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Backyard agility fun

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 5:46 pm
by lisaanne
As a relatively new owner of this wonderfully talented dog, of course I'd like to give her every opportunity to use her skills to the best of her ability. I have a huge fenced in yard for my dogs to play, sniff, hunt, and dig...but, i was thinking Beta could really use some sort of structure and variety not only for fun, but for the challenge, which she obviously needs and craves. Since this is something I am totally unfamiliar with, can some of you more experienced handlers please give me some tips and advice on how I can go about beginning some sort of home-style agility training? While Beta has obviously had some degree of basic command training, walks well on and off leash, knows most basic commands, is a good listener and quick learner, we are both still newbies as far as anything of this sort goes. i don't want to simply go off in my own direction and confuse her.

Where to start with an all ready 2 year old girl looking for fun and learning, as opposed to working or competing?

Re: Backyard agility fun

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 3:18 am
by ZodiacT
I can only speak from my experience so others might have different opinions, but when I wanted to start doing something with Zodiac what I wound up doing was finding a trainer in our area who taught a variety of different dog sports including agility and competitive obedience. Zodiac was 2 1/2 years old when we adopted her, she only knew some very basic commands and I had no experience training dogs, so the trainer recommended we start out in a competitive rally obedience class first to build our working relationship before moving on to more challenging sports.

We ended up having so much fun in Rally that 2 years later we are only just now starting the Agility class (although we could have started much sooner if we chose to), but through Rally she learned the jumps and over the last couple of years as she has gotten used to working with me I have been able to teach her most of the other Agility exercises on equipment we built ourselves in our back yard. There are books and videos out there that teach Agility but personally if you don't have experience training a dog I think it is a good idea to get some advice from an experienced trainer who can work with you and your dog.

Re: Backyard agility fun

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:16 pm
by lisaanne
Yes, you are absolutely right. I really didn't want to go off half-cocked with her, especially with her size, physically and potential. I'd rather learn to do things correctly with her in the first place. This is my first time experience with a dog like this, and all ready its been a vast difference from raising beagles. ;)

I plan to look at area trainers and facilities to see what I can find. Thanks again.

ps Beta was also all ready 2 years old when we got her, and had been in a shelter for at least 4 months then. Someone had adopted her, kept her for 4 days (!?) then luckily for us brought her back to the shelter.

Re: Backyard agility fun

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:59 am
by Christie M
There are a lot of agility foundation skills that you can start that don't include equipment - or just one jump. All foundation jumping can and should be taught low anyway, so a PCV jump can be made for like $3 :-)

Check out the following website www.bowwowflix.com.

They have a TON of DVDs that you can "rent" like NetFlix - keep as long as you want. I'm sure others can recommend names, but the Suzanne Garrett foundation and 2x2 method ones would be great to start with. Also the Foundation Jumping DVD by Chris Zink, DVM.

Good luck and keep us posted!