agility

[lnelson87]

hi i eventually want to get jazz into agility he is 8 months at the moment and nowere round here will take him till he is 14 months so i was wondering what kind of thing i can work on the now to prepare him?
thanks x

[Toddsmom]

Look for a foundations class. The reason they don't want to accept him in to a regular class is that it can be detrimental to their joints to start jumps and weave poles before they're fully grown and their growth plates have closed.

[lnelson87]

I knew they couldn't start proper agilit classes till at least 12 months problem is I can't find a foundation class anywhere it's driving me nuts! Lol

[Toddsmom]

There are some good books out there for foundation learning, just look on amazon.com and youtube has some videos as well. Work on getting the dog to come to both sides, heel on both sides, You can teach the pivot on a stool (look at kglacer's thread with Finn). I would look up "shadow handling" on youtube, there's some videos on there that show how to handle the dog with no obstacles. I did a lot of this with Fury when he was a pup, and it's realy paid off. he didn't start proper classes until he was 11 months old, and only went to three beginner classes before moving up to advanced classes.

[kglacer]

Another thing I was told was to work on the tug drive! Even have a specific tug toy only used for the agility class or purpose. I keep Finn's tug in a cupboard now and bring it out periodically and he's already showing great tug drive and he is a VERY VERY food motivated dog so I was suprised in class how well he did with the tug.

[youngK9]

There is so much you can do with your puppy. Tug drive is a good one, especally obedience commands. Making the puppy target your hand with a 'here' command. I wish I would of know all I do now when Athena was a puppy. You need to work pivots like on a stool like Katrina does with Finn. Also walking him slowly up and down the stairs will really help him have a good understanding of his rear. Lots of basic obedience around distractions. If you have things such as a plank board to walk the puppy across that would be great. Or if you have something like a wobble board. Some people even use fold up camping chairs and have the puppy go hop in them. I have homeschooled Athena and have had to figure all this out. You just have to look online at what you can find. But I would start with some of the stuff we mentioned.

[lnelson87]

(02-01-2012 08:38 AM)Toddsmom Wrote:  There are some good books out there for foundation learning, just look on amazon.com and youtube has some videos as well. Work on getting the dog to come to both sides, heel on both sides, You can teach the pivot on a stool (look at kglacer's thread with Finn). I would look up "shadow handling" on youtube, there's some videos on there that show how to handle the dog with no obstacles. I did a lot of this with Fury when he was a pup, and it's realy paid off. he didn't start proper classes until he was 11 months old, and only went to three beginner classes before moving up to advanced classes.

I have ordered a few books and am doing my research on youtube thanks for the advice

[lnelson87]

(02-01-2012 09:08 AM)kglacer Wrote:  Another thing I was told was to work on the tug drive! Even have a specific tug toy only used for the agility class or purpose. I keep Finn's tug in a cupboard now and bring it out periodically and he's already showing great tug drive and he is a VERY VERY food motivated dog so I was suprised in class how well he did with the tug.

so just 1 specific toy? he has a few so will i take 1 away? jazz is very food motivated as well

[lnelson87]

(02-01-2012 06:51 PM)youngK9 Wrote:  There is so much you can do with your puppy. Tug drive is a good one, especally obedience commands. Making the puppy target your hand with a 'here' command. I wish I would of know all I do now when Athena was a puppy. You need to work pivots like on a stool like Katrina does with Finn. Also walking him slowly up and down the stairs will really help him have a good understanding of his rear. Lots of basic obedience around distractions. If you have things such as a plank board to walk the puppy across that would be great. Or if you have something like a wobble board. Some people even use fold up camping chairs and have the puppy go hop in them. I have homeschooled Athena and have had to figure all this out. You just have to look online at what you can find. But I would start with some of the stuff we mentioned.

we are using a target stick in junior obedience he is doing really well with it touching the bottom of the stick with his nose to the command of touch so will i continue with this or switch to here with my hand?