An Introduction to Dog Agility!
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today we’re going to go over a really
fun way that you can give your dog a
workout and have fun training them at
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revolution now let’s hear from Trevor
and his dog Daisy hi my name is Trevor
Smith I’m with the doggie dojo and my
dog’s name is Daisy Daisy is an eight
year old border collie
I’ve been training dogs since I was six
years old and I started with Daisy about
three years ago and we are going to show
you guys some fun
agility today dog agility is a really
fun dog sport that you get to lead your
dog through a series of obstacles like
jumps tunnels weaves and more Daisy me
have worked a long time getting her
master’s standard title and agility
which is the highest level of agility in
American Kennel Club today is going to
be really fun because we get to show you
a few obstacles that you can even play
in your own backyard
Zach I hope you’re ready because beige
is about to show you some awesome
agility skills dog agility is a
fantastic way to bond with your dog I
mean lots of dogs love running around
but we can all agree that it’s no fun
running around town to try to find the
right dog food get your dog’s food
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description below agility is one of
those things you can do for fun in your
backyard or you can compete but it’s
also great trust building exercise
what’s the first thing you want to show
us today well we’re probably going to go
with one of the more difficult items
first which is the weed poll I think we
pulled one of the most impressive
obstacles in all dog agility do we yeah
we go oh nice look at her if it’s
actually a correct way and wrong way to
send it in they always have to enter
with their left shoulder how do you
typically reward her and motivate her to
want to do something like this so log
dually dogs do very well on toys it does
tap into that play which is what they’re
doing with you out on the field is
playing with you so I got Daisy a little
squeezy tennis ball go go go go go go
look how bash there you go yeah amazing
all right nice and you can see she’s so
motivated to play looks like you’re
having a good time future I am it’s a
blast to the agility how did you go
about teaching this to err one really
cool weighty kids called channel ways
you can actually make a little channel
here what actually sometimes people will
even do is have their dog stay on one
side and then call them to the other or
you lure them
three but you just take the treat knee
room oh yeah but see how easy that was
for her to do that she gets better at it
you actually squeeze them closer and
closer together until they’re back to
home great line
well clever weave there you go good job
but you want you don’t want them just to
kind of meander through slowly like this
he kind of wants them to slalom all the
way through the weave poles this is such
a great skill to teach because skills
like this really helps to build serious
mental focus
Daisy is a total pro so next we’ve got
the tunnel I mean this is a staple in
dog agility because of them oh by the
way girl I know this one actually looks
pretty easy but when you first start to
teach this to many dogs they find it to
be quite intimidating has up in your
experience yeah for some dogs we need
quite scary because it’s dark and then
other dogs they just love it so much and
sometimes you get what’s called tunnel
suck and the dogs will accidentally go
off course into a tunnel because it’s a
really fun obstacle so doc to do why
don’t you show us how you went about
teaching this today see as a beginner
you want to go and stretch it out to a
straight line so they can see you on the
other side so you would have your friend
take your dog over onto this side it’s
important when you’re teaching this not
to block the end of the tunnel so don’t
sit right in front of the tunnel but off
to the side and then speak your head in
and call your dog Daisy yay good girl
and it’s a lot easier to call them to
you that it is to send them away from
you having your dog come to you makes it
as easy as possible because whenever
you’re teaching anything new to your dog
you want to make it as easy as possible
in the beginning sometimes you may have
to make you a little shorter at first
and then lengthen it over time as your
dog gets to know it better and better
you call it tongue and then you can
actually come onto this side over here
Daisy and just tell them tunnel and then
run next to them and praise them good
job so now that we got it straight it’s
time to curve it so the reason that you
want to curve it slowly is so that you
if they don’t see the light at the end
of the tunnel so exactly it can be
really kind of hard for them to
understand we’re going to start our on
the curve side over here stagey ready
and then and once they get really good
at that side being curved then you curve
the other side and now you kind of got
like a noodle shape now and you always
want to run on the inside of the curve
that way you can beat your dog to the
other side
Jenny gather what faster than we are yes
they are in the beginning stages you may
want to use like a tennis ball again or
a treat and reward them on the other
side and you can with the tennis ball
you can easily toss some the ball here
it is she’s had such a great time right
now and that’s the critical part about
when you start teach these obstacles
don’t be afraid to reward them a ton
when you first teaching them because
then it does allow you for the obstacle
itself
I love seizing opportunities like this
to build trust with a dog and clearly
you guys have an incredible amount of
mutual trust in one another dog sports
are a great way to build confidence with
a lot of dogs fewer things are as
exciting as watching a dog get some big
air it looks a lot easier I mean
teaching them to not touch the bar I
mean I saw that is tough it’s important
to have a bar that can get knocked down
to safety is always the most important
thing with anything we do with our dogs
yeah but especially with dog sports so
when they jump over you really don’t
want them doing what’s called a bunny
hop where they just say they go from a
standstill and pop over you want to take
a nice little coast Konica gazelle just
leaping over the jump why don’t you show
us how you went about teaching this with
her yeah and then you’re going to show
us how all of this looks when you put it
together we’ll just put it on eight
inches for Daisy down here what we’ll do
is we’ll get Daisy’s favorite toy here
okay and we’re going to go ahead and put
it on the other side jump really far out
what you want to make sure to do
whatever your dog’s body length is you
want two of those so the dog can jump
finish and then get the toy there and of
course when your dog jumps over this low
hurdle for the first time you celebrate
like they just cleared a six foot jump
when you’re having fun your dog is going
to have fun too and any time your dog
kind of goes up to here and kind of
stutter steps or is having difficulty
with it yeah just put it back down to
another level you can turn your dog off
to an obstacle real quick if they’re not
having a great experience we can
actually tosses the toy over this jump
oh yeah I’m yelling so cheap sometimes
huh
there you go oh there we go that’s why
it’s so important to have a jump that
falls down exactly clean yeah yeah once
your dog has learned how to do it
straight on you can actually start
teaching how to jump at an angle with a
figure eight exercise did you help oh
look at busy eyes oh that’s a big girl
yes smart girl that is terrific
now we’re going to set up our own
version of a mini agility course and see
what Daisy can do
so oh uh we maybe we go up here – oh
nice
you’re not one that an angle look at
that hello oh we really sure to check
out Trevor’s YouTube channel we’ve got
some really great content over there
I’ll have a link in the description and
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book – that was awesome remember you did
so great today we’ll see you guys in the
next video
