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Returning through a groyne with his ball
Dog agility is obstacle course racing for dogs. Formal agility training requires specialist equipment – jumps, seesaws, A-frames, collapsed and rigid tunnels, weave poles. But you can do improvised agility with your dog too, using whatever is around you to set challenges. It won’t win you any prizes but it’s great for your dog’s training, fitness, confidence and focus. And most dogs love it.
You can improvise agility challenges almost anywhere – a garden, a field, a forest. Fallen trees, tree stumps, stiles, fences, low walls, boulders, banks, streams – anything that can be safely jumped over, climbed over, run through, ducked under, stood upon, or touched with paws or snout, can be used as an agility obstacle or target. You can use props, too – a mat as a target, retrievable objects to send your dog out to (place the object somewhere, take your dog away, then send him out to find and retrieve it), a hula hoop for your dog to jump through. Agility isn’t free play – it should be fast but controlled, using commands and gestures to direct your dog to perform particular actions along particular routes.
Our camper van is parked by a beach as I write this so my dog and I have been doing beach agility. We use the sea wall for bounces (dog hits the wall with his front paws and ‘bounces’ off it); stone steps to climb up, often with a sitting or standing pause at the top; groynes for jumping over or through or ducking under (see photos above and below); boulders to jump onto or run around; rock armour to climb. If your dog likes swimming (mine doesn’t), you can use a floating toy to add in some watery retrieves. Mix it all up with heelwork, rapidfire sits and downs. Everything should be pacy and exciting but controlled at the same time – throw in some waiting and staying, and teach a ‘freeze’ command.
And above all, have fun!
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Another return from a send out, this time going through a gap under a groyne
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