Agility Trainig

[akitas]

Max is now about 7.5 month old. I was wondering when I can start him on some training for Agility.

I know he is too young to do jumps, but I met somebody today who said that I could start things like contacts and just get him used to the equipment.

That made me wonder. I don't want to start him to young and don't have a club I can take him to at the moment, but would love to do a few introductory thrings.

 

What do you think, at what age can he do what?

 

Thanks a lot!

[mum24dog]

I'm assuming that Max is a collie - not because only collies do agility, but from the picture.

Are you reasonably sure that he is sound - no signs of OCD or HD?

It's too early to do contacts and you really need to decide how you want to train them before you start. The main ways of doing them are with a running contact where the dog doesn't stop or a stop at the end with 2 feet on the contact and 2 off.

You really need advice as to how to do either of them successfully.

If you were to want to go for 2 on-2 off, you could start with a plank on the floor and train him to stop in the correct position.

Don't be too eager to introduce equipment. If you do the foundation work well, it will be a lot easier when you do.

You could be working on the following -

right and left turns

waits with a lot of distractions

to be toy obsessed

to go on away from you to a toy

just to run with you and to swap from side to side

to be happy working on both sides of you

to go out round a cone or something similar

to think you are the most wonderful thing in the world - be unpredictable with your rewards.

Everything you do on one side, repeat on the other.

If you or your dog favours one side over the other, do more work on the "wrong" side.

You may think that you only want to do agility for fun, but if you eventually decide you want to compete, it's better to train from the outset with competition in mind rather than have to retrain.

And yes - I'm a flaming hypocrite because I'm bone idle and don't put in the basic work I should with my dogs, which is why I can give this advice.

Do as I say, not as I do (or rather don't).

 

Pam

[akitas]

Thanks, that was really helpful. I just started an Agility class wih my 2 year old Akita. She will never do competition as she is too slow. Where I take her, they start with contact work. But I have to say, that I trained her to obedience lever does help with the training.

So maybe I should do the same with Max. Just continue the obedience side of it and leave the rest till the next beginners course starts....

 

I have no idea about his hips. Isn't it a bit early to diagnose anything?

 

Thanks for your advice, I will leave the Agility aside for a while and just focus on other things.

 

Ursula

[mum24dog]

I have no idea about his hips. Isn't it a bit early to diagnose anything?

Ursula

 

Too early for X rays and hip scoring, but sometimes they can look suspicious from an early age.

We have had a few at our club that looked OK at first but it became obvious that their jumping action wasn't right and problems were then found.

On the other hand, some dogs have competed for years without anyone suspecting.

I don't mean to worry you.

 

There is a good video for foundation skills on here - if rather expensive and repetitive-

 

 

http://www.gtagility.com/gtagility.htm

 

Pam

[Wombat]

You could also teach targeting in case you want to use this for contact training. Get your pringle lid, put food on iton the floor, teach Max to go to it on command then increase distance from which you send him. He'll love it coz it involves food (altho you can progress to sending to target then treating from hand or with a tug game) and it's a trick upyour sleeve for when Max starts doing contacts if you decide to use it. Your trainer should help you with positioning of target etc when you get to that stage.

 

Also do all that Pam says coz I did most of it with Giz and has all proved useful, especially pushing out round a cone in the garden (choose a command and stick to it- I use 'out' funnily enough, saves brain delay under pressure )

[t-dog]

I would start now with the fround work as Mum24dogs says, the more work you put in now the easier it will be later. I've been training my youngest dog since she was 12 weeks old, obviously not jumping or equipment, but running through wings and playing with her around the equipment, so that she focuses on me and not on anything else. I even took her to shows and practised standing in a queue so she wouldn't be bothered by it when she was old enough to compete.

If you're going to concentrate on obedience just now I would definately work your dog on both sides, even for heelwork etc.

It's interesting that you think your Akita is too slow to compete, I definately wouldn't let that put you off. If you both enjoy it, and enjoy a show atmosphere then I would go ahead and compete. Lets face it, very few dogs actually win a class. I go into the ring with the intention of doing the best I can with my dog and having fun, any rosette is a bonus. I've also seen lots of slower dogs win classes on a trickier course.

[mum24dog]

It's interesting that you think your Akita is too slow to compete, I definately wouldn't let that put you off. If you both enjoy it, and enjoy a show atmosphere then I would go ahead and compete. Lets face it, very few dogs actually win a class. I go into the ring with the intention of doing the best I can with my dog and having fun, any rosette is a bonus. I've also seen lots of slower dogs win classes on a trickier course.

 

I agree completely.

Most people go to agility shows for the social aspect as much as the competition anyway. Just as well since usually 85-90% of the dogs in any class don't get placed.

Think of it as a positive advert for the breed.

And a slow dog can be very useful to learn your handling skills with.

[Wombat]

I go into the ring with the intention of doing the best I can with my dog and having fun, any rosette is a bonus. I've also seen lots of slower dogs win classes on a trickier course.

 

That is so true. Levi is always seconds off the winning time but he got placed in an intermediate class this year just by being one of very few clears . If your basics are solid and you can churn out the clears then some of them are bound to get rossies. plus would be great to see an Akita out and about- I always watch the handful of Rotties and shepherds that compete it's great to see more unusual ABCs out there

[akitas]

Thanks for all your replies. That was very helpful.

Well, Mishka and I just started Agility, so lets see how she takes to it. She did quite well in the first lesson, but that was the first

 

I think Max has a lot of basic obedience work to do before we can improve further, but saying that, he seems a quick learner.

[leonak]

my lurcher pup is starting her second 10 week course next week. the puppy agility class at my club was initially just going through wings and tunnels then with the poles on the floor then poles about 4 inches off the ground. the pup class isnt just pups, its also dogs just starting so the jumps are adjusted. we have done contacts but on the floor so the dog walk is flat on the ground. i do think it depends on the dogs, you might not take a really heavy breed pup but providing the club is experienced then i dont see any reason for max not to go. my pup is nearly 7 months now. i dont know where you are but my clubs web address is www.madkathagility.com