It’s All Tricks Training: How to Prepare Your Puppy for Dog Agility. Through the tunnel, over the jumps, and around the weave poles – the canine obstacle course known as dog agility is fun to watch and even more fun to do. However, although both pure-bred and mixed breed dogs are welcome, they must be at least 15 months of age to compete.
Of course, all this self-confidence will be a boost on the agility field as your dog will need to run the course off-leash and use independent skills to succeed. One of those skills is self-control.
Participating in agility boosts a dog’s confidence, and that’s particularly important for young puppies. A large component of socializing a puppy is helping him become comfortable with everything the world has to offer. Leigh says agility training can help. “When a puppy conquers a tunnel or walks across a low board, it boosts confidence, ...
Future agility dogs need to know basic obedience behaviors like sit, down, and stay. These are particularly valuable for the start line and pause table. But there are some other basics to consider too. For example, DeYoung suggests playing recall games (try round-robin recalls where several people stand in a circle and take turns calling the dog) or using restrained recalls (where one person holds the dog while you run away and ask him to come).
Introducing any puppy to new surfaces is an important part of socialization, but for the agility dog to-be, it’s critical. Leigh explains, “they will be executing teeters that move and bang, as well as running across dog walks, through tunnels that may have a strange feel to their feet and lying down on a table that can have various surfaces.”
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Dana has made working with or for shelter dogs part of her career since 1986. She worked for not for profit animal agencies for 13 years, until 1999, when she started Dogs of Course with the first Instructor Training Course class.
Bonnie Bartlett studied Business Administration at Quinsigamond Community College and Atlantic Union College. She started her career at Data General, in the corporate world. Several years in, she decided this was not the path for her.