There are five factors to consider before you and your dog
decide which agility direction you want to focus on:
- First, there is fun with your dog at home.
- Second, there is
competiton where many people have that "gotta win" inside their
bodies (and I'm one of them!).
- Third, you will need to find out
if you and your dog just want to have some fun and exercise at
a club for a social and competitive outing.
- Fourth, there are
pros and cons with running through the dog agility equipment
for fun or competition.
- And lastly, make a decision and stick
with it.
I've had people come to me and say their dog can jump high, is
full of energy, has a hunger to run and jump, etc. But that
does not mean all dog trainers and their dogs will want to
compete in the agility sport ring. You might get the impression
your dog just wants to have some fun, so make an effort to set
up an agility course in your backyard, or get together with a
small group. I am not suggesting to set up a whole agility
course, we know its costly and takes up a lot of space, and we
know most of your backyards will not be able to fit all
equipment. Instead, set up a few obstacles such as some jumps
and weaves, make up your own course. Or just have your dog do
most of the exercise jumping over bars and chasing a ball or
frisbee. You might want to get involved in social activities
such as dog or breed clubs. There are a lot of clubs just
starting agility, or just getting together to have some fun and
to socialize, a healthy atmosphere to gather around dogs. Even
clubs that have a competitive group also welcome newcomers to
join a beginners class.
To train and prepare your dog for competition takes time,
patience, and more patience. Converting from the fun atmosphere
in your backyard or club to the competition level changes your
spontaneous free play to planned training sessions and goals of
putting in more training time.
Training for competition requires lots of teamwork. You and
your dog need to know each other well, trust each other, and
find your weaknesses and strengths in both of you. To be
successful in competition, your dog must have a "clean run",
meaning no bars knocked down, making the contacts, running on
course, and making the time. Gee, that's a huge challenge to do
all that in one run. This does require training specific
behaviors for each obstacle. You need to ask yourself "are we
willing
and capable of working hard?" If that's what you want and your
dog is able, then get start with simple training methods, do
one thing at a time, until both of you can move on to the next
harder method of training. Competition on Animal Planets
channel on TV as well as games such as Great Outdoors on ESPN
looks so easy for the handlers and their dog running the
agility course. Don't forget the fact that it took most of them
3-5 years to reach that level, or more.
If you can't decide which direction to go, free play or
competition, let your dog do the speaking. Play with your dog,
throw a frisbee, ball, play tug o war, take up obedience
training, give yourself some time, maybe 2-4 months. That will
give you a better idea what your dog enjoys. Making a decision
on either free play or competition, there is no right or wrong
answer. Every dog owner and their dog will make an agreement or
pact on what kind of activity they choose. However, one needs to
observe carefully the talents, limitations, and desire each dog
has. For instance, a border collie that loves to run and jump
all over the agility equipment, but is asked to do training for
obedience, which requires lots of sits, stays, gos, and comes,
may find it difficult to be still The bottom line is to find
out what makes your dog happy and how you can have a good time
with your dog. Do not force your dog to run in the agility ring
when it wants to just stay at home, or do not force it to stay
at home where it wants to get out and go.
There are some pros and cons with free play vs. competition
agility. The good part about free play training is that there
is no pressure to perform the best whereas competition requires
no mistakes in the ring to be successful. Free play training is
also less costly vs. competition. In competition, the equipment
must meet the organizations standard requirements. Most
competition agility equipment must be made from metal, which is
expensive to purchase. Agility clubs have their own facility to
train, but it will cost to practice or train at their club.
Some clubs will charge a member monthly fee, or pay as you run
the course or by time.
Don't wait until your dog gets too old to even walk anymore.
Make a decision which way you want to go. You might want to
wait up to 5 years of your dogs life before deciding to
continue have free play agility and let you dog be a dog, or
get into the competion mode. Remember no matter what kind of
dog you have, it takes hours, months, and even years to train
for competiion. Unless your dog tells you playing with balls
and frisbees is good enough for dog life. You might make the
wrong decision, but its never a bad one if you keep them both
fun for the dog. And your dog probably don't give a hoot what
you decide!
About The Author: Brad Carlson is a dog trainer at Agility by
Carlson. For more training details, visit our website at
www.carlson-agility.com.
<Back to Clubs>