Agility For Paws

Do you want to know how I warm my dogs up before I do a training session with them. Well here is a full unedited version of part of my warm up routine. I use only 1 jump and practice as many different commands as possible. There is so much value to doing this,

1, it helps proof my verbal cues. Using 1 jump with me relatively still, means my dog can concentrate fully on performing the action I want.

2, I can reward straight away for getting the verbal cue right.

3, there is more toy play than working for my dog. I want lots of toy play as it's more fun and stimulating for my dog and I am warming up muscles as well.

4, I can work on my body positioning and hopefully be in the right place at the right time easier than if I was running.

5, it helps build distance from the jump. The further away I can be from each obstacle on the course makes it easier for me.

Make sure you do at least equal amounts on both sides of your dog and probably more on the weaker side for your dog or you. I ended the video before doing both sides for everything as it was getting a bit long 🙈

It's been super busy here at Agility For Paws, so I'm a bit late in posting this. Solar managed 1 x 1st place in agility and 2 x 2nd places in agility and jumping at Dog Sports Derby on Tuesday, taking him up to grade 4. Unfortunately I don't have a video of his winning run, but other than a naughty weave pole, he didn't put a foot wrong in 3 classes. So proud of my barky boy. Thank you Alison for the company and videos that day.

Here's a little challenge for you to train for tunnel and weave discrimination. How well is your dog listening to you? Do they pick their favourite piece of equipment, or the piece of equipment you ask them to do?Here is a little snippet of my training session, warts and all, none of the bad bits cut out. Notice 2 things. One how short my training session is and two, how much of my training session is taken up with rewarding Solar with a game of tug. Let's make this game of agility even more fun for our dogs

What an amazing day here at Agility For Paws. Some of the club members went to Agility Nuts Show. All of them made me so proud. For some it was their first ever show and they did brilliantly.

Molly and Paddy 3rd place 🥉
Danielle and Flint 2nd place 🥈
Brendan and Kealie 1st place 🥇
Kelly and Ghillie 2nd place 🥈
Kelly and Finn 2nd and 3rd place 🥈🥉
Alison and Charlie 2nd place 🥈
Megan and Lula 1st place 🥇
Xanthe and Indie 2nd place 🥈

What an amazing evening we had here at Agility For Paws. We held a mini course running session for club members. Handlers and dogs worked really hard and did some fantastic work. Can't wait for the next one

Here's a look at all our safety equipment now in place at the field at Apperknowle where all my private sessions take place.

New jumps from Performance Agility with safety cups.
Padded long jump and wall.
Padded breakaway tyre
Contacts from First Contact
Non slip tunnels.
Heavy duty channel weaves.

What do you think?

Sorry about the wind noise, bit blowy today 🤣

Some of the beginner dogs working hard this week.

Lovely day for the woofs at Agility Nuts independent show. It was the first time puppy has been to a show and the first time he's every run a full course. He coped amazingly well, he got a little tired towards the end and lost his concentration so missed a jump, but he was a good boy. Even up to a few weeks ago, I wasn't able to take him places to do agility as he struggled with new environments and would disengage from me. We're finally getting through that awful adolescent period and he's able to concentrate much better. Being persistent and working through or even taking some time out when your dog has struggles pays off in the end.

Zing had a fab day also, with his once a year class. He's been retired for 4 years, so doesn't even train, but does like a little blast around every now and again.

Solar, well he was back to his naughty self 🤣 maybe next week he'll be better 🤣

Also well done to Buddy and Ben who were amazing at their first shows.

We had the best day here at Agility For Paws as we had the amazing Emma Pullan come and teach for us. Such a fun and positive day, where skills were tested and we laughed all day. Thank you Emma for spending your day with us and providing us with so much learning. Can't wait for the next one.

Agility training isn't just about teaching obstacles and running courses, there's such a lot of training that goes on before a dog even enters a ring.

Puppy has had to learn a lot of impulse control and focus on me around the rings. Dogs running really fast and barking in excitement is very stimulating for him and he would love to run and chase them as well. Here he is demonstrating some impulse control. I allow him to look around and I reward him for making good choices and being calm. I don't ask for that behavior but reward him for looking at me when dogs are running.

Here's how I set him up for success.

⭐Short training sessions, no more than a few minutes, less if he's struggling.⭐

⭐picking times when the rings are quieter such as lunch time⭐

⭐Ensuring he's far enough away that he can disengage successfully ⭐

⭐I use food as a reward rather than toy as it promotes a calmer response from him, toys increase his arousal levels⭐

⭐ Encouraging sniffing behavior if he goes over threshold to allow him to calm down⭐

⭐ encourage him to make his own choice rather than using bribery or luring to distract ⭐

⭐keeping calm myself and using a soft voice for rewards⭐