Paws For Agility

It is almost universally agreed upon that the weaves are the most difficult aspect of dog agility training. You may be able to get away without purchasing some training equipment, but that is not the case with agility weave poles. In order to be successful, you and your dog will have to put in a significant amount of time in on this apparatus.

When making your purchase, try to find a model that is lightweight and portable. This will ensure that you utilize the tool and it doesn’t end up sitting in a corner gathering dust. Also look for a model that has adjustable poles that can be fixed in either a straight up or angled position.

A Philosophy on Agility:
By Pamela Spock,

 ”Agility is like life…you have to take it one obstacle at a time”.

My name is Pamela, and I am the founder and president of Affordable Agility, Inc., one of the leading manufacturers of dog agility equipment.

When I started my company about a decade ago it rather ’snow-balled’ into what it is now, rather than starting off as well-planned company of vision. Not to say that it didn’t have any.  Vision was birthed with frustration, particularly over trying to make backyard equipment for this crazy hobby I was caught up in! As a single woman who still holds a hammer up close near the head (the hammer’s head that is), and who is about as confident walking through the isles of a Home Depot as I would be walking the streets of India, trying to design a teeter-totter base for my dog was more than I could emotionally handle! I remember my sad attempt at building an a-frame. I used a small hinged garage sale sign and nailed carpeting on it! My Springer Spaniel either flew over it, or knocked it flat.  She was so patient with me back then. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my dog loved agility more than I even did.  And that is where the real philosophy and vision of this company comes into play. Agility is more than just a fun thing to do with your dog. If that was the sum and whole, you would get bored of it, because while your dog appears to be in his glory, you yourself are doing soul-searching. Soul-searching about what, you ask?  Well, if you’ve been involved in agility training for any length of time you have surely experienced the subtle affect that body language, tone of voice, and attitude has on your unusually sensitive dog. Anyone who has competed in agility competitions knows, for example, what happens to their dog’s confidence when you feel nervous or discouraged. Suddenly a sport that started off being fun (and still is) is also becoming a way of seeing yourself for who you really are! 

 

There’s a well-known saying that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Well, I’ve found that little pearl of wisdom to be way off base. Take my 8-year-old Basset hound Rufus, a dog that was abused for the first few years of his life and was on the brink of being euthanized when I picked him up from the humane society. Although most everyone had given up hope of socializing him, I saw something special behind those big, droopy eyes.

The conventional means for teaching a dog acceptable behavior didn’t seem to work for Rufus. As a last-ditch effort, I enrolled the two of us in some dog agility classes with a seasoned instructor. It didn’t take long for everyone involved to notice that Rufus was taking to the canine competition obedience equipment like a fish to water. I knew there was still plenty of work to be done, but it was finally a positive sign.

 How low can you go? 

The dog agility crawl tunnel is a unique obstacle that is used in UKC trials. It is also used in K9 training to challenge the dogs to crawl through low places to get to a target location and retrieve.

With enough training, your dog can be taught to crawl under almost anything. Here is travis, being a clown and messing up the pause table thinking that it was the crawl tunnel. Unfortunately, there are no bonus points for clowning.