Dog Agility

Re: Dog Agility

Sian Pasquale — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:36:37 GMT

[quote user="charliv"] Hmm now to go and find a fluffy pencil case?[/quote]

I got mine from woolworths, but as they are no more Tesco's usually has them or a poundsaver type shop maybe?!

Re: Dog Agility

Charlotte Fitzgerald — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:32:44 GMT

That sounds like an excellent idea, I will give it a try and let you know how I get on. Hmm now to go and find a fluffy pencil case?

Re: Dog Agility

Sian Pasquale — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:26:26 GMT

[quote user="charliv"]Any tips on training a dog to be interesed in playing with balls fetching etc. Loves to play with tug toys but not bothered about chasing balls and fetching toys.[/quote]

My girlie wasn't interested in toys that much so a great tip that someone gave me is to use a fluffy pencil case with a squeky toy and lots of smelly sausages inside. I started just throwing over 1 jump then soon as she paid any attention to it I opened it on the floor and rewarded her asap, Build this up..throwing it furthur away always running after dog and immediatly opening it and giving the sausage then I gradually started to play with it to get her to tug it then reward her asap, then they should hopefully learn to pick up the toy and bring it to u cus they know they'l get a treat.

Toys should be your property and used for playing tuggy not for the dog to run of with, if you make it so a game of tuggy is massively more rewarding and fun (and give them a sweetie when they give it up) they will hopefully rather do that than run off with the toy!

My agility club is in fontwell, West sussex

Re: Dog Agility

Charlotte Fitzgerald — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:59:36 GMT

I can't wait to do agility with my dog (collie x ), at the moment we are attending training classes in the hope that we can go on to do agility. He is so easily distracted i'm worried that he will want to run off to see the other people dogs etc. Would like to try flyball, but think I must have the only collie (well x) that is not interested in balls and retrieving. Any tips on training a dog to be interesed in playing with balls fetching etc. Loves to play with tug toys but not bothered about chasing balls and fetching toys.

Re: Dog Agility

Claire Cameron — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:03:05 GMT

I used to do this with both my westies! They loved it!

Went to local dog training/obedience and took it up there.

Re: Dog Agility

Shelly vn — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:03:37 GMT

[quote user="christinam"]

Does any one know of classes in London at all. I've looked into this before, but all seem to be far out. I think my springer would enjoy agility, but love fly ball. Excellent catcher, annoys all the other dogs in the park by stealing their balls!

[/quote]

I used to do flyball with my boys, we did it for about 3 years and only gave up because money got a bit tight! Its the best fun and you meet loads of nice people. Check out the British Flyball Association's website, you should be able to find a club near you, from memory i think theres 2 or 3 clubs in London.

http://www.flyball.org.uk/

Re: Dog Agility

Dippy — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:36:24 GMT

I've signed Henri up for agility and/or flyball when we move in 3wks, found a good club and it's one of my mplans to keep us busy and make new friends! Most of the places I enquired at said we have to do the basic 6-8wk training course first just to make sure he's under control and knows basic commands etc, which seems to be fairly standard, unless someone is willing to do a one-off assessment of these things first for you. Good luck and have fun!

Re: Dog Agility

christinam — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:08:50 GMT

Re: Dog Agility

Nicola Smith — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:15:52 GMT

I did flyball with my whippet for a while which he loved. Had to stop due to time constraints at the moment but was great for getting rid of his energy! He used to really focus ansd was really quite good. Hope to restart at some point.

Re: Dog Agility

hobbits — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:59:03 GMT

I am just about to start with my young boy! Got an intro session on 20th March, very excited!

where are your classes Sian?

Re: Dog Agility

Sian Pasquale — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:53:19 GMT

Its fantastic, you must have a go at it, I run my own club now because there is such a need for new clubs, my other club is full to the brim with a long waiting list, and I am constantly having people enquire, so you should really get yourself on a waiting list ASAP and show your interested by going to watch often..cus then they'l move you up the waiting list quicker if your keen!

Dito all the above comments about having a good wait etc.. but don't worry if you havent done too much off-lead work because any good instructor will allow you to work on lead for a while and you and your dog will hopefully really bond (if you reward him for every little thing) then you'll have him off the lead in no time!

It really is an addictive sport!

Any other questions let me know.

Re: Dog Agility

Ju_xx — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:07:15 GMT

I did agility for around 18months with my 6 year old lab and we both loved it but unforetunatly (sp? lol) I have had to retire her from it due to an elbow problem :( she was getting really good at it too! Almost as fast as the collies there!! And our trainer wanted us to start competing soon :(

It is brilliant for the dogs, they used to laugh at her there are she was so excited she would do one jump and then have a "puppy moment" and run around the indoor school like a racehorse then once she had done that she would concentrate. I am due to start it again soon with a young bearded collie that the trainer wants to train up for agility.

I definately recommend it and it makes your dog listen to you even more which is great out on walks!

Re: Dog Agility

funkyfish — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:48:34 GMT

arch! cat jumped on keyboard and deleted my reply!!!

www.agilitynet.com has good info and shop for dvds and kit etc. Susan Garret does some fab dvds!

Find a local club, most agility people are really friendly and can many run classes to teach you and your dog how to do it!

Having good close control is a must as its mostly done off lead. Also teach a rock steady wait/stay.

Clicker training and target training will help in teaching him contacts. Teaching a left and right spin will teach cornering and body awareness, as will walking backwards up stairs etc.

If you find a class take a ton of treats and a good tug toy as reward based training is a must for agility (and any training!), you have to get your dog obsessing over getting things right. Even my unfocused dufus pointer/lurcher x is obsessed by contacts and loves it!

we are just starting to compete after 18months of agility with our local club, my husband is running our collie x as I'd be far to nervous! Our first show is in march. Its brought our collie x on leaps and bounds as he's 4th hand and was never socialised. He loves to play with his agility buddies (will not socialise with other dogs normally) and he just loves it!

Good luck!