Agility Training at home

I have a GSD x NI who's now 13 weeks old and wondered if i can start agility training her at home or is she too young yet, i notice Pets at home sell all the parts for £20 or so each.

And are there any good DVD's or Books that teach you how to do this, i'm reckoning alot of tasty treats and so on to get her going.

This sounds like a great way to have fun with my dog...

You really should not be encouraging a puppy of this age, especially of a large breed to twist, turn, jump etc.

However you CAN to pre agility training ie the stuff you NEED to be successful in Agility.

So, your dog can trot over poles on the ground (these can be garden canes)

You can accustomise her to how it feels in a tunnel (throw a blanket over two chairs and get her to go through).

You can start teaching touch target with her feet (for contact equipment eg see saw, A frame etc) by using a bit of carpet and clicker training for her front paws on it)

You can also start teaching lefts and rights

This may help

http://www.agilitynet.co.uk/training..._contents.html

She's definately too young, for a larger breed you shouldn't start over the equipment until a year old, there's still lots to train, a solid wait, a good recall, direction commands, a target ...

I'd also recommend if you've never done it before to go to a good club, so they can show you how to teach the equipment safely. Start looking for a club now though as several have long waiting lists (about a year).

agree with the others

Great you are thinking of doing this with your pup - it is great fun
I would spend a bit of time getting the basic puppy stuff perfect - sits downs and stays
also you can work on sending her away from you and round things
circle work/flat work is also good - walking with her beside you (kind like heel) and changing directions and changing sides then building up to running in big circles

sits, downs and stays at a distance

walking on different surfaces

and as many tricks are you can think of to expand that mind

Ok thanks for the replies, i will start with the things you have mentioned, i thought she might be too young for equiptment.
and i neer thought of teaching her sending away... hehe this sounds like it could be tricky but i will start practacing.

Well done for doing so well with her. Keep your training fun and make sure she (and you) enjoy it.
Daisy loves learning new things. But mostly she likes training because she thinks it`s Playing with Mum.

Lots of good advice already given- don't even start getting her onto actual equipment until she's at least a year and her joints have fully developed etc- better to be safe than sorry. Groundwork can be started now (getting her to work away from you etc) and of course the basic obedience, which will be very very useful when there's so many distractions around if you take her to a training class/club, which i would recommend you do