Dog Agility - Beginners Guide to Products and Accessories
Dog Agility is growing in popularity year on year in the UK.
This article will help those who've just started out, or those who are thinking of joining an Agility club, to ensure they get the most out of it by buying a small number of inexpensive, but very useful accessories.
Dog Agility the basics The main two things to consider when starting out in Dog Agility are FUN and SAFETY.
These two points are true for both yourself as the dog handler, and for the dog itself.
Dog Agility should be great fun for both trainer and the dog, and the moment it stops being fun, is the time to consider if it's really the right thing for you and your dog.
One of the worse things you can do is drag your dog over the jumps, a-frames, etc if it's hating every minute of it.
And also, if you're not enjoying it, this will be picked up by the dog, who will also in turn not enjoy it! So make sure you keep he FUN element in it, and you're half way there.
Secondly, always make sure you're training doesn't put either your dog or yourself at risk of injury or accidents.
Dog Agility whilst growing in popularity does contain a few dangerous elements, and as such, should only be considered if the appropriate supervision and training is given before starting out.
A few mistakes or bad training techniques at the beginning, could cause long term health problems for your dog! So always seek advice, and if your training club does not put safety high on it's agenda, then consider changing Dog Agility clubs before it's too late.
Dog Agility Accessories Along with the growth of any sport, there's always a heap of people trying to make money out of selling accessories and equipment, and dog agility is increasingly becoming a victim of this.
So be warned..
..
you may end up spending a lot of cash on things you perhaps don't really need if you're not careful.
So, we've put together a small 3 step plan to getting yourself equipped without breaking the bank on unnecessary items.
3 step plan to dog agility accessories 1.
Get yourself a good quality, embroidered dog collar.
Dog Agility competitions often will not allow the dogs to wear ID tags / discs for safety reasons (the tag may get caught in the dog agility jumps, frames, etc).
It's not really safe to just completely remove all forms of ID however, in case your dog decided to bolt off!! As such, most Dog Agility owners invest in a good quality embroidered dog collar, which has personalised professional embroidery of your name and phone number directly on the dog collar!One of the best dog collars for dog agility are the tactile webbing quick snap side release collars, which are incredibly easy to put on, but are VERY strong when an athletic powerful agility dog is pulling on the lead!! The collar's webbing however is very very soft and gentle on the dog's neck.
As such, these are ideal dog agility collars.
These collars last for years and years, so they're a really good investment.
2.
Get a tug toy of some description.
Ideally something that you can pop in your pocket for easy access / quick storage.
Most dog agility people find rope tug toys are too harsh on the owners hands and too bulky to be used freely.
You'll see many fleece-based tug toys around at professional agility competitions.
These are used to excite and wind up the dogs before competing, and also as a reward after each run.
We recommend fleece tug toys.
Eco-tug dog tugtoys, are actually made form 100% recycled products, and are very soft on the owners hands when tugging.
Relatively cheap, and ecofriendly.
These tug toys are also useful to be used as 'targets' in agility training once your dog has been trained to them.
3.
Finally, if you're keen on the 'training' aspect of agility, then it's good to get a few of the essential items for dog training.
These are, (1) training treat bag, to store dog treats in a pouch which clips to your side for easy access , (2) training treats - we recommend fresh chicken for training purposes, or if you don't have fresh, then the next best thing is Thrive Training Treats,and finally (3) A good quality Clicker.
If you're not familiar with clicker training, then just search on YouTube for it and you'll soon get the idea.
We recommend i-clickers, and are superior to the old fashioned style clickers from a few years ago.
These are really aboutall the items that we'd say are essential.
After that, then it's up to you what you spend your hard earned cash on - but be warned, there's a lot of people out there trying to sell you things that you might never use, or that aren't going to last you 5 minutes before you end up having to throw them out.
Beware of cheap agility courses for back gardens...
they seem a great idea but many of them are poor quality, can be dangerous, and don't conform to competition standards so may not be a good idea to train with if you're considering competing in future.
Don't get me wrong, some are really good, but you generally find that you get what you pay for, and for the hobbiest, the good ones are rather excessively priced at present.
You're probably going to be better off joining your local Dog Agility club, seeing if you like it, and using their safe and quality equipment until you decide if you and you're dog get hooked on it - and then making the investment in some agility equipment for your garden! So, remember, have fun, be safe, and get yourself the basic Dog Agility items...
