Want To Own A Introducing Hands-off Dog Training Secrets With Fast, Effective Results That Save Hours Of Your Time Every Week!! |
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Best Shoes for Dog Agility Training
Friday, May 1, 2009
Where to buy agility equipment?
There are many places (online and off-line) where you can buy equipment from, but I found that at Affordable Agility you will find everything you need at AFFORDABLE Prices.
They have the following agility equipment
Pause Tables
Also pause table and contact trainer combo
Jumps
Adjustable bar jumps, wings, tire jumps, long jumps, travel jump set, window jump, etc.
Agility Tunnels and chutes with accessories
Weave poles ( now also a set you won't find anywhere else! It is versatile, full-fledged competition or practice weave pole set that easily converts into a channel weave set or a 2x2 weave set.)
See-saws with different variasions
A-frames and dog walks
They also stock dog agility practice equipment and not just equipment for competitions.
Then they also have:
Unusual obstacles like Cavalettis and ladders etc.
Agility course accessories like cones, equipment bags, tabs etc
Books, videos and DVD on dog agility training
Travel gear and other interesting stuff.
To view all the equipment and other products at Affordable Agility, just click on their name or on their banner.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Border Collies in Sync
Monday, April 20, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Border Collie with 6 Feet?
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Training a puppy to heel
Then a few days later you can attach the leash. Make sure it is very thin and light-weighted one. Let the puppy also just get used to it. Do not pick it up as yet. Let him drag it around, while playing with him and treating him often. Take it off after a few minutes.
The next day you can do the same. After a while you can pick up the lead and encourage the puppy to follow you. If he does, click and treat. Just repeat that in a playfull manner for a few minutes. If you continue this exercise every day for a few weeks, by the time your puppy is old enough to go to dog training school for his puppy classes (about 10 weeks old) then he will already have a head start and will be very fast to learn how to heal next to you.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Finding the "right" agility dog
If you want to do agility, not just for fun, but also to compete in competitions, then you want the "right" dog.
You have to look at the following characteristics
- Energy - the willingness to run - You will probably be better of with a dog with a high energy level. He must be willing to run with you even when it is hot. Agility is a very fast and active sport. Although it is not always the fastest dog that wins, it will be to your advantage if your dog can cover ground very fast. If your dog is a trotter and not a runner, you will have to work extra hard to encourage him to run.
- Wanting to please you - Agility requires teamwork and your dog needs to be willing to work with and for you. It requires excellent focus from the dog to be aware of every body signal that you send out. Some breeds are more independant and like to think for themselves, where as some dogs might seem to be unwilling to work untill you start training them.
- Prey drive - If your dog has prey drive (the desire to chase something that moves) you can have a winner. You want a dog that is more interested in chasing you than in sniffing around.
- The Confident dog - Most dogs will gain confidence while training agility. I have seen many dogs growing in confidence, but it takes extra confidence to learn to perform each obstacle well and without fear as well as handling the environment of trials.
- Trust other people - Your dog should trust you, but he should also trust other people. He will have to interact with many different people during classes and at trials. You do not want a dog that stops in the middle of a course to bark at the judge.
- Socialized with other dogs - At training classes and at trials there are always many other dogs around, therefor your dog needs to be well socialized with other dogs. You should be in control of your dog at all times. If your dog is not so friendly towards other dogs, he should always be on lead except when it is his turn to run.
- Health, age and weight - As mentioned before, your dog should be in perfect health and not over-weight. There is tremedous pressure on the dog's joints when he performs the obstacles and it is very bad for him if he has to carry extra weight around.
Once you have your dog, you can immediately start training him. The traditional training methods were based on correcting undesired behaviours, whereas positive reinforcement is based on reinforcing desired behaviours. All agility training must be correction free. If you are going to base your agility training on corrections, you are going to slow your dog down. When he makes a mistake, pretend it did not happen, and try again, giving the signals or commands more clearly. Every desired behaviour should be rewarded using verbal praise together with either a treat or a toy. I use the clicker with all of my training and I encourage others in my classes to also use it.