Agility for a newbie

Even tho he is still young, you can still start teaching him the basics of agility at home. Jumps, and tunnels, even weaves if you can make them/buy them. Since you dont want him doing any big jumping yet, just teach him "over" (or "jump", whatever word you are going to use) with the jump ( PVC pipe, broom handle, etc) on the ground (you can raise it up a couple inches so he has to step over it, but not jump). For the tunnel you can use a play tunnel made for kids, or a garbage can with the bottom cut off.

Spazzy

Even tho he is still young, you can still start teaching him the basics of agility at home. Jumps, and tunnels, even weaves if you can make them/buy them. Since you dont want him doing any big jumping yet, just teach him "over" (or "jump", whatever word you are going to use) with the jump ( PVC pipe, broom handle, etc) on the ground (you can raise it up a couple inches so he has to step over it, but not jump). For the tunnel you can use a play tunnel made for kids, or a garbage can with the bottom cut off.

Hmm okay! We already worked on jump(on the couch) and I run around with him like I'm pretending in agility(and like I even know what I'm doing) and he listens to everything I say. My mom was talking about getting a kiddie tunnel for him so we can work on that as well. :) Thanks for the ideas!

The mistake I made with my first dog was over-doing the obedience part of it.  What I ended up with was a dog that was very accurate, but didn't have a lot of drive or speed.  She also needed a LOT of handling, meaning I did a lot of running and directing her over every obstacle because she didn't have the speed and drive to work away from me.  Obedience is important but what really makes it FUN for the dog is their motivation.  With Nikon I'm doing things very differently.  I can see already that we are probably going to have some knocked bars (b/c when he goes with speed and drive he is more likely to jump flat) and missed contacts whereas Kenya never once knocked a bar or missed a single contact, but he's actually more enjoyable to work with because he is so easy to motivate and does everything 110%.

As for prices, our club is $100 for 6 weeks and then $80 for repeat customers.

For what you can do now, get him used to moving out AWAY from you (if he is too young to do obstacles, you can work on training him to run out away from you and around an obstacle like a chair or cone) and get him used to being handled on the right and left sides.  People like me that do heavy obedience need to get the dog comfortable on the right side.  Right now I'm teaching Nikon to run out to a target (a colored plastic lid with food on it) so I can direct him out away from me, and also teaching him to "touch" my hand with his nose.  I use the "touch" command on the right and left and even up high so he has to jump.  I want targeting whatever palm is out to be the default, whereas in obedience the default is heel position on the left.

If your dog likes toys, work on building drive and motivation for a "special" agility toy.  I find toys much easier than food for agility (although I do put food on my targets).  The toy you can mark and then throw out whereas food is hard to throw b/c the dog can lose track of it or has to come back to you every time to get a reward.  For example when Nikon jumps correctly I can say "yes!" as he clears the jump with correct technique and toss his toy so his reward is right there as he lands the jump, rather than him having to come back to me.  The toy tossing will also be very valuable when we start the new 2x2 weave method.  Kenya never had any motivation for toys which was another reason why she lacked speed and drive and did not understand to run away from me.

Liesje

meaning I did a lot of running and directing her over every obstacle because she didn't have the speed and drive to work away from me. 

Liesje

meaning I did a lot of running and directing her over every obstacle because she didn't have the speed and drive to work away  from me. 

This describes Tootsie, very accurately. She is so focused on me and pleasing me, that getting her to perform, even a few feet ahead is difficult.

 Hm that's a good point. I'll try to get Simba to stand and stay, but if he sees a treat he automatically sits back down. Something else I got to work on with him. I was wondering if you could give some tips on how I teach him to move away from me?

Also what do you guys think of me renting out the ring(30 dollars an hour) for agility to get him to sniff around and stuff? Maybe do some tunnel work or something. Oh! I know this is a bit different but yesterday my sister and I took Simba to the playground(what? he's our kid :P) and there's this wooden train set and he had no issues with going through the tunnel like bit of it...Hopefully he'll be okay with an actual tunnel. :P

This thread is interesting for me as well.  I don't know a lot about agility but Timmy is starting it next month (we put it off for a month because of FH's knee).  Ours is a six week beginner course for $120.

I am going to try some of the suggestions in here for him as well.  

.stacer.

This thread is interesting for me as well.  I don't know a lot about agility but Timmy is starting it next month (we put it off for a month because of FH's knee).  Ours is a six week beginner course for $120.

