New to agility

[TwoDogs]

Originally Posted by Baby Ripley

Ripley had his first agility class last week. The class was based on a introduction to the equipment. Toward the end of the class each dog was put through the tunnel. Ripley was reluctant to go through, but was lots of help..he did. I guess I am wondering if there are any tricks to the trade to help him along. He recieved lots of praise, and did the bean for about 2 mins
Also wondering if anyone would know of a good beginners book for this sport.

Thanks much

A tip for the tunnel is to squish it up until it is really short and have the dog do it. Then gradually lengthen it out over a number of tries. Once they are charging through it fully extended and straight, add a bit of a curve.

As for books, The Beginner's Guide to Dog Agility by Laurie Leach gives a good overview of Agility and tips for training foundation behaviors as well as training the obstacles. It has alot of pictures and has a nice section on handling skills and sequencing obstacles. A really nice beginner's book.

[chrystel]

So we did our first demonstration!
it was for the chihuahua rescue, and our agility group just went there to participate and add fun to the party.

Oxford did.. the best he could!

we avoided the obstacles he never did in class: the teeter, the collapsed tunnel.. we tried the curved tunnel, but it was too scary

he usually does the bridge (walk) so well, but saturday wasn't his day

this demo was just for fun... and we had a blast!

we are super beginners (we had 1 class in april, and 1 class in october) -

i put the video on youtube: