Dog Agility Training
Dog agility is a type of sport in which dogs move through a course filled with obstacles, under the guidance of a handler. Since dogs run off the lead, the handlers have control on them through body language and voice. A dog needs to have exceptional obedience level to win this sport. Speed and accuracy are the two most important factors required in agility competition. This is a new sport and its creation was displayed just for a demonstration in 1978 Crufts Dog Show in the UK. Since then it spread worldwide at a very fast pace with many major competitions held all over the world.
What Is Agility Course?
There are sets of standard obstacles in an agility course which is laid by agility judge in a design that he or she chooses. There are numbers that indicate an order in which the dogs have to complete the obstacles. Although different rules are specified by different organizations, in this context the basic obstacles are somewhat the same. Some of them are;
- Seesaw/Teeter-totter
- Tunnels
- Crossover Picture
- Broad jumps
- Tire jumps
- Jumps
It does not take a lot of time to teach a dog the basic execution of most of the obstacles present in an agility course. Just simple training techniques are necessary to make the dogs perform it. Almost every dog can be easily convinced for running through a straight and short tunnel. However, in order to compete in an agility trial and for developing accuracy and speed the dog as well as the handler needs to learn a wide range of techniques to ready the equipment, communicate on course and to perform a sequence of obstacles when running.
Weave poles and teeter-totter is considered to be two of the most challenging obstacles for teaching. Teeter- totter is difficult because not all dogs know about the movements of the board and weaver because they would be performing naturally over a 12 pole series. However, a handler can face a lot of trouble and challenge for training a dog so that it performs the contact obstacles in a manner that ensures that it will get the paw in the contact zone without falling on speed. There is a lot of variation in the techniques of training for instance, the weave poles training includes use of offset poles that move more in the line gradually with each other; using poles tilting outwards from the base and becoming upright gradually; with use of gates or wires around the poles that force the dog in the desired path. There are many other techniques. We've only begun to cover the surface!
