Excelling At Dog Agility Obstacle Training

This book provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for training your dog to master each agility obstacle with safety, fun, and competitive excellence in mind. It Includes important principles for building a happy and successful working relationship with your dog, as well as a solid foundation for all of your agility training. The focus is placed upon setting high standards from the start so that no retraining will be necessary later down the road.

This book teaches you how to sequence smoothly from one obstacle to the next, to reach your dog's highest potential for speed and accuracy. The book: helps you to develop a consistent set of cues for communicating with your dog on the agility course. As a result, your dog will understand your directives in an instant, even at the highest of speeds and the greatest of distances; Provides detailed lesson plans for Beginner, Intermediate I, and Intermediate II agility training classes.

Whether your dog is young or old, large or small, pedigreed or mixed breed, Agility is a sport you and your dog can enjoy together. Agility Training makes clear all aspects of this, the world's fastest growing and most versatile dog sport. Whatever your interest, whether purely casual or highly competitive, you will find the instructional methods and helpful hints meaningful for your goals. Agility Training tells readers how to get started in the sport, work on their own, attend classes, earn titles and organize a competition or practice event. Chapters describe training for all levels of Agility, from beginners through an advanced curriculum. A special feature provides detailed construction plans as well as a list of materials for all obstacles.

Flatwork: Foundation for Agility isn’t about the obstacles; it’s about what happens between the obstacles. Your dog spends more time between the obstacles running with you on the flat than he does performing the obstacles. It’s on the flat, after all, that you set up your dog’s approach to the next obstacle. It’s on the flat where you as handler do most of your job guiding the dog. Performing flatwork successfully requires excellent communication between dog and handler. Flatwork: Foundation for Agility is also about developing a communication system with your dog as you teach him each agility maneuver without the distraction of obstacles. As you follow this training program, you will develop a set of cues and movements that indi¬cate specific behaviors to the dog, and you will become aware of exactly what your body is really “saying” to your dog. Flatwork is your agility foundation, teaching you how to handle and how to make all your body language clear, consistent, coherent, and timely while also teaching your dog how to take direction and stay with you on course.

The fun and easy way to teach a dog new tricks Dog Tricks & Agility For Dummies (previously titled Dog Tricks For Dummies) makes trick and agility training fun for both you and your dog. You will learn to teach simple tricks, like tail wagging or barking on command to more complex tricks like fetching keys, your dog's dinner bowl, or the laundry. This hands-on guide provides the lowdown on the coolest dog tricks and offers expanded coverage on infusing the thrill of agility (whether for fun or competition) into your dog's life. Push a cart or stroller, run an agility course, play Frisbee and fly ball, and put the toys away Navigate all types of agility obstacles big and small, narrow and wide Prepare your dog for canine good citizen certification Determine if your dog can get involved in pet therapy and what's involved (i.e. nursing homes, children's centers, prisons, etc.) Make your own agility obstacles at home and set up a course Officially enter agility trials

Enjoying Dog Agility (2nd edition) is the premier beginner's guide to the fast-growing sport of dog agility. Author Julie Daniels, a national and international agility champion and one of the early pioneers of the sport in the United States, has written an upbeat and informative must-read that shares her insight into all aspects of agility, from initial training of the dog to competing and succeeding in agility trials. A perfectly crafted guide for novice agility handlers, Daniels's book teaches handlers to motivate their dogs, use positive-training techniques, and, most of all, have fun with their dogs.Divided into two sections, the book begins with "This Is Agility," the section that introduces readers to the basic requirements of the sport, methods of handling the dog, conditioning for the dog, and developing true teamwork with the dog. The second section is devoted to "The Obstacles" and discusses how to train the dog for all of the major obstacles found at trial: the apertures (open and closed tunnels and tire jump), the ramps (A-framed, dogwalk, and seesaw), the jumps (bar and solid jumps, spread jumps, and broad jumps), the pause table, and the weave poles. Each obstacle in Section II is presented with step-by-step training instructions on how to introduce the dog to the obstacle and how to navigate it, including avoiding and fixing problems along the way.As Stuart Mah (of Rising Stars Dog Agility) says of the author and her classic text, "Long-considered one of the ‘grand dames' of dog agility, Julie Daniels writes in an easy-to-understand style. Reading Enjoying Dog Agility is like having Julie there, discussing agility with you personally." Fully indexed for ease of reference.

TEACHING THE DOG TO THINK is Kimberly Davis' engaging memoir about her crash introduction to the sport of dog agility-with its jumps, tunnels, balance beams and weave poles. An award-winning poet and blogger, Davis vividly describes her frustrations trying to get her dog to "mind." We then watch as her first steely-eyed agility coach shames her into giving up choke collars and scruff shakes in favor of the "positive" training methods used by agility instructors. Davis' breezy, often humorous account shows how these new techniques allow her to communicate with the "alien" mind of a dog. Also how they transform her unruly yearling collie, Willow, into a loyal, hardworking teammate. Davis ultimately carries the lessons she has mastered in dog training class into other areas of her life, particularly into parenting and teaching creative writing. In the end, this memoir becomes a soul-searching exploration of how to get others to do what we want without bullying or cruelty-by using our heads and forcing ourselves to be a little smarter. A subtly subversive book about dealing responsibly with those less powerful than ourselves, Teaching The Dog To Think speaks not only to dog lovers, but also to anyone who has ever felt helpless, angry, or frustrated as a parent, teacher or pet owner. "You MUST read this book if you have children or pets, and want to change their behavior without coercion "--Richard McManus, Founder and President, The Fluency Factory "An interesting story of how switching to clicker training vastly improved one agility fan's dog and also changed her own approach to family life."--Karen Pryor, author of Don't Shoot the Dog and Reaching the Animal Mind "A wonderful entry point for anyone learning about these important new methods for teaching skills and enhancing creativity."--Catherine S. Mayes, Independent Autism Advocate and Autism Project Advocate, Massachusetts Advocates for Children

Training your dog (and yourself) for agility competitions will create a fun working relationship that both of you can enjoy. Find everything you need top know in this fun guide that includes information on pre-agility training , detailed advice on correction-free training and step-by step agility training techniques. Also learn how to make your own agility obstacles use a clicker as a motivational tool, and officially enter agility trials. Participation in agility competitions can build a strong, enduring bond between you and your dog, Read The Beginners Guide to Dog Agility to learn the ins and outs of this exciting hobby.