Where to buy cheap Agility kit?

Bentley has only just turned 6 months old so it will be a little while before we start doing the real fun stuff but I am interested in just having some stuff in the garden for him to have a nosey at. He has so much energy I think it will be a great outlet, and a good bonding experience for us
When he was a puppy I made a tunnel out of a long box which he loves. I would like to upgrade him to an actual tunnel. I have seen various ones on the internet but don't want to fork out a fortune for one I have also looked at cat play tunnels as he is only a Jack Russell. Would one of these not be suitable? Is there a website selling second hand agility kit? Even ebay seemed a little pricey. What should I expect to pay?
Also, regarding weave poles; would it be ok to set some up but a distance apart so he learns the notion of going in and out without actually having to 'weave' his little body?
I have no intention of doing any jumps with him until he is at least 12 months old, or is that still too early for a JRT?

Thanks for reading! Hope someone can help!

I'm glad to see that you realise that there are various things (e.g. weaves and jumps) that he should not be doing at his age.

For the tunnel, we got a child's play one which did the trick - I don't know whether you've got the likes of Toys R Us or Argos, but they aren't that expensive - this one is £10

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...t%3ETUNNEL.htm

You do have to watch that it doesn't move around when they are in it so you'll need some way to fix it in place - if you have any camping equipment you could use guy ropes over the top or something else (or wedged between some chairs)

Personally I wouldn't try weaves at all just now.

What you could also do is to get a plank of wood and paint the ends (not slip paint) then lay it flat on the ground and get him used to walking along that and stopping in the contact area.

You can also get him used to walking on both sides of you (so many people starting agility have problems with their dogs when the dog needs to be on their right as they only have walk with their dogs on the left!) and get used to directing him between and round things (football practice cones are good for