handler’s directions.
Get Your Dog's Attention During Dog Agility Training -- powered by eHow.com
Teaching your dog agility commands like how to “go out” from you is a lot more difficult than other obedience commands because you’re teaching your dog to go away from you instead of towards you. But you have to teach your dog this command because that’s what they need to know how to do when they go through a tunnel or into another obstacle in agility training.
Your dog may already know how to do these simple commands through obedience training although the “sit” command is not generally required for obedience, it’s just good manners. It’s a great idea to teach a dog to sit for agility training especially when they have to get on the pause table during trials and competition. Here’s how to teach your dog how to sit using the clicker training method.
In this final clicker training lesson, your dog will learn to incorporate a behavior after he’s heard the click in order to get the treat.
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.
You can teach your dog agility using clicker training. All you need to get started is a bag of treats, a clicker and a willing dog.
If all the rules and regulations of agility training for dogs scares you, you can start to train your dog just for the fun of it! Before you decide to get involved in teaching your dog agility, these tips will help you get started.
Is your dog a little bit shy with human or even other dogs? Giving your dog something else to focus on like agility training could give your dog more confidence. Here’s a great article I found that will give you some tips on how agility training can make your timid dog more confident.
Another skill that agility dogs need is to run fast through an agility course. But sometimes if they’re distracted by another dog or animal on the course, and they give chase, the competition is over! Here’s some advice I found recently to help you stop your dog from chasing.
Most dogs enjoy chasing cats, cars and people. Dogs generally see this as something fun to do, and don’t mean any harm by it, but, the fact is, this behavior is fear-inducing in others and can cause unintentional accidents.
It is not as simple as just yelling at or hitting your dog after it has chased something. Taking a proactive approach is much better.
Most agility dog owners love it when their dogs jump! It means that their dog is doing what he’s supposed to be doing as an agility dog.
But there are times when jumping is a bad idea for even an agility dog. Such as when they’re at home and the next door neighbor stops by. That is definitely not the time to jump!
If you’re a seasoned agility dog owner, you probably don’t have this problem. An obedient dog is one of the prerequisites for a good agility dog.
But if you’re just starting out in agility, this may be one of the behaviors that’s holding your dog back from agility greatness.
If you have an overweight agility dog, you must be a newbie at the sport because most agility dogs are pretty lean and agile. Overweight agility dogs need to be especially careful when they start out. Since the sport involves a lot of jumping and running, extra pounds can cause extra stress and injury on joints and other body parts.
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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