# dog agility



## elmoeleven (Jul 14, 2007)

does any one do dog agility, i am making my on jump at the moment and my old ones are of the old height requirements.

Does anyone know the current heights so that i can put my jump cups on

vicci


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## Suzie (Jan 22, 2004)

Hiya

Weird to see this post as I have just been looking at agility equipment for starting it with my puppy 
Monty is only 7 months so it will only be very light at home stuff until he is a little older 

I found this on measurements etc
http://www.agilityaddicts.net/aaequipment.shtml

Going to ask my brother to help make jumps and weave poles and even a little seesaw 

I really want to do flyball but there are no classes in my county  closest is nearly 2 hours away! So might have to leave that for a few months time when I can afford the money for a flyball box 

What do you make your jumps out of etc?

x
/links


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## elmoeleven (Jul 14, 2007)

hi suzie,

well i have made mine out of 2 by 2 timber, there is a company called jump 4 joy and they do screw on cups for this size timber (you have to ask for specifically for the small blue size that fits 2 by or they might send you ones that are too wide)

I used to run a flyball club in bristol, loved it, but love agility more. I can't see where you live so assume that you don't want that to be made public. PM me if you want and we can talk training tactics!! 

vicci


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## elmoeleven (Jul 14, 2007)

oh and thanks for the link, thats perfect!! 

vicci


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## Suzie (Jan 22, 2004)

Hiya

I am in Norfolk  Looking on the net I can only see nearest flyball as cambridge    

Thanks for the info about the cups, I will definately take a look and order some when my jumps are made  Monty my puppy is a little bit too young to do anything but very light work such as weave poles etc , he needs to be another 4 months older really until we can start the real stuff 
I did speak to a local agility club earlier and they have put me on waiting list for later in the year which is great 

What things do you think I should be doing with monty at the moment ? He is a 7 month working cocker spaniel? I know it has to just be training ready for the agility. He is good at the sit/down and we are working on the stay and recall  

What dogs do you have?

x


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## elmoeleven (Jul 14, 2007)

i have 5 border collies   

I am in the process of setting up a new training facility!! have wanted to do it for years and have only just got the chance to do it now.

At 7 months he is still a bit young to be jumping and doing full contacts BUT there is loads that you can do without it being boring. 

Get a long plank of wood and mark the ends like you would if you were making a dog walk or A frame. Then you can train some waiting contacts. Some people like running contacts and some prefer their dogs to wait, but during training it is advisable to have a waiting contact. 

So get Monty to learn to walk along the plank and when he gets to the end make him wait with his back paws ont he plank and his front paws on the ground. When he gets bigger it will feel natural to stand with 2 feet on and 2 feet off!

He will also learn when his back legs are and how to control them with this exercise.

Make some jump wings and have a pole on the floor rather than at a height and get him use to you directing him from the side (maiking sure you do both left and right) its just like running a course but without the stress on his joints.  Work on the basics, nothing too complicated like 3 jumps in a row with poles on the floor and him getting used to going through the wings over the pole on the floor with you running by him. Progress to him wating and you first going to the point of the second jump and calling him over the fiorst jump and then encouraging him to work on to the second and third jump, then moving on when he has a good wait to stading by the 3rd jump and making him wait, then call him over the 1 and 2 jump and encouraging him over the third jump. When he gets that move onto him waiting and you calling him over all 3 jumps.  Thats should keep him busy for a few months!!

There are also boxes and figues of 8's but start with that and (when i am not in work   ) i will post a bit about them. If it is confusing how i have typed it let me know and i will break it down even more. 

vicci


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## Suzie (Jan 22, 2004)

Hiya

That's brilliant thankyou  
My brother is making my some wings out of wood for the jumps  so will definately ask him to do a plank with White painted ends on also 

Wow lucky you setting up a training club  
Oh and 5 border collies! I am struggling with one puppy let alone 5 dogs! 
Month is just so jumpy, I expected the scatty but not the jumping up at us all the time. I have tried everything to stop him but nothing seems to work for the first initial jump at us.
He does know the wait command (thanks to my dad, who stayed for a week recently and got monty doing exactly what he wanted in a couple of days  )
So working on the wait on the plank is a good place to start for us 
X


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## Jazz1975 (Mar 19, 2008)

