Well, now I've done it: Agility here we come!

Running, catching, leaping; this is the forum to discuss dog sports and agility training with other active pups!

nom nom nom

Barked: Mon Oct 15, '12 6:21pm PST


	We finished our last Advanced Obedience class today, and Theo did an excellent job. The training group I go to just finished a giant new facility, so I stuck around afterwards to talk to one of the instructors and started watching the agility class going on. And oh dear, I caught the sport bug. We're already enrolled in a recallers course on mondays starting next week, but before I left tonight, I enrolled us in an intro to agility class starting next Thursday! I'm so excited, and I know Theo is going to love doing some active training. Stay proofing is so boring. I was planning on doing obedience only until we took our first rally class, but I couldn't help myself. He may be more of an agility dog than a rally dog anyway. Hopefully we'll both love it. In the meantime, does anyone have some tips on how to get Theo to tug more consistently out of the house? I'd love to tug in the recallers class and once we start running courses, but I'm not sure how well he'll take to that instead or in addition to treating.

Anna's Dark- Angel

Barked: Tue Oct 16, '12 10:23am PST


	Good luck! Agility is sooo much fun and before you know it you'll be addicted! As far as tugging I don't have much to offer. One of mine(abby) will tug at home but not so much anywhere else. While the other(twister) will tug anywhere and everywhere... If he's into food you can try one of those food pouch tug toy things clean run sells. I've been thinking of trying it with abby but we'll see.

Aussie-tastic- Trio

Barked: Tue Oct 16, '12 2:32pm PST


	Here is a Susan Garrett article on tugging/toy motivation. I prefer treats to toys...I still use toys and use them mostly when a dog already has the idea of what I want. I rarely throw toys for my dogs in agility as I train in a sand arena...they hate the sand in their eyes when they slam into their toy I will use toys when working in grass though. Have fun though! Agility is a blast

nom nom nom

Barked: Fri Oct 19, '12 10:40am PST


	Thanks for the well wishes and suggestions! I got a brand new toy for tugging, a really sturdy soft frisbee I can hang onto pretty easily. We did the Susan Garret "fun toy" routine with it a few times, then we headed to the dog park, so I thought "why not", and brought it along secretly. When he saw it in the park, he was beside himself and tugged with me while other dogs were sniffing him! It was great! Then the toy went away again after a while. Poor guy is so confused, but boy does he look forward to getting that toy. :] Thanks! We'll see if he'll tug in class on Monday.

Why walk when- you can run?

Barked: Fri Oct 19, '12 11:34am PST


	Keep us posted on how this goes. Charks (& I) love agility. Charka is a natural tugger, so can't really help with how to train it. I know how to USE it, just not how to train it Tug is extreme high value for Charks when we train. Personally I like the tug as a moving reward since I can toss it if I'm behind her or offer a hit if I'm in front. I still use food for stationary treats. We do our agility training on Mondays with a fun run most Saturdays. On Tuesdays I have Charka in therapy dog training... which is varied but really calm, cool and collected obedience work. She has had no problem with shifting gears between the high [physical] intensity and low intensity. I'm sure you realize that you are constantly spewing non-verbal information at your dog. As you sort out just how/what is going on in agility communication... you (as team) can certainly use your enhanced sense of each other in obedience and rally. Edited by author Fri Oct 19, '12 11:35am PST

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Barked: Fri Oct 19, '12 10:06pm PST


	That's great to hear of a dog who is successfully working in agility and training for therapy! That's what we want to do too. :] I'm glad your dog can switch gears; I hope we can do the same when the time comes for his therapy class! For the next three weeks we have a recall class on Mondays, and for the next six Thursdays we have our agility class. Once the recall class is over, we;re going to join the monday night obedience polish class. I am so excited! I will definitely keep you all updated. Thanks again for the encouragement!

Dogster