Puppy Fun

The following is a contribution by Hendy Lund, who is by no means a professional trainer, but who has a very energetic puppy. (10 June 1999)

So, you've got an Agile Leo on your hands... only she's 7 months old. What can you do with her while you're waiting for her to finish growing? Here are some of the things I'm working on with my puppy, Zadi.

Agility requires several skills, only one of which is executing each obstacle correctly. Equally important is the ability for your dog to follow directions, work at a distance from you, and perform a series of tasks in the correct order. These skills you can start teaching at any age.

Note: these games assume you've already established a working relationship with your dog i.e. you have a training method that you use consistently (clicker, positive reward, etc.)

The Recall: The single most important thing you can have when starting agility is a solid recall command. Although you'll generally learn each obstacle on-lead, very quickly you'll be working your dog off-lead. When your pup gets that "wild hare" going, you'll want to be able to get him/her back without having to run all over creation. You'll actually want two flavors of recall for agility: the obedience recall (come and sit at my feet), and the "casual" recall (move in my general direction until I give you something else to do). You'll want two different words - in my house, "come" is the casual recall, and "here" is the obedience recall.

Distance: On the agility course, your dog will have to be able to work at a distance from you. The more distance you have, the less you as a handler have to run! Rio (my adult Agile Leo) has a real problem working away from me, so I'm starting Zadi early on an "out" command, which means "go away from me." You can use any word you like, keeping in mind that you'll have to gasp it out at speed someday. One way to teach the "out" command is to place a toy or food on the ground. Walk the pup some distance away, and put him on a stay. You continue to walk farther, so the dog is between you and the treat. Release the dog from the stay, then add the word "Out!" (or your chosen command). Mastering this is pretty easy - what's more exciting, food or Mom? Vary it with a recall, so sometimes the dog comes to you, sometimes the dog goes to the treat, but always on command.

Directions: Running in a straight line is easy for a dog. Learning to curve to the left or right on command is another story, but you'll need these commands in agility. You can teach an actual "left" and "right" command, or you can teach something more vague that moves the dog in reference to your body position. Since I can't tell my right from my left anyway, I find the latter much easier.

You can start by using a recall around an obstacle (a chair, a table - something the dog has to go around, not over). Put your dog on a stay at some distance from the obstacle. Then stand at an angle to the obstacle, so there's a "near" side and a "far" side. When you first start, make the angle very small, so your dog won't always choose the obviously shorter path. Call the dog. When she chooses the "far" side, shout your direction command ("out" or "waytome" or the appropriate specific direction.) Whe she chooses the "near" side, shout your direction command ("come" or "here" or "comeby" or whatever).

The next step is to increase the angle so the "near" and "far" is clearer. Once your dog has the idea that the commands mean something, start adding hand signals. Why hand signals? Two reasons: 1) On the course, you may be gasping for air just when your dog needs direction. 2) Dogs follow body language much more than they follow verbal commands. Vary between using voice, using voice and hand, and using hand alone. As your dog develops understanding, you can set up several obstructions, and try to guide your dog around them solely with commands. This is hard.

Moving with your dog: Okay, this may be obvious, but if you haven't taught your dog to run with you (as opposed to under you!), you can potentially injure yourself and/or your dog by colliding at speed or tripping over each other. Start with straight lines. Then add curves. Then place that chair or table in your line and run around it. Then add your commands so sometimes the dog passes on the same side, and sometimes passes on the opposite side. Work your distance commands by slowing down but encouraging your dog to "get out" and keep going around the obstacle.

Remember that I'm not a professional trainer, and that Zadi still hasn't started formal agility classes yet. These are just things that I wish I'd practiced with Rio before we started. In fact, many of these things are things we're doing now, only the obstacle is a jump instead of a chair, and he's going over it instead of around it.