Hi Ladies, 

I've been doing agility for a couple of years now.  I've got 3 small dogs, my first dog is a 3 year old Cairn Terrier, and I started by doing a 'fun' agility course with him at one of the obedience clubs I go to.  He's ever so bouncy, but isn't 100% focused on agility, and just wants to charge round as quickly as possible without worrying at all about minor details such as leaving poles up, or getting his contacts   We tried for ages, but because he's super speedy, and wildly fixated on tennis balls, we joined him in a local flyball team and had great fun on their starters course.  Just when we'd completed that course though and were being assigned to a team within the club, he had a dreadful run of bad health, and was diagnosed with Degerative Disc Disease in his spine and tight cruciate ligaments that the vet told me would 'go' within 6 weeks.  That was 18 months ago, and he's still absolutely fine!  I stayed in touch with the flyball club, and continued to take him to the fun non-competitive agility as he enjoys it so much, and the vet told me that he was fine to continue.  We'd literally just got back into the flyball when the poor boy was taken ill again.  He ended up having major surgery for a suspected internal blockage, which turned out to be a massive bout of gasteroenteritis!  Once he'd recovered from that, he developed an allergy to certain types of protein, so masses of his hair fell out    It's taken us 7 months to get him back to strength again, and all I can say is thank heavens for PetPlan.  If all goes wrong with our current tx, I'll be taking him back to the next Flyball starters course starting in September and we'll get him going again.

My other dog is a Jack Russell Cross - my avatar picture.  She was thrown from a van into a hedge in front of us as we were driving in the country, I thought she was litter for a few seconds before I realised she was a dog, I wish I'd got the registration of the van, but we missed it as we were concentrating on her.  I had to report her as being found to the police, and after a month of no-one trying to claim her she was officially ours.  We've had her for 18 months now, and in order to socialise her I initially took her to the fun agility course with the obedience club I train with.  She went from being too scared to walk over a pole on the ground, to joining a Competition Club within 6 weeks - she's absolutely brilliant.  We had a minor setback when she was attacked by another dog, it was totally unprovoked and affected her confidence quite badly for a few weeks.  She's also a bit scared of the weaves.  Her previous 'owners' have clearly beaten her with sticks as she totally panics if anyone around her has anything remotely resembling a stick in their hand.  I've worked with a couple of behaviourists with her though, and she's come on fantastically well.  Unfortunately we set up some weave poles in our garden to practise on, but as she was going through them one day, my other dog collided with the poles, and one fell on her.  Understandably that upset her quite a lot, so we're still working on building her confidence back up again where the weaves are concerned.  We had our first year out competing last year and had an absolute ball.  We did a couple of the Agility Addicts shows as well as numerous Kennel Club ones.  I was so proud that she got a few places and lots of clear rounds!  I have to say that I've not been to our competitive club for a few months now because my DH was made redundant a while ago, and money was very tight.  After he got a new job, and we got back on our financial feet a bit, our next tx started.  My club is a 45 minute drive away, and I've just not had the energy I'm afraid to say.

I was surprised with my 3rd dog by my DH after our last tx.  My Jack Russell is getting to be a bit of an old lady now, and really only has a year or so left competing in her.  I know this'll sound like absolute sacrilidge to someone who's into their Borders (many a time at shows I've had people with larger dogs ask me when I'm going to get a 'proper' dog ) but I've always been massively impressed by the miniature poodles at any of the agility comps I've been to.  They're so fast and seem to fly over the jumps   We discussed getting a pup to bring on with a view to her being ready to compete as and when my Jack Russell is ready to retire, and bless my DH's cottons - he surprised me with an 8 week old chocolate mini poodle last year.  She's a cracker, and has completed her bronze award and a pre-agility course.  She's just coming up on a year old now, so I'll be able to start training in earnest soon.  The pre-agility course was great, there was lots about targeting and directional commands, going over poles on the ground etc.  I can't wait to get going properly with her.

Anyway, sorry for going on.  It's lovely to meet fellow agility ladies though, and I'm renowned for being able to talk about my dogs endlessly.  DH and I often dream about opening our own boarding kennel, if only we had the funds 

Vicci - 5 borders!!  Do you have them all indoors?  I'm so jealous...  Are you just going to train in agility, or flyball and obedience too?

Look forward to chatting with you,

Rach.x


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