DIY Agility Course

DumDog

which is why i also said wait until later on to work on that when he is better trained and more confident

There is no such thing as a wall jump in agility.  Why would someone want to build an obstable that you don't see and would never use in agility. 

We are talking about agility equipment right???

Sowilu

About the framing. I ask my dad if it needed a frame and he said no

Well if you dad thinks it is ok well then whatever.  Remember we are talking about the dog hitting it at speed sometimes and their impact weight is a lot more than what the dog weighs.  I have seen a large breed dog hit a wooden framed aframe at speed and snap the thing in half.  Safety dictates that you build the thing twice as strong as you think it need to be. 

Yes you need a chain to insure that the aframe doesn't slide down when the dog is on the obstacle. 

  There is no such thing as a wall jump in agility.  Why would someone want to build an obstable that you don't see and would never use in agility. 

We are talking about agility equipment right???

Well if you dad thinks it is ok well then whatever.  Remember we are talking about the dog hitting it at speed sometimes and their impact weight is a lot more than what the dog weighs.  I have seen a large breed dog hit a wooden framed aframe at speed and snap the thing in half.  Safety dictates that you build the thing twice as strong as you think it need to be. 

Yes you need a chain to insure that the aframe doesn't slide down when the dog is on the obstacle. 

Yes we are talking about agility. Somebody just mentioned the wall jump for SchH A-frame. About the frame I checked the pile of wood an there is not a piece in there that will work for the frame. I think I need to go and buy some pieces of wood for the frame. My dad said that we could put a piece of wood across on each side to help it stay stable.

Sowilu

I am not finished yet. The A-frame will not be as it is right now. I just put it like that so I could get an idea of how it was going to look. ;) Since I am not doing it for competition just for fun I figures a 4'x2' would work.

Dude.. relax.. Steve...  

when she said "just for fun" i figured it would not matter if it was standard professional competition agility equipment.... as long as it was safe for the dog to use.... a jump is a bloody jump... but she is talking about A-frames, yes, i merely suggested using it for something ELSE if it could not be safely used for an A-frame.

I don't think that is 2" Ply.  I've never even seen 2" plywood...  It looks like 1", but still, 1" Ply is pretty strong.  You did mention that you got it from a 'pile' of wood.  Is this scrap wood?  Check it carefully for rot and wear if it is.  It looks good from the pics but thats not really a good judge.  

A solid triangle cannot be bent.  You can pin 3 popsicle sticks together at the ends to form a triangle and it cannot be bent.  Impact to break it has to come from the sides, or the extrimities(pieces protruding past the corners).  That said, if you can put a cross piece lower than where first contact would be on the first side, there isn't much that will break it.  It would have to have some major fault first.  However with repeated use, faults do happen.  For that, I would make a support frame for the undersides of the Ply.  And definately add more than one hinge.   

DumDog

when she said "just for fun" i figured it would not matter if it was standard professional competition agility equipment.... as long as it was safe for the dog to use.... a jump is a bloody jump...

I wasn't talking about competition either.  I was talking about safe equipment and I'm sorry a wall jump just isn't safe even in a play situation where a dog could be running at it with any speed at all,  and no a jump isn't a jump.  There are jumps that won't injure a dog if they miss it and there are jumps that can injure a dog.  Any jump that has a bar or side doesn't displace and basically fall apart isn't safe.

I have seen the stresses that equipment get put under even in training and play situations.  A large dog running just a couple of miles an hour and planting those front feet on the up side of the aframe contact puts a lot of stress on the middle of the board.  Don't believe me take a 4 foot piece of plywood and raise it on a block at either end and have a someone about 180 lbs. jump up and down on it.  That is the type of force that can be applied to the side of the aframe when a dog runs and jumps on it.

One other thing.  Right now the slats that you put on look to be just square pieces of wood/molding.  It really is safer for the dog if those pieces of wood were beveled to a half oval shape so there isn't a square corner that the dogs toes can jam into.  Dogs have hurt their feet jaming the toes into the little square from a square slat.

Sowilu, 

 I built an A-Frame with guidance from Steve, aka "Timsdat". If you care about safety, you'll overbuild that A-Frame. I know it is going to add more weight but you need to care for the dog's safety because you never know if something happens. Your dog looks about 60 lbs or so, I have had huskies and border collies on my little course in the backyard. The force generated from their acceleration is amplified by their mass - weight. IOW, that 60 lb dog is going to weigh a lot more once he plants all fours paws on the board. The plywood will flex unload at those weights.

