Puppy agility

[beagle_lovergirl]

Hey everyone I was just wondereing if there's such thing as puppy agility (pups under 6 months) or some way that I can train my puppy to getting used to agility early, you know, before her bones are completely closed but something that she won't have to strain her joints to do.

 

[Doberluv]

I took my Doberman to a puppy agility class when he finished his kindergarten obedience. He was around 5 or 6 months I think. The jumps he jumped over were the ones set for the toy breeds, basically, sometimes a little higher, but not higher than his elbow. He learned all the names of all the equipment and went on baby bridges, and anything else that could be dangerous.....baby size. He loved going through the tunnel and chute. He ran through, but there was no pressure to hurry or make dreadfully sharp turns. The weave poles were done slowly....just to get some accuracy.

Some people disagree with doing this with young dogs with big bones, but some think it's carried too far.....the paranoia. I checked with my vet first. A beable, I would think would be fine. Check with your vet and take it easy with the agility. It's all about fun anyhow....never ever one negative word. That will ruin their drive later on, when it counts. Hope you can find something. Otherwise, obedience classes are lots of fun or canine good citizen. That's what Lyric is doing right now. Then we're back to agility, I think. Good luck.

 

[beagle_lovergirl]

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Doberluv]

You're welcome. LOL. I didn't mean Beable. I meant Beagle. Hmmmm lets see. A Beable is a cross between a Beagle and a Bulldog. You can spell it Beabull too. Either way is accepted.

 

[beagle_lovergirl]

Haha LOL!

 

[makka619]

He learned all the names of all the equipment

Should you be teaching names of the equipment? So in proper agility do you call out the equipment name before he goes to it? I know for hoop you say "hoop" as they go through... but just wondering about the others.

 

[Dulce Pit Bull]

For the shoot, I say "shoot!" and for the tubes, I say "Thru!"

Ladder: "Climb!" Wall: "Climb!"

The low thing that I don't know the name of: "Crawl"

I think I may have misunderstood what you're talking about. Sorry.

 

[makka619]

You have answered my question, thanks.

So for A-Frame do you say "climb"?

 

[Dulce Pit Bull]

Yep!

 

[makka619]

thanks.

 

[Dulce Pit Bull]

Sure! I posted some websites for you on the other Agility thread.

 

[BarkingM*d]

There are a number of clubs that offer puppy foundation courses, and they are basically about the pups gaining confidence and improving balance, as well as control exercises that will help with handling later on... all based on play and having fun.

Following link is to a local club that runs a puppy class:
http://www.istnet.net.au/~borderaussie/puppyclass.html

A great source for foundation work is the Greg Derrett video:
http://www.gtagility.com/Video1.htm

The weave poles were done slowly....just to get some accuracy.

Disagree with this... I don't think you should slow your dog down on any piece of equipment especially the weaves. For a pup I would recommend using the channel method of weaving (getting them to run through staggered poles to a target), and worry about reducing the stagger when the dog is older, or change to 2x2.

 

[Dulce Pit Bull]

http://www.nadac.com/

http://www.agilityability.com/

 

[Dulce Pit Bull]

http://www.usdaa.com/

 

[makka619]

Thanks for the sites Dulce.

Barking, there aren't any special puppy agility calsses where I am. There's only one club in town. Gordy has passed the begginers obedience and second level, now he is going into agility. The class is of mixed ages, there are other puppies in the class and they just said to not do any of the jumps.

I have made a few pieces of mini puppy agility equipment. So I want to get started on it during the break.

That video looks good, I will look into it, see if I can get my hands on one in Australia or just order that one.

 

[makka619]

Barking, can I ask, this is one of the sites that I had bookmarked for weave poles... I particularly remember this one (of the thousand bookmarked) because I thought it looked really good.

Anyway, do you think this method would be alright to introduce weave poles?

http://users.tpg.com.au/users/rloftus/weaving.htm (if you scroll down to the diagrams, you will get the drift of the way they are teaching.)

or just the stagger method....

ETA: Thanks for that information you sent me, I have only had quick squiz at it so far but, it looks really good.

 

[BarkingM*d]

I think the weave poles are by far the hardest piece of equipment to train, and there are many methods out there, off the top of my head: Channel, 2x2, Clicker, Weave-o-matic, Lure, Wire/Chute....

My favorite methods are Channel, 2x2 and Clicker. Channel method is good for speed, and 2x2/clicker are good for finding difficult entries and independent weaving/distance.

For a pup with developing bones I really don't think it is worth risking damaging the spine by getting them to weave too early. For the sake of holding off until they're around 12 months (or a bit older for larger breeds).

The good thing about the channel method is that in the early stages the dog is running straight so you can get the dog used to running through a set of poles to a target without any risk of damage.

I think I posted that link of yours somewhere in another post as an excellent description of the Clicker training method. I'll send you a copy of a 2x2 training article too.

IMHO the most important thing about training weaves is little and often if you can do just 5 or 10 mins every night, you'll be there before you know it.

 

[Herschel]

Herschel knows "tunnel" (for tunnels and shoots), jump (small jumps), and tire (for hoops/tires). We're not going to start with the weave until he's a little bit older (he's 8 months).

He also knows how to go down playground slides on his own. We say, "Go Slide!" and he runs to the top and slides down. Not that sliding will ever be useful in agility, it's just fun for him.