Most dogs look forward to working on an agility course. They love the high level of exercise and all of the fun and praise that goes along with doing a good job. However, sometimes the weather simply doesn't cooperate with a dog's need to get out there and run around. When bad weather happens, don't let it keep you from enjoying some fun indoor agility training with your special animal companion. Here are some easy ways to bring agility training inside.
If you are fortunate enough to have adequate space in a basement or your garage, why not set up an indoor agility area that you can use at any time? This can be a great place to work out not only during inclement weather, but also if it's dark outside and your dog needs to practice or just expel some extra energy. You can set up several pieces of dog agility equipment, including a tire jump, a tunnel or a chute, a pause table, a see-saw or perhaps an A-frame. Some homes simply don't have these handy spaces for training, but there are still other options.
When the rain hits, bring your pause table into the living room and spend some time practicing with your dog on this apparatus. While dogs really love dashing through weaves and tunnels and running up and down A-frames, the pause table is extremely important and is a key part of obedience training. The dog must learn to stay and sit on the table for at least five seconds, and a rainy day is the perfect time to practice this important skill.
Other equipment that can be fun on a rainy day would be the teeter-totter or an A-frame. This is actually a great way to introduce these apparatus to your dog. Sometimes dogs are bit unsure about climbing up the A-frame, or the teeter-totter makes them slightly nervous. Start out with a low incline and work your way up to the height that will be set during contests.
There are three different types of contact obstacles - the A-frame, the teeter-totter and the dog walk. Unless you have a lot of space, a dog walk probably won't fit inside your home comfortably enough for training. A contact trainer, however, is another piece of equipment that is great for rainy day agility training. The contact trainer resembles a shortened version of a dog walk or an A-frame, so you can use it to practice the dog walk skills, as well as using it to work on pause table skills. There are two-piece contact trainers with no pause area and three-piece trainers that have a flat pause table in between the slats.
All of these pieces of training equipment can be purchased from online stores that specialize in dog agility training. Carlson-Agility.com is one example and they sell a huge variety of dog obstacles, including contact trainers, jumps, weaves, pause tables and anything else you might find on an actual dog agility course.
If you are fortunate enough to have adequate space in a basement or your garage, why not set up an indoor agility area that you can use at any time? This can be a great place to work out not only during inclement weather, but also if it's dark outside and your dog needs to practice or just expel some extra energy. You can set up several pieces of dog agility equipment, including a tire jump, a tunnel or a chute, a pause table, a see-saw or perhaps an A-frame. Some homes simply don't have these handy spaces for training, but there are still other options.
When the rain hits, bring your pause table into the living room and spend some time practicing with your dog on this apparatus. While dogs really love dashing through weaves and tunnels and running up and down A-frames, the pause table is extremely important and is a key part of obedience training. The dog must learn to stay and sit on the table for at least five seconds, and a rainy day is the perfect time to practice this important skill.
Other equipment that can be fun on a rainy day would be the teeter-totter or an A-frame. This is actually a great way to introduce these apparatus to your dog. Sometimes dogs are bit unsure about climbing up the A-frame, or the teeter-totter makes them slightly nervous. Start out with a low incline and work your way up to the height that will be set during contests.
There are three different types of contact obstacles - the A-frame, the teeter-totter and the dog walk. Unless you have a lot of space, a dog walk probably won't fit inside your home comfortably enough for training. A contact trainer, however, is another piece of equipment that is great for rainy day agility training. The contact trainer resembles a shortened version of a dog walk or an A-frame, so you can use it to practice the dog walk skills, as well as using it to work on pause table skills. There are two-piece contact trainers with no pause area and three-piece trainers that have a flat pause table in between the slats.
All of these pieces of training equipment can be purchased from online stores that specialize in dog agility training. Carlson-Agility.com is one example and they sell a huge variety of dog obstacles, including contact trainers, jumps, weaves, pause tables and anything else you might find on an actual dog agility course.
About the Author:
Cheng Bernhardt enjoys dog agility training. To discover a dog obstacles course, or to find more agility dog training equipment like dog agility kit, please check out the Carlson-Agility website today.
No comments:
Post a Comment