Essentials For Helping Train Your Dog For Their First Agility Competition
Posted on: 14 December 2016
If you like training your dog, and would like to move beyond the basics of sit, fetch, and roll over, then you might like to train your dog for an agility competition. This is a super fun way to get exercise with your dog; plus, once you get into the swing of agility training, you can head around to lots of different competitions. It's a fun pastime, and one that will take you and your dog to places beyond the dog park. But, in order to train your dog for their first agility competition, you will need some things. Here is what you should get.
Clicker and Treat Bag
You probably remember from when you trained your dog to sit and fetch, that you need to reward them. Well, the same premise applies with agility training. However, you are going to be asking your dog to do more complicated tricks having just sit down or retrieve a stick. You are going to have them jump hurdles, as well as run through tunnels, and even swerve around sticks. This will require doing things over and over. The clicker is used to signal them to stop, or go. A clicker is a better choice for issuing commands when you are doing serious training because it never chances its sound. Your voice fluctuates, and you will get tired after a while if you have to keep repeating the same command. The treat bag is used to hold all the dog treats. It's easier and more hygienic than keeping the food in your pants pocket.
Agility Hurdle
Your dog is going to have to jump hurdles during the competition. You can get these small, soft, plastic hurdles and bring them to the park (or set them up in your backyard). You can get small ones to get your dog used to the routine, and then lift them up when the dog is ready to improve their height.
Collapsible Tunnel
Some dogs really get nervous when they run into a tunnel. Others decide to stay inside and play around. This is why you need to get a collapsible tunnel and let them practice running through it over and over. You can get them to sit at one end, then you go to the other and use the clicker to have them run through and reward them with a treat.
A Set Of Weave Poles
Finally, you are going to want to get a set of weave poles. These can be placed on the ground at the park and you can train your dog to run through them in weaving motion (similar to what downhill skiers do during a slalom race). This can be very difficult because it requires the dog to waves in and out, and not just run around the poles. You will need to practice with them quite a lot. So, get a set of soft weave poles (soft so that the dog doesn't hurt themselves at first when they are running fast and bumping into the poles) and bring them to a park and practice. Then walk them through the weave poles; each time they walk through without trying to run, reward them with a treat. Then you can progress to letting them walk it on their own and finally run it.
Contact a company like The Pet Spot Pet Resort for more info about dog training.
Share