Agility

Zapperzy

Has anyone taught there own dogs how to do agility? Can't commit to classes but have a fairly big garden and a lot of time to spare during the week, I reckon my terrier would be a little flyer at it and has brains to burn (although at times I wonder :rolleyes:).
At the moment I'm only using makeshift jumps in the kitchen but hope to make some proper jumps out of pvc piping and might buy a hula hoop to make some sort of a tyre jump, could get a kids play tunnel as well to use as a tunnel.

It's only really for a bit of fun and exercise but I still want to do it properly. So anyone any tips for training a dog for agility? Or even a good book or website that they could recommend about it?

koneko

Zooplus sell some agility gear, if you wanted to get a few bits and bobs at some stage:
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dog_toys_dog_training/agility_sport

Sounds a good fun workout to preoccupy him/her

Cows Go µ

I used to do agility up north but I'm living in Cork now and none of the local classes work for me. I was really hoping to buy the equipment myself (its my birthday and my parents have promised £100 worth of equipment) I saw zooplus but the set is constantly out of stock. Does any one know of where else you can get it? The two big ones have done it before and know the drill but one of the shelties never has and I just know she would be amazing, especially because she isn't really ever going to win anything in showing so it would be lovely to do agility with her instead

Zapperzy

Cows Go µ wrote: »

I used to do agility up north but I'm living in Cork now and none of the local classes work for me. I was really hoping to buy the equipment myself (its my birthday and my parents have promised £100 worth of equipment) I saw zooplus but the set is constantly out of stock. Does any one know of where else you can get it? The two big ones have done it before and know the drill but one of the shelties never has and I just know she would be amazing, especially because she isn't really ever going to win anything in showing so it would be lovely to do agility with her instead

I have seen a similar set for sale in maxizoo and pets at home (not much good to you down in cork though). Have you tried the other zooplus sites (.co.uk, .fr, .de, .es, .pl) also?

tk123

There's more to it then the jumps etc they need to have a good level of obedience around distractions - recall, wait until you release them, stay, go ahead of you, know right and left and stuff like that. We're doing foundation agility at DTI at the moment - i got a couple of the city deal vouchers last month and decided to do it just to build on his obedience and have better control when he's off the lead. He already knows some of the commands but he's a lot quicker at catching on since we learnt them so for its more refreshing the commands we know and maybe making them a little harder and also learning some new ones. The chances of us ever doing agility are slim because of his legs but he loves training sessions so we practice his obedience commands all the time to keep him working.

TooManyDogs

If you're looking for instruction why not check out WWW.agilitynerd.com There's tons of info there on correct handling techniques and videos so you can see what they mean when talking about using certain 'crosses' etc

Cherry Blossom

I would really recommend at least some basic lessons, just for the fact that a dog can easily get injured from jumping if the technique is not right. I believe there is a club/trainer somewhere in Sligo that does agility every second Sunday. I would do this for a little while just to make sure you have good technique and as a basic introduction to the various equipment.

Also get yourself a book (introduction/beginner etc) guide to agility type book. There are loads of these to chose from, you can get the regulation dimensions for various equipment here:

http://ikc.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=35&Itemid=50

- click on agility tests, go to page 10 in the MS Word document. It's very important that you don't go over the maximum height limits for the size of your dog.

If you get bitten by the bug, I highly recommend Dawn Weavers book for more advanced training, it takes a little bit of getting used to the style of her diagrams but once you 'get' that it's a brilliant training aid. I'd hold off on buying it for a while until you get yourself set up first.

Cows Go µ

It seems to be the weave sticks that are out of stock and they don't know when they will be getting them back in. But sure they are easy to make so I might just order a few other things.

Because we have done agility with our dogs before and don't really want to compete, we don't really need the classes. Our trainer used to always say that they didn't really need to teach the dogs, they trained owners. Its so much fun, I really miss it, its going to be a great destresser for coming home after a long day of college

JustAThought

I do agility , well, my dog does!, and I was out with a friend and her dog and they constNtly surprised me by practisingntheir agility as we went along on our walk: she is a genius in seeing opportunity everywhere! She had him hop over little Walls, sit on them, lie on a spot and then wait and run to her, jump over branches and benches... There's a lot you can do or make up!!!
Btw I bought my yoke a hoola hoop like the big eejit I am and although she LOVES to jump through the lifeboat yoke in class, she will NOT for anything jump through it to get through the door.
Dogs!!!

tk123

Cows Go µ wrote: »

I used to do agility up north but I'm living in Cork now and none of the local classes work for me. I was really hoping to buy the equipment myself (its my birthday and my parents have promised £100 worth of equipment) I saw zooplus but the set is constantly out of stock. Does any one know of where else you can get it? The two big ones have done it before and know the drill but one of the shelties never has and I just know she would be amazing, especially because she isn't really ever going to win anything in showing so it would be lovely to do agility with her instead

Hey just looking on zooplus.co.uk and the set is back in stock!! My guy LOVED running thru the chute at class the other night and even tired to go back in the other end lol so might get him one.

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dog_toys_dog_training/agility_sport/fun_agility/131130