This article will help those who've just started out, or those who are thinking of joining an Agility club, to ensure they get the most out of it by buying a small number of inexpensive, but very useful accessories.
Dog Agility the basics The main two things to consider when starting out in Dog Agility are FUN and SAFETY.
These two points are true for both yourself as the dog handler, and for the dog itself.
Dog Agility should be great fun for both trainer and the dog, and the moment it stops being fun, is the time to consider if it's really the right thing for you and your dog.
One of the worse things you can do is drag your dog over the jumps, a-frames, etc if it's hating every minute of it.
And also, if you're not enjoying it, this will be picked up by the dog, who will also in turn not enjoy it! So make sure you keep he FUN element in it, and you're half way there.
Secondly, always make sure you're training doesn't put either your dog or yourself at risk of injury or accidents.
Dog Agility whilst growing in popularity does contain a few dangerous elements, and as such, should only be considered if the appropriate supervision and training is given before starting out.
A few mistakes or bad training techniques at the beginning, could cause long term health problems for your dog! So always seek advice, and if your training club does not put safety high on it's agenda, then consider changing Dog Agility clubs before it's too late.
Dog Agility Accessories Along with the growth of any sport, there's always a heap of people trying to make money out of selling accessories and equipment, and dog agility is increasingly becoming a victim of this.
So be warned..
..
you may end up spending a lot of cash on things you perhaps don't really need if you're not careful.
So, we've put together a small 3 step plan to getting yourself equipped without breaking the bank on unnecessary items.
3 step plan to dog agility accessories 1.
Get yourself a good quality, embroidered dog collar.
Dog Agility competitions often will not allow the dogs to wear ID tags / discs for safety reasons (the tag may get caught in the dog agility jumps, frames, etc).
It's not really safe to just completely remove all forms of ID however, in case your dog decided to bolt off!! As such, most Dog Agility owners invest in a good quality embroidered dog collar, which has personalised professional embroidery of your name and phone number directly on the dog collar!One of the best dog collars for dog agility are the tactile webbing quick snap side release collars, which are incredibly easy to put on, but are VERY strong when an athletic powerful agility dog is pulling on the lead!! The collar's webbing however is very very soft and gentle on the dog's neck.
As such, these are ideal dog agility collars.
These collars last for years and years, so they're a really good investment.
2.
Get a tug toy of some description.
Ideally something that you can pop in your pocket for easy access / quick storage.
Most dog agility people find rope tug toys are too harsh on the owners hands and too bulky to be used freely.
You'll see many fleece-based tug toys around at professional agility competitions.
These are used to excite and wind up the dogs before competing, and also as a reward after each run.
We recommend fleece tug toys.
Eco-tug dog tugtoys, are actually made form 100% recycled products, and are very soft on the owners hands when tugging.
Relatively cheap, and ecofriendly.
These tug toys are also useful to be used as 'targets' in agility training once your dog has been trained to them.
3.
Finally, if you're keen on the 'training' aspect of agility, then it's good to get a few of the essential items for dog training.
These are, (1) training treat bag, to store dog treats in a pouch which clips to your side for easy access , (2) training treats - we recommend fresh chicken for training purposes, or if you don't have fresh, then the next best thing is Thrive Training Treats,and finally (3) A good quality Clicker.
If you're not familiar with clicker training, then just search on YouTube for it and you'll soon get the idea.
We recommend i-clickers, and are superior to the old fashioned style clickers from a few years ago.
These are really aboutall the items that we'd say are essential.
After that, then it's up to you what you spend your hard earned cash on - but be warned, there's a lot of people out there trying to sell you things that you might never use, or that aren't going to last you 5 minutes before you end up having to throw them out.
Beware of cheap agility courses for back gardens...
they seem a great idea but many of them are poor quality, can be dangerous, and don't conform to competition standards so may not be a good idea to train with if you're considering competing in future.
Don't get me wrong, some are really good, but you generally find that you get what you pay for, and for the hobbiest, the good ones are rather excessively priced at present.
You're probably going to be better off joining your local Dog Agility club, seeing if you like it, and using their safe and quality equipment until you decide if you and you're dog get hooked on it - and then making the investment in some agility equipment for your garden! So, remember, have fun, be safe, and get yourself the basic Dog Agility items...