Pre-agility foundation training for puppies and dogs new to agility
The athletic sport of agility requires a dog to run and jump – often landing and changing direction right away, run through a tunnel, climb up and run over elevated ramps/planks, wiggle their body through weave poles, and use their weight carefully to tip over a seesaw. In a competition, the dog must complete a course of obstacles in the quickest time possible which will mean they need to change pace from fast to slow when necessary, turn sharply and corner at speed, keep balanced and remain focused on their handler all the while.
Without doubt this puts both body and brain under pressure, so builds confidence, and develops skill and a trusting, connected relationship with their handler. It is certainly not as easy as it looks – and requires the dog to be healthy, fit, agile/supple and confident. This is why dogs start training seriously at around 18 months, to allow their bodies to develop into early adulthood without having unnecessary exertion upon their growing body.
However, there are many things you can do to help prepare your younger dog before they start agility training.
Talk to your vet about your dog’s weight, body condition and overall health. Make sure they are not suffering with any pain, stiffness or mobility issues and ask your vet about maintaining fitness and wellbeing.
Teach your dog some key skills which will be invaluable once you start agility training
Always use a reward your dog enjoys – so tasty treats or their favourite game are fab. Mix it up for them so you can use both treats and toys during agility training, it is good to have lots of options but your dog will have a favourite.
Keep training sessions short and sweet – a couple of minutes, or a few repetitions of the exercise you are working on, a couple times throughout the day is ideal. It will mean your dog doesn’t become bored or frustrated if they’re finding something particularly tricky.
Clear communication and consistency are key to success. So plan your training sessions so you can help your dog get it right from the start.
Here are a few tips to get you started
Running at your side – dogs can become very excited when their owners start running, some might even jump up and try to grab their owners, so it’s really useful to teach them to run safely with you. Start off at walking pace so it isn’t too hard too soon. Hold their reward in your outstretched hand, just out of their reach, and encourage them to follow it while you move along. Walk a few paces while they follow you trying to catch up with their reward, after a few paces, drop your arm down and reward them. Repeat this, gradually increasing the number of paces you do before rewarding them and very slowly starting to move a little bit faster.
Build this up gradually until you can gently jog along with them at your side for a little while before rewarding. Remember to do this with them on both sides of you, so they’re comfortable on your right and your left, and are learning to keep an eye on your body and your arms/shoulder/hand movements. Once they are comfortable, you can start to incoporate large circles and changes of directions. You might need to swap hands with their reward as you change direction to incentivise them to swap sides too – and so you don’t get dizzy!
Being handled, including having their collar held – during agility training sessions it can be beneficial for the instructor to be able to hold your dog while you move away from them, and it is also important that your dog feels confident and comfortable being checked over outside the home. Introduce gentle handling by teaching your dog to associate having different parts of their body touched with getting a really tasty treat, or their favourite game, right away. Gradually build this up until they are comfortable having their whole body examined, starting within the home and then reintroducing again very gradually outdoors.
It is the same for holding their collar – have a really tasty treat, slip a finger to begin with (and then two, three and finally all four) very gently beneath their collar, feed them the treat and then let go right away. Repeat this until they’re really comfortable and have learned that your fingers sliding beneath their collar means their favourite treats are coming right away. Now build up the length of time your hand remains under their collar, slowly gently enclosing it within your hand, and gradually eeking out the time between you holding their collar and giving them the treat.
Waiting while you move away before releasing them – this will be invaluable when you want to leave your dog at the start of an agility course and get some distance away from them. Start by asking them to sit and then to begin with just lean away from them before returning to them and giving their reward – a tasty treat or a game with their toy. Repeat this until you can take first just one step away from them before returning, and then build up to two steps away, and then three and so on. Your dog should be learning to wait in one spot until you return to them to give them their reward.
Now you can introduce ‘releasing them’. Once you are a few paces away from them, say “go” (or another word of your choice) and at the same time make a grand gesture of holding out, or even throwing if necessary their reward to incentivise them, so they are encouraged to run to get their reward. It’s really important now that you keep mixing up times when you ‘release’ your dog to get their reward by saying “go” from a distance away from them, and times when you say nothing and return to them to give them their reward where you left them. This keeps them guessing and encourages them to keep listening to you when they’re waiting to start a course, rather then expect to be released. For example, if a dog is always released by their handler, they will be expecting this to happen and so might well start to pre-empt the release word and ‘break’ their waiting position… which can be problematic.
Going around an object in both directions, following your arm and body movements – you don’t need any fancy equiment for this and can use whatever you have to hand within the home, such as a waste paper basket, or if you’ve got limited space indoors then tree stumps or bins in the park are fab for this. With your dog’s reward in your left hand and your dog on your left hand side, stand right in front of the object and simply guide your dog around it by encouraging them to follow your hand around it – and then give them their reward of course Once they’re comfortably doing this, take a step away and repeat, and then two steps, and then three… You’ll find that the further you are from the object you’ll need to almost lean your body and arm out towards the object, motioning towards it to guide your dog to go away from you, around it and back to you to get their reward. If you only ever reward your dog once they’ve gone around the object, they will soon realise this is how to get the reward. If they cut in, don’t worry, just don’t reward them and go a little closer and start again from there. Remember to do this on both sides, so your dog will follow whichever arm you use to go around an object in the direction you’re guiding them. Once they’re really good at this see how far away from th eobject you can get. You can add in a command when you are sending them around eg. “right” if they’re going around it from left to right, and “left” if they’re going around it from right to left. However, you will need to be consistent and always use the same word each time. Eventually, your dog will recognise your body and arm signals and will know where to go and what to do.
Categorised as: Training