Getting Started in Dog Agility -- Pups to Pros
Want to get started training your puppy for dog agility? Here are some ideas for you. And you can check out the links on this page for online training courses and equipment.
Start by getting some
inexpensive jumps and remove the bars. Or get some
hoops (which have no bars). Teach your dog basic jump handling skills without the actual jumps. Study and learn German Turn, Japanese, Running on the Dog's Line, K9 Arrow, cuing turns left and right with body language and with just verbal cues. (This book will teach you these dog agility techniques. )
Later when your dog's growth plates have closed, you can start adding a bar to the jumps at a very low height.
The day after you bring a puppy home, they can start learning to turn left, right, go straight, or stop. This online course shows you how to teach your dog to understand turning cues: Click here for dog agility online course in Directionality.
Building a Relationship with Your Puppy
Build a strong relationship with your puppy by cuddling, playing going for walks and offering lots of fun activities and delicious treats.
A toy that contains treats can be lots of fun. Especially a toy that your dog has to figure out how to manipulate to get the treats.
Some toys that can hold treats are helpful for training a dog to retrieve.
Click here to learn more about a dog toy that holds treats.
Tugging can be great fun for a dog and tugging can be a great reinforcer (reward that works to strengthen a behavior). You can put food in some food toys to grab the dog's interest in the tug toy. Gradually your puppy won't need the food, but will enjoy tugging for tugging sake alone.
Running Contacts
Don't have a puppy trying dealing with the A-frame right away! Wait several months or a year as recommended by your vet.
Although we do not recommend you have your dog try handling the A-frame at a young age -- as shown in the photo -- there are some things you can do right away with a puppy to train him or her for handling the full A-frame later. You can start using the secret Zotz! method right away! This is explained in the course on Running Contacts.
Click here to learn about the secret Zotz method.
Magic Momo Superdog does the Zotz exercise every night at bed time and before every meal. No equipment is needed.
