Backyard Agility - pictures!

Since we now have a backyard (!!!!) I finally have space to practice agility! Well, to practice without moving every piece of furniture I own into a corner to make room for a couple jumps

Just wanted to show off my amazing agility equipment building skills lol-sign and Lucy's ever-increasing skill set. I <3 this dog.






(Still working the weaves--she needs the guides up for the first 2-3 runs through, and then she can do them perfectly without. She just needs to remember she has a brain!)











That's all!

Your teeter base is cool! You built that? Did you follow any plans? Mind sharing if you did? LOL I keep meaning to build a teeter base, just haven't gotten around to it yet, mostly because I can't totally decide the best way to do it. I saw some welded metal ones for sale at Louisville but they were over a hundred bucks and I just couldn't drop that much on one!

Those "guides" for your weaves look sorta dangerous with those pieces that are supposed to interlock onto the next piece of fencing sticking out. Not only could she poke herself or an eye with them but they're pushing her out and forcing her to have a less than tight weave. I'm not a huge fan of using guides for weaves anyway, but I would grab a pair of wire cutters and snip those off. You probably want to find a way for your bars on the jumps to displace, too, should she crash into it.

I was so confused by the bolded part, until I looked at the picture above. It really does look like they're sticking out! In truth, they're flush with the poles, it's just a really awkward angle in the picture.

I'm indifferent to the methods of teaching weaves. They all work, and through research I really don't think any are "better" than the others. I know everyone's pretty opinionated on it, but guides are the way we practice in class, so it's the way I've done it at home too, just to keep consistency. Sometimes I'll mix it up and use channels to increase speed, but the guides have worked really well for her. She can do 12 in a row perfectly once she's focused...we just have to get her focus together!

And yup, we built the base. There's a yahoo agility plans group that has a great database of plans for the different objects. (agility-equipment : This list is for the exchange of ideas regarding construction of dog agility equipment) I based this off of a picture someone had posted. There were no actual plans, but it was easy enough to decipher. It cost about $50 to build (including the board and paint) when all was said and done--much better than what I could find online! I need to glue it together in some way though. The rocking of the teeter causes it to come apart after using it repeatedly.

I know I should make the jumps separate... Buttttt...this works, for now. She hasn't knocked a bar since our 2nd week of classes a year ago (seriously, not exaggerating there), so jumps aren't my concern at the moment. I probably just jinxed it and she'll knock every bar this week...

You should be able to use a saw to cut the top half off the jump pole holder pieces and make it so it can come down if needed.

I'm impressed with the obstacles! I made a tire jump and that is it - no yard to really practice in anyway.

Lucy is lovely!

I'm jealous of your mad agility equipment making skills. Lol.

Ooh, that's such a simple solution...I should try it. I'll stop at home depot one day next week and pick up some extra PVC pieces so I can wreck a few and see how it goes!

If you dont mind my asking, about how much does it cost for the jumps/tirejump?

Im kinda low on funds (okay, so they are non exstant at the moment.. lol) but when I do get some money Id like to be able to make a few jumps for keely and a better tire jump (the one I have now is an old bike tire, I used scrap wood I found in my shed lol) ..

BTW: Lucy is ADORABLE.. And you need to share more pictures more often :lol-sign:

You did a wonderful job with building the equpment too!

Hrm, I think we maybe spent $20-30 on the tire jump total? I'm not sure--we didn't have ANYTHING when i embarked on this endeavor, so our bill was pretty high because we bought a jigsaw and drill and rubber mallet for smashing the pvc tightly together. The actual materials weren't that bad though.

The "tire" is a plastic drainage pipe from the plumbing section of home depot--I just attached it to itself and duct taped it! Then the only other cost is PVC, really. If you already have the frame, then the tire itself would probably only be $5-7.