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Agility Training help anyone?

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Hey, Bea is really excited, her parents told her she could train her dog in agility! BUT....I need help getting my dog to go through equitment. If you could help me with any of the questions below I'd be super grateful!!

1) How much time should I devote to training in a day/week/month?
2) How can I go about having him learn to be on equitment?
3) How can I make my own equitment?
4) He is a shepard mix, we think he had some heeler,beagal, and german shepard in him how long would you guess he would take to train?
5) Are there any good books for BEGGINING dog trainers directed towards agility that'd be helpful?

05-26-2012 at 8:49 PM

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2012-05-26 17:59:25 by #1511

05-26-2012 at 8:41 PM

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2012-05-26 17:59:19 by #1511

04-17-2012 at 5:48 PM

I agree, find a local trainer! I'm training a few of the dogs at the shelter on the basic, easy obstacles and I can tell you that having to "make it up as you go" isn't the way to do it effectively. Because I'm only doing it to expend their energy and challenge them (some of those doggies really need a challenge!), it doesn't matter if I make it all up. If I were training with the hopes of competing someday, I'd find a trainer. If you're having trouble talking your parents into helping you find a beginner's class to take, you could set up a couple small, easy obstacles, teach those to your dog, and show your parents that you and your dog could do it, but only if you can find someone to teach you. For easy obstacles, I'd recommend a table or box (not too high - maybe around a foot off the ground?) that you can use to teach the pause table (big enough that there's no worry he'll hop up and fall off, though, and something that will definitely support his weight). Have him hop up and reward him a small training treat when he's up there.Sometimes it helps if you get a running start. I taught one of my dogs to jump things by setting up two plastic lawn chairs with a pool noodle held up between them - just stiffen the noodle with something, like a walking stick, and start by having him step over it on the ground. Gradually raise it until he's able to clear it without knocking into it. Or if you live near woods or a forest, you could take him to jump over fallen trees. But yes, if you're hoping to teach him every aspect of agility, it's probably going to be easier for you to learn how to teach him if you both enroll in a beginner's training class!

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2012-04-17 14:51:40 by #8507

04-13-2012 at 10:59 PM

Yup, try to find a local trainer. :) If you try to do it by yourself you may end up setting up fears that will be hard to overcome

04-7-2012 at 12:15 AM

I think you should check out a beginning agility class and sign up with your dog. It'll be a good way to start and see how to do things while letting your dog socialize with other dogs and get used to running the course with distractions. =)

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