While teaching dog agility skills to your furry friend is fun and an excellent way to provide exercise, not every dog is suited to agility training, and there are a few things you need to think about before training starts. If you wish to start agility lessons, here is some information that might help you get the most out of this experience.
A dog needs to be in excellent physical condition for agility training, so if your dog has some health issues, this might not be a great activity choice. Keep in mind if you plan on competing, many organizations have restrictions for dogs who are partially blind or deaf, so for this dog, agility training is mainly for fun and exercise. A dog that doesn’t seem to have a lot of stamina or energy also is probably not a great choice for agility. You also need to consider your own health as agility training also is exercise for you.
A puppy that has reached at least eight weeks of age also can begin enjoying agility training. Puppies are always anxious to play and are highly interesting in anything new, so this can be a great time to start. However, because they are still in development stages, you do need to supervise them carefully and you also need to purchase mini equipment for them to use. Carlson Agility is one retailer that offers this mini equipment for puppies and small breed dogs. You can purchase mini versions of pause tables, a-frames, dog walks and even a cute little mini chute and barrel. The mini pause table can be a great place to begin, as they learn important agility and obedience skills at the same time.
Another advantage of using the mini equipment is that it simply takes up less room. While a regular-sized dog walk, teeter, weaves and other items might not fit in your yard easily, the mini equipment can be a better fit. It also will take up less storage space if you need to keep it in your garage. In addition, mini equipment makes rainy day training a snap. Simple move some sofas out of the way and practice skills indoors. This can be an excellent way to continue training and burn off energy during inclement weather.
If you have ever watched a dog agility competition, you probably were amazed by the skills and speed of these animals and it certainly is impressive to see. However, these dogs have spent several years honing these skills, and while your dog will learn them, don’t expect to hit the Grand Prix of Dog Agility in a matter of weeks. Time and plenty of patience is needed for training, and always remember this is supposed to be a fun activity for you and your dog. Start out slowly by learning one apparatus at time. You might begin with a jump, a tunnel or a pause table. A-frames and teeters can be a bit intimidating at first. Once you are doing well on one piece of equipment, add a new skill and so on.
Your first step to getting started is to acquire some quality dog agility equipment. For your dog agility course, you might consider beginning with a starter kit from Carlson Agility. These kits contain a few pieces of basic equipment. One kit, for instance, includes dog agility weaves and four agility jumps. Another kit contains two jumps and a dog agility tunnel. In addition to the many starter kits, Carlson Agility also sells individual pieces of equipment such as dog agility walks, A-frames, teeter totters, tire jumps and much more.
Cheng Bernhardt enjoys dog agility training. To get further information about dog training equipment or to learn more about other equipment like dog agility tunnels, please check out the Carlson-Agility.com website now.
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Want To Start Dog Agility Training? Read This First
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