# home-made agility course?



## Lucy's_heart (Apr 21, 2010)

Anyone have ideas on how to set up a home-made agility course for Lucy? I also want to get her interested in fly ball, and have read ways to introduce this to her slowly. 

The agility sets I have seen online or in the pet shops are pretty expensive. Even if I could just set up some sort of obstacle course for her in the back yard.....

Any ideas? 

xxoo
Christina


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

I don't think things like the teeter, A-Frame, Dog Walk, etc. should be used at home if the dog has no prior experience training in agility.

As for some of the other stuff, you can buy children's play tunnels from toy stores (I think Toys R' Us might have them). Just make sure they are wide enough in diameter (usually 24" is good). There is no real way to make those at home. You can also buy PVC jumps on e-bay for a relatively low price. You can make them as well.. there are step by step instructions somewhere online. I'll go look for you.


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

I would find somewhere that you can take beginner agility classes. We are just finishing our first agility class & based on what we learned we have built our own agility equipment for a total of around $250 - ladder, weave, dog walk, 3 jumps, tire jump, wobble board, teeter and a pause table. Without going through the class we had no idea how to teach them properly without instilling fear or causing an injury. The class also taught us how to train, what to train for obedience needed in agility. We are not going to compete but its great exercise for us and the dogs, not to mention they love going to classes.


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## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

Here is a really good site: http://www.instantagility.com/ Go to the bottom and click on the links. I have built these channel weaves and they are awesome. Your basic jump: http://www.instantagility.com/2008/04/14/bar-jump-or-hurdle/ Tire jump:http://dogplay.com/Activities/Agility/tire.html or http://www.campbandy.com/store/tirejump.htm (This is the one I built) Pause table: http://www.ehow.com/how_4452284_build-pause-table.html As far as a teeter you start with a boogie board first to teach balance. Cut a piece of plywood 4x4 and screw a pvc toilet flange on the bottom of it in the middle. Flip it over voile boogie board! Hope this was helpful and I agree classes would be a very good idea. Safety can be an issue in agility and a good instructor can teach you and your dog with safety in mind. If Lucy is 17" or under at the withers you could build the smaller teacup size equipment and save some money on your pvc. Here is a link to their site: http://www.k9tdaa.com/TDAArules.htm#_Toc253641904


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## my lil nut case (Oct 22, 2009)

i really want to make some jumps after looking at some of the sites listed... it looks like something i could do...but the parts seem really expensive here. To make a single jump like the one on instantagility.com with 1" pipe would cost nearly $60! Does that seem like alot? It is sure alot more than the $12 material cost indicated... even knowing that that is US$ and a couple years old, that seems like a pretty big difference. 

I did find a canadian website where i can buy already made pvc jumps that are the same style for roughly $40 including shipping so i may try that but i can't decide if it is worth it to have just one jump or if i should just wait until i can afford to get a few.


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## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

my lil nut case said:


> i really want to make some jumps after looking at some of the sites listed... it looks like something i could do...but the parts seem really expensive here. To make a single jump like the one on instantagility.com with 1" pipe would cost nearly $60! Does that seem like alot? It is sure alot more than the $12 material cost indicated... even knowing that that is US$ and a couple years old, that seems like a pretty big difference.
> 
> I did find a canadian website where i can buy already made pvc jumps that are the same style for roughly $40 including shipping so i may try that but i can't decide if it is worth it to have just one jump or if i should just wait until i can afford to get a few.


Wow! Is PVC pipe that expensive in Canada? I made my jumps for about $20. Do you have a lumber yard or hardware store that sells the pipe and fittings? They are very inexpensive to make. You can buy a pvc cutter and have a jump made in about an hour.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

Most of the jumps we have I made with leftover pieces of 2 x 2 which was a lot cheaper than PVC pipe and just as light. We have small dogs so we made a tunnel out of a roll of stiff wire, covered with material. It is just a straight line tunnel, won't curve, but was great for starting them on. Then we extended the material so the end was like a chute. A teeter is fairly easy to make with some pieces of 2 x 6 on a framework similar to a sawhorse.

I will have to get some pictures of our equipment. The only thing we bought was the weave poles and were lucky enough to have a dog walk given to us. It was too narrow for the bigger dogs but they got it thrown in with the other equipment they bought and had no use for it as they had a regulation dog walk. We just have a proper chute to build and we will have everything but the A-frame.


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## my lil nut case (Oct 22, 2009)

well, i've been to most of the hardware stores in town (but i didn't think to try a lumber yard... will have to see what we have, my also try looking for plumbing supply places). Of the places i went (about 6 stores) only 2 have actually had any 1" or 3/4" pvc. 

Home depot had the 1" pipe and some of the fittings... but the pipe was $14.99 for 10' length... i need 2, plus fittings ($1-$2 each) plus a jump bar (so another 10ft length of next size smaller pipe since that is only length can buy the pipe in), plus some sort of jump cups (i've found a few options not sure which to choose yet). 

Wood may be a much cheaper option... i don't really have any leftover pieces, but i could probably buy 2x2's cheaper than the pvc i have found. 

Oh well, will keep looking around and see what i can find.


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