# A question for those who train in agility



## PatchworkRobot (Aug 24, 2010)

For my birthday my friend gave me 5 passes to the ZoomRoom's Open Gym. This is a half of hour of time in their gym that is full of agility equipment in which we can exercise our dog and over the equipment. I was going to wait to use it until I've taken an agility training class since I've never been around agility equipment before and don't know how to properly go about training my pup in agility. However, the passes expire and I'm moving soon and don't have the time (or the money) to sign up my pup for any agility classes. Therefore I have to go about it on my own. Do any of you guys have any tips or links to websites that would help?


----------



## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

You really should not put your dog on full-height equipment without an instructor present. Typically, equipment is not introduced at full heigh first, but is lowered during the learning process. An inexperienced dog can get spooked by the agility obstacles or can fall off because they don't know how to properly perform them.

If you go, I would NOT use any contact obstacles (A-Frame, Teeter, Dog Walk), and would set the jump bars low. Tunnels and the table should be OK to fool around with as-is.


----------



## DJEtzel (Dec 28, 2009)

I agree with what MissMutt said, though also want to add-

Work on a lot of flatwork, crosses, and touching around the equipment. Don't take contact obstables, but get your dog used to stepping onto them correctly. You can do a lot with jumps, tunnels, tables and chutes!


----------



## RaeganW (Jul 14, 2009)

A selection of one jump drills: http://agilitynerd.com/blog/agility/courses/steve/OneJumpDrills.html Keep the bars low, I would probably set them at 8" and no higher than 12".

The drill I've been taught for working front crosses is JUMP - TUNNEL - JUMP with the tunnel set in a C shape with the jumps ~10 ft away from the tunnel entrance. Start your dog a few strides away from one jump (I see a lot of people start their dog right on top of the jump and I think it makes the first jump harder) and place yourself on the inside of the path. Run the dog into the tunnel and front cross at the tunnel exit so that for the last jump your dog is on the inside and you are on the outside. The nice thing about this drill is it allows you to get your mechanics down without distracting the dog because he can't see most of the maneuver. 

Try to get some kind of instruction before you go though, or see if anyone more experienced can come along with out. Flying blind in agility training can get the dog hurt.


----------



## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

Great link: however by the photos of your dob I am assuming that he is still a puppy and a young one at that. My office manager just started her dob in agility training on obstacles and he is almost 18 months old. This is after she x-rayed his jointed to make sure his growth plates have closed. She has trained dobs in agility for over 15yrs. I would skip the free passes or give them to someone else. You have plenty of time to learn agility the right way without taking a chance on harming your beautiful puppy!!!


----------



## PatchworkRobot (Aug 24, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice! I know he is young and I do want to train him in agility but unless it's a class specifically for puppies its not something that should be done until he's at least 18 months. I figure that a half hour of work once a week or so won't hurt him, especially if it's little things like tunnels, chutes, and little jumps. I don't really have any dog-loving friends so I have nobody to give the passes to. If nothing else I can spend the time getting him used to being around the different obstacles. Thanks again!


----------