I am going to try some of the suggestions in here for him as well.  

Aw good luck with Timmy! Make sure to take video. :D I've never seen a rottie in agility, or at least from the videos I've watched. Now I have to go on youtube hehe. 

punkchica321

 Hm that's a good point. I'll try to get Simba to stand and stay, but if he sees a treat he automatically sits back down. Something else I got to work on with him. I was wondering if you could give some tips on how I teach him to move away from me?

You can teach him to target something, like a mat or plastic lid on the ground, and gradually increase the distance he has to go to target it. I used a piece of PVC pipe stuck in the ground, and taught Bailey to go around it. Then I built up distance, so eventually he was running 40 ft away from me to run around the pole. Once he had that down, I would have him go do a jump after he went around the pole to build up doing agility obstacles further away from me.

Spazzy

punkchica321

 Hm that's a good point. I'll try to get Simba to stand and stay, but if he sees a treat he automatically sits back down. Something else I got to work on with him. I was wondering if you could give some tips on how I teach him to move away from me?

You can teach him to target something, like a mat or plastic lid on the ground, and gradually increase the distance he has to go to target it. I used a piece of PVC pipe stuck in the ground, and taught Bailey to go around it. Then I built up distance, so eventually he was running 40 ft away from me to run around the pole. Once he had that down, I would have him go do a jump after he went around the pole to build up doing agility obstacles further away from me.

Good idea! So he puts his paw on it and stays until the release or something else? Sorry I get so confused sometimes. :P The only problem right now is I'd have to do it in the house 'cause I don't have a fenced in backyard...unless I just get a long rope/leash and attach it to his collar? Would that work? 

punkchica321

Good idea! So he puts his paw on it and stays until the release or something else? Sorry I get so confused sometimes. :P The only problem right now is I'd have to do it in the house 'cause I don't have a fenced in backyard...unless I just get a long rope/leash and attach it to his collar? Would that work? 

It can be whatever you want. Paw the target, sit/down on it, nose touch it, etc. Since you are going to be training for agility, I like using the pole better, since its similar to something he would do in agility anyways. You could just put him on a lightweight long line, so that he can go around the pole without getting stuck.

 Personally I wouldn't train my dog to jump without an instructor to explain drive plates, jumping style is partially a formed habit (and partially structural) you can accidentally train a bad habit in how they jump.  Sounds strange, but true. You want your dog to jump head low and a lot of people make the mistake of baiting over a jump which creates a jump with the head held high.  That's bad for structure and make your dog more prone to knock bars.  If I were working on jumps, I'd just want them to get the idea to move between the frame of a jump like they will one day be doing and that's it. No jumping.

 Personally I'd work toy drive, as Liesje said and hind end awareness and crate games.  Toy drive/tugging is awesome for motivating your dog to work.  Hind end awareness is important in every facet of agility, just walking over the dog-walk takes a dog who knows where his hind legs are so he's not stepping off.  Training your dog to back up, and move his hind legs independantly of his front are best.  So, use, for example a phone book and have him place his front legs on it, then all his legs on then just his hind legs... then heel next to you with front on hind off, in a circle both ways, he's going to have to move those hind legs and be aware of them.  This also helps, along with crate games, to get your dog used to offering behaviors and being rewarded for them.  Crate games, look up a video on youtube, is great in that you are training you dog to read your body language and working away from you... and it being a good thing :)  Any tricks that you can train your dog will have him offering behaviors, and that's something you want, make it fun, no offered behavior, in the beginning, is bad! 

You'll love agility, it's a lot of fun! 

 Oh and don't over do it.  If you sense he's frustrated or tired, chose a game where he CAN DEFINITELY WIN.  Play that game for a bit, and call it a day.  Stop well before he's ready to stop for the day.  And the same goes for toy-drive.  If he's telling you he's done and sniffing the grass over there is more fun.... then you've played too long.  Shorten it next time so he's still wanting to play.  Be it 2 minutes or 15 seconds.  Then put that special toy away and play another game.

 Alright thanks! :D For now I'll just practice pawing the target of something in the house until I get a long leash.

 Thank you for the advice, Sera! I will stop the jumping for now until I learn how to do it properly. :)

Also what do you guys think of this leash?: http://www.petexpertise.com/dog-leashes-lines-and-couplers/long-leash.html