Agility

Agility is the fastest growing dog sport in the world and if you’ve ever watched an agility trial in action it’s easy to see why. It’s hard to tell whose having more fun as dogs and their handlers negotiate a complex course of obstacles in the fastest time possible. Different heights and standards of competition mean that agility can be a sport for any healthy, fit dog from Cavaliers to Kelpies.

There are many agility clubs across the country that provide not only instruction but also the large volume of equipment required for the sport such as jumps, tyres, tunnels, chutes, weave poles, A-frames and dog walks. However learning how to safely perform these obstacles is probably the easiest part of agility training. The greater challenge lies in your ability to smoothly direct your dog from obstacle to obstacle in the fastest amount of time. This foundation work can be done at home, with minimal space and no equipment at all.

Establish a Reward System
Establishing a reward system between you and your dog is the first step to developing a working relationship. Before you start you need to have planned:
• What rewards are you going to use? Most competitive trainers use a combination of food and toys plus praise. It is a good idea to have a variety of rewards some of higher value than others. For example if your dog does something really hard for the first time he may get a piece of chicken, if you are working on something easier he might get a piece of dry food. Different rewards for different effort.
• What toys does your dog like– balls, tug ropes, soft squeakies? Games of retrieve and tug are excellent rewards for training but must be played ‘by the rules’. Your dog should stop tugging on command and return all toys to you. Again variety is best. Dogs love surprises and not knowing what reward is coming next will help to keep your dog motivated.
• How will you deliver the rewards? It is best to carry rewards with you in a readily accessible treat bag or pocket. Toys also should be hidden but quickly accessed. There will be times when we want to use food or a toy as a target (See Send Ahead) by throwing or placing the reward ahead of the dog.
• How will you time your rewards? To effect behaviour rewards should occur immediately after your dog has done what you wanted. Clicker training or a special marking word such as ‘yes’ is ideal for agility work.

Attention to Name
Make sure your dog understands that whenever he hears his name he should look at you. You don’t want your dog to necessarily ‘come’ on his name but rather to give you attention because a command will follow.

Stay
Stay is an important control exercise for all dogs. In agility you will need to be able to leave your dog at the start line and move out to the best position on course as well as being a requirement on the ‘stay’ table mid-course. Decide whether you want your dog to stay in a sit stand or down position at the start line or ideally train all three. ‘Place an open hand in front of the dog’s face, say ‘stay’ and move just a step away. You will need to work on three separate criteria – length of stay, distance from you and a clear signal for release. Take your time and proceed slowly. Praise your dog while he holds his ’stay’ position and often return and reward him rather than always calling him out of a stay to start a course. It is common for dogs who love agility to break their stay in anticipation so as your dog progresses you’ll need to practice ‘stay’ in a lot of different, exciting and distracting environments.

Run by my side
You want to teach your dog to run next to you on both your left and right side. Start with your dog by your left side and a small treat or toy in the same side hand. Run in short straight lines and small circles (about 5 meters). Stop regularly and reward your dog for staying with you. Repeat with your dog on your right side. Keep sessions short and motivation high by using lots of rewards.

Figure of 8
The next challenge is to combine your two circles into a figure eight. To make it easier for you place to markers about 2 meters apart. You are going to move around one marker with your dog at your right side. In the centre you turn toward your dog so his head is now directly in front of you, move the reward to your left hand, rotate clockwise and complete the second circle with your dog on your left. Repeat five or six times. This is a foundation exercise which serves as a warm up even at the highest levels of competition. Your dog is learning to keep an eye on you and to predict changes in direction by reading your body language – a fundamental skill in all agility work. As your dog progresses you will be able to drop the food or toy from your hand while continuing to periodically stop and reward the behaviour.

Left Side-”Heel” & Right Side- ”Side”
Leave your dog in a sit and step a few feet in front of him. Call him to ‘heel’ patting your left leg as you do so and reward immediately. Repeat at greater distances and/or while on the move. Repeat for the right side, calling your dog up to your right leg as you say ‘side’. Reward immediately.

Turn Toward Me – ‘Here!’
With your dog in a ‘stay’ call ‘here’ or ‘come’ and reward the dog for coming to you. Next try it on the move, your dog is walking on your left side, turn quickly away and call ‘here’ – your dog should turn with you. Repeat on the right side turning left and calling ‘here’. Although the direction your shoulders face will become the main cue for where you want your dog to go (body language is far more important to dogs than words) the cue ‘here’ is very useful for when your dog may be distracted or focused on the wrong obstacle.

Turn Away from Me – ‘Back’
‘Back’ can be the cue to teach your dog to turn away from you on course. One easy way to teach ‘back’ is simply to start with a spin. Take a treat and with your dog by your side, lure the dog’s head/body in a circle away from you. (See pix). The lure will evolve into a hand signal for ‘back’. When the dog is responding to the hand signal alone, add the word back just before your signal. The next step is to reduce the full circle to a semi-circle. Both you and your dog will be making a 180 degree turn so you are now facing the opposite direction with your dog on your other side.

Left/Right
A ball can also be used to teach ‘left’ and ‘right’. Simply say “left’ than throw the ball 90 degrees to the left. Repeat. Intersperse with straight throws ‘go!’. When your dog seems confident at predicting that “left” indicates which direction the ball will be thrown start to teach “right” in the same way. Alternate directional commands to keep your dog attentive. Directionally challenged competitors often prefer to use ‘here’ and ‘back’ (cues to come toward or move away from the handler) in preference to ‘left’ and ‘right’ (which relates to the dog’s position on course) as it can take great presence of mind to call out the right command when running full speed on a convoluted course.

Send Ahead – ‘Go!’
It is important in agility that your dog is able to work ahead of you and not be restricted to running at your pace. The ‘go’ command gives your dog permission to run ahead of you, performing any obstacles directly in front of him. The ‘Go’ can be taught in at least two simple ways:
1. Place a target such as a toy or a small plate with a treat on it about 3 feet directly in front of your dog. Release your dog to the target as you say ‘go!’ If you are using a toy as the target, you may want to follow behind and have a short game when he picks up the toy. Slowly add more and more distance, rewarding the dog for running out fast to the target. As your dog progresses you will be able to put targets at the far side of one or several obstacles encouraging your dog to run ahead and complete the obstacles independently.
2. If your dog loves to retrieve simply say ‘go’ before throwing your ball in a straight line ahead of you.


‘Out!’
Is used when your dog is running parallel to you but you want him to move further out to a far placed obstacle. ‘Out’ can be taught by placing a marker at a 45 degree angle and approximately one foot from you and your dog. Move toward the marker while pushing your arm out a little. It is likely that your dog will move around the marker – immediately click or praise and treat. As your dog starts to get the idea you can add the word ‘out’ while stretching out your arm. Slowly add more and more distance from the marker until you can send your dog several meters out and around the marker travelling in the same direction as the handler. Repeat on the opposite side.

Targeting Contacts
Your dog will have to learn to step on the contact zones of the dog walk and a-frame. You can teach your dog to touch a marker such as a computer mouse pad, with his foot or nose at home. Lay a mouse pad on the floor and reward your dog for showing any interest. If you want to train a foot touch reward every time your dog steps on the mouse pad. Soon your dog will realize putting his foot on the pad is a good thing to do. Next step is simply to take the mouse pad to the training grounds, lay it on the dog walk and a-frame contact zones and tell your dog to ‘go touch’.

A solid Foundation
Lack of equipment is no excuse for not getting started in agility today. The exercises outlined above will lay a solid foundation so you and your dog can join the agility addicts of tomorrow!