How to do Agility Training at Home

Dog agility is one of the most spectacular dog sports around and handlers, dogs and spectators all love the game of agility and dog jumping. If you have a agile dog or if you just love to be out and do something with your dog, you should consider joining a dog training school where they also offer agility training classes. Most dog training schools do not just do dog obedience training, but also offer puppy classes, agility and dog jumping classes, tracking classes and much more.

If you just want to do the training at home or even if you have joined a dog training school, you might want to make or buy dog agility training equipment. Most of the obstacles are easy to make yourself from PVC pipe, like the jumps and the weave poles. Other equipment like the tunnel and the see-saw are easier to buy, unless of cause if you are very handy! The most important thing is, that the agility equipment that you use, should be safe for the dog to perform. Your dog's safety should always be your first concern. One piece of equipment that is easy to construct is an agility training ladder. You can always just use the normal ladder you have in your garage. This is used to teach the dog that it has hind feet. He must just be trained to step in the gaps and not on the ladder. It also helps with teaching him balance.

6 Home agility training tips for dogs:

1. Work a lot on his basic obedience commands, like stays, recall and fast sits and downs.
2. Do a lot of ground work, like following your hand, directions and speed.
3. Practice only short sequences at home (at most 4-5 obstacles)
4. Keep training sessions short and fun.
5. NO punishment, only praise!
6. Do to agility training for small dogs, you can make use of a target stick, especially when training the weave poles.

The most important tip, whether you train at home or at dog training school:
The dog is NEVER wrong - if he missed a jump, ask yourself "What did I do wrong?"

Happy Training!

How old for puppy training?

The question: "How old for puppy training?" is often asked by new puppy owners, especially first time puppy owners.

Normally when someone asks that question, he is actually asking "how old should my be puppy be to be taken to a dog training school?" Most dog training schools also offer puppy classes and puppy can be taken to puppy class as soon as it had all its vaccination injections. The age would normally be around 10 weeks. Dog obedience training classes, which normally start with a 8 week basic obedience course, are more for puppies and dogs from 6 months and older.

But to get back to the original question: "How old for puppy training?"; most professional dog trainers would agree that a puppy should not be taken away from its mother before he is 8 weeks old. Many dog breeders (not the responsible one's) give the puppies away when they are only 6 weeks old. Whatever the age when you receive the puppy, puppy obedience training should start the moment the puppy enters your house. Training a 6 week old puppy or a 8 week old puppy, should resemble the way the mother dog would train the puppy.

The mother dog would for example growl at the puppy when he bites her too hard. She would growl and if necessary grab the puppy's mouth with her mouth (without hurting it) when she does not agree with the pup's behavior. We would learn much about dog training if we would tale the time to sit sit down and observe how a mother dog trains her pups. Many of the behavior problems that we face would not even have started if we copied the mother dog.

So apart from teaching the puppy some ground rules like not biting, the puppy should undergo toilet training, but mostly a new puppy owner should focus on bonding and playing with the puppy. Consistency is very important from the very start.

Happy training!