 
My JRT doesn't even make the A-Frame move but then again she only weighs 13 lbs.

Think safety first. And the better you build it, the longer it will last. I hated painting it! I used a lot of sand to mix with the paint.

BTW, I hear that there are fiberglass A-Frames now? I overheard my instructor and a student talking about it because she was in the market for one. I guess I'll do that some day.
 

Think safety first. And the better you build it, the longer it will last. I hated painting it! I used a lot of sand to mix with the paint.

Really?  I love painting equipment.  I used leftover paint from my frame to paint all the uprights on my jumps.  Now everything matches and looks really cute!

jdata

BTW, I hear that there are fiberglass A-Frames now? I overheard my instructor and a student talking about it because she was in the market for one. I guess I'll do that some day.

I have seen those.  We have been at trials that both the Aframe and dogwalk where sheeted in fiberglass.  Didn't really feel much different than wood.  Of course they still have a metal frame.  I believe that the fiberglass sheeting is supposed to last longer than the wood but it still has to be painted just as often.  They are extremely expensive!!!!

jdata

Sowilu, 

 I built an A-Frame with guidance from Steve, aka "Timsdat". If you care about safety, you'll overbuild that A-Frame. I know it is going to add more weight but you need to care for the dog's safety because you never know if something happens. Your dog looks about 60 lbs or so, I have had huskies and border collies on my little course in the backyard. The force generated from their acceleration is amplified by their mass - weight. IOW, that 60 lb dog is going to weigh a lot more once he plants all fours paws on the board. The plywood will flex unload at those weights.

My JRT doesn't even make the A-Frame move but then again she only weighs 13 lbs.

 

Think safety first. And the better you build it, the longer it will last. I hated painting it! I used a lot of sand to mix with the paint.

 

BTW, I hear that there are fiberglass A-Frames now? I overheard my instructor and a student talking about it because she was in the market for one. I guess I'll do that some day.
 

For training purposes I have started to use it but he only walks on it he has not run on it. If we go to Lowe's these week or next I will be buying some wood and two more hinges. I will do all the advice and info. given to me. Thanks.

By the way should the safe spot be the third square from the top-down?

Sowilu

By the way should the safe spot be the third square from the top-down?

I presume that you mean the contact zone.  On a full size Aframe the contact zone is the lower 42 inches of each side.  Since your Aframe has sides of 48 inches (4 feet) you really don't need to worry about a contrasting color contact zone.  But if you want to paint a contact zone above are the normal specifications.

Ihearthuskybutts

 

Really?  I love painting equipment.  I used leftover paint from my frame to paint all the uprights on my jumps.  Now everything matches and looks really cute!

 

Oh painting is such a chore with the A-Frame. Everything else i have painted was just fine as the A-Frame is that much bigger to paint.

timsdat

I have seen those.  We have been at trials that both the Aframe and dogwalk where sheeted in fiberglass.  Didn't really feel much different than wood.  Of course they still have a metal frame.  I believe that the fiberglass sheeting is supposed to last longer than the wood but it still has to be painted just as often.  They are extremely expensive!!!!

 

 

Yes, last longer and I hope the weight would be different. I have done 'glass work so maybe in the future I might look into building my own. If I am serious about getting back into fabrication work, I really need to re-invest on equipment.  

timsdat

jdata

BTW, I hear that there are fiberglass A-Frames now? I overheard my instructor and a student talking about it because she was in the market for one. I guess I'll do that some day.

I have seen those.  We have been at trials that both the Aframe and dogwalk where sheeted in fiberglass.  Didn't really feel much different than wood.  Of course they still have a metal frame.  I believe that the fiberglass sheeting is supposed to last longer than the wood but it still has to be painted just as often.  They are extremely expensive!!!

 Actually, there is a company in PA that sells them for almost as cheap as a wood with aluminum frame.  Less than $1000 I'm sure.

From MAD Agility Equipment

jdata

Yes, last longer and I hope the weight would be different.

Have you seen the new product used to move an Aframe by a single person.

It is a L shaped bracket device with wheels that slip under each side of the Aframe.  On one side the wheels also turn and there is a long handle.  I saw this used recently and it worked well on grass.  Don't know how well it would work on dirt but the wheels on each side look like they might not sink in.