# Tunnel Suggestions



## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I'm thinking about getting a tunnel this summer. My fenced in agility area is very small (like, 3-4 jumps max fit in it), and it won't see a ton of use, so something small and relatively cheap is going to be best. I mostly want it for basic conditioning (run through fast, and don't stop to pee in it) and some object discrimination. It should probably be able to bend in a U, so I think 6ft is too short. Maybe 10ft?

Any suggestions? A google search brings up a lot of choices but many are $200 and overkill for what we need. It would also be nice if it didn't weigh a million pounds.

I think my front runner right now is NTI standard tunnel, 10ft.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

NTI is good but expensive. I went ahead and bought a 'real' tunnel and am glad I did. I had a pop up tunnel and it died very badly. The fabric was very thin and while the paps did not tear it running through, I'm pretty sure Hank would have. After a couple years the fabric just became very brittle and it fell apart. 

So I'd say if you can afford a real tunnel then get one. Mine is 15' and the lighter weight one. It's not too too bad to carry. I've hiked it across football fields a few times. I've thought about a second one to replicate a lot more jumpers courses but I can't fit two in my car.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Laurelin said:


> NTI is good but expensive. I went ahead and bought a 'real' tunnel and am glad I did. I had a pop up tunnel and it died very badly. The fabric was very thin and while the paps did not tear it running through, I'm pretty sure Hank would have. After a couple years the fabric just became very brittle and it fell apart.
> 
> So I'd say if you can afford a real tunnel then get one. Mine is 15' and the lighter weight one. It's not too too bad to carry.


I actually looked at them after reading one of your old posts. They are still cheaper than some of the other companies I looked at (~$100 instead of ~$200) which is good. I don't want something that's going to fall apart, but I don't need super durable heavy duty trial tunnel either. I guess middle of the road, which seems to describe their standard tunnel.

Any thoughts on pitch? Apparently 4" is AKC regulation, but 6" will probably be lighter weight. I can't imagine it matters that much?

Do you think the 15ft is necessary? Or would 10ft work? 15ft would be a lot in my small area, but I don't want to go too small and regret it either. It doesn't need to be long enough to wrap around contact equipment or anything - if I'm at the point of getting contact equipment I can add another longer tunnel.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

I can't even remember which pitch mine was.

By the time I had shipping and got the longer length, mine was still well over $200. 

As far as length, I wish I had gotten the 20' to be honest. 15' works fine but it'd be nice to have a 20. I have a very small 'agility area' and 15 isn't too bad but I like having it very curved some of the time.

I am accumulating so much agility equipment. I just moved in September and am already hoping I can get a house with a larger yard in 5 years or so. Just added 7 more jumps and a contact trainer and now a teeter to my equipment. But I can only put 3 jumps or my tunnel and 2 jumps or tunnel + jump + weaves in my yard! The dream of my own full course.....


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

OH and tunnel bags. That is what pushed the expense up on mine. I couldn't remember why but it was definitely over $300 when all said and done. I'm sure you could do DIY tunnel bags somehow too but I'm not crafty at ALL so I bought mine from NTI global.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

We bought our tunnel from NTI a few years ago and it has stood up well. It is the lighter weight one. We didn't buy the tunnel bags but made our own out of belting and two milk jugs full of sand. Liked their chute as it folds down very small to pack away. It was sent to us in Canada by mail, no shipping charges.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

I have one of the pop up tunnels and it's fine, even with Thud and Molly tearing through it at speed.

that said, you want tunnel bags. You NEED tunnel bags, no matter what you use - though I guess the milk jugs with sand could work fine. Even Kylie's sent that thing rolling before; stakes just don't cut it. (Again, I have a cheapish popup thing that came with stakes).


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Ack, you guys are not doing a good job of convincing me to get something cheap! Now I need all of the tunnel things. I was going to do the milk jugs full of water/sand, but I do like the idea of the actual tunnel bags.

We're reconfiuring my agility space from long and narrow (for jump grid work) to more square, so I'll have to measure and see what size tunnel will work best. I can get my 20ft long line and lay it out to see if I want 10ft or 15ft. Hopefully I don't decide I need 20ft.

I'm sad about my agility space becasue we have 10 acres with about 2-3 cleared (not including the yard part right around our house), but Watson can't work without a fence. If I didn't need to fence it I would have basically unlimited agility space to play with. Right now we just have temporary garden fencing - it's only 3ft tall but he doesn't jump out so it works. The snow destroyed it though (even bent some of the metal posts) so we have to fix it up before I can use it. 

Any other brand recommendations? Or do most people get NTI? They're still cheaper than most I've found. The 15ft tunnels they sell on Clean Run are $370.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Affordable agility has some cheaper practice tunnels but I know nothing about the quality. Everyone I know went with NTI though my trainer said she wants even heavier duty next time for trial tunnels. Can't recall the place she was getting her new ones from but they were very expensive.

The way I looked at it was that it was an investment that I'd use for 15+ years probably and over the course of many dogs. Purchase price initially for equipment is steep but if you think you'll use it long term...


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Laurelin said:


> Affordable agility has some cheaper practice tunnels but I know nothing about the quality. Everyone I know went with NTI though my trainer said she wants even heavier duty next time for trial tunnels. Can't recall the place she was getting her new ones from but they were very expensive.
> 
> The way I looked at it was that it was an investment that I'd use for 15+ years probably and over the course of many dogs. Purchase price initially for equipment is steep but if you think you'll use it long term...


I guess I'm not sure I'll use it that much long term. I'd like to think I will, but then I don't ever see myself ever getting super competitive in agility, just doing it for fun. Still, I could do it for fun a couple times a week for 15+ years. In general I don't like to get cheap low quality stuff, so I don't want to get one of the super lightweight tunnels, but I do want to get a value, if that makes sense. Something that will last for a while assuming light use and not trials. Looks like NTI might be it.

ETA: Affordable Agility's 15' tunnel is still $170, so at that price I think I'd just get the NTI.


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## Finkie_Mom (Mar 2, 2010)

Could you set up a larger area with just chicken wire/mesh fencing or something? Then just stake it in? Cheaper than a legit fence and then you have more room to work in without worrying about Watson going anywhere 

Yes, I'm trying to be an enabler...... You have to be able to buy ALL the equipment!!!!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Finkie_Mom said:


> Could you set up a larger area with just chicken wire/mesh fencing or something? Then just stake it in? Cheaper than a legit fence and then you have more room to work in without worrying about Watson going anywhere
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's what we have, but even that was a few hundred $$ for a tiny area. No way we could do anywhere near as much property as we actually have, sadly. ETA: I think it's probably 10ft by 60ft? I set it up that way so we could focus on jump grids and now we can make it more square, but it's still not very big and wasn't all that cheap. It's plastic garden fencing (3ft talls) with cheap metal stakes.


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## Finkie_Mom (Mar 2, 2010)

elrohwen said:


> That's what we have, but even that was a few hundred $$ for a tiny area. No way we could do anywhere near as much property as we actually have, sadly. ETA: I think it's probably 10ft by 60ft? I set it up that way so we could focus on jump grids and now we can make it more square, but it's still not very big and wasn't all that cheap. It's plastic garden fencing (3ft talls) with cheap metal stakes.


Oh really??? I wouldn't think that would be terribly expensive at all! Darn!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Finkie_Mom said:


> Oh really??? I wouldn't think that would be terribly expensive at all! Darn!


I want to say it was around $100 for the plastic fencing and another $100 for the stakes, so together somewhere in the $150-200 range for not a big area. We have to replace some of it after all the snow this winter, so maybe we'll expand a bit too. The current location is near the septic leachfield and my husband is all paranoid about putting the stakes in there, but I'm resisting moving it to the bigger field because it's by a path where neighbors pass through our property and I don't trust that people won't mess with it.

Oh, and I also had to buy little tent stakes because sneaky Watson figured out immediately that he could go under the fence. Haha. Many dogs could easily jump out too, but luckily he won't jump something he can't see well and the black plastic fencing is hard for him to judge. For some dogs you'd need to spend more for the taller fencing.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

Right now I am waiting for the last of the ice and snow to go so I can set up my weave poles and jumps up in my yard. Just seems likes it takes forever for the last of the snow to go. Anywhere that the sun hits, it is all melted off but I have a lot of trees that keep my yard shaded.

We will probably be able to set up all our obstacles down at my sisters before I can set them up here but I like to have my weave poles and a few jumps at home just so I can go out and practice a few times a day.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Kyllobernese said:


> Right now I am waiting for the last of the ice and snow to go so I can set up my weave poles and jumps up in my yard. Just seems likes it takes forever for the last of the snow to go. Anywhere that the sun hits, it is all melted off but I have a lot of trees that keep my yard shaded.
> 
> We will probably be able to set up all our obstacles down at my sisters before I can set them up here but I like to have my weave poles and a few jumps at home just so I can go out and practice a few times a day.


Yes, same here! My agility area is in a cleared field in the woods, with little sun. It's going to take forever. Plus we need to fix some of the stakes (the snow actually bent the metal stakes) so we have to wait for the ground to thaw. I signed up for the Fenzi agility basics class but now I can't do anything because of the snow. I wish Watson could work without a fence.

I have a nice sized basement, but only concrete on the floor so no jumping allowed. I've looked into matting but that would be in the $200-400 range so it's very low priority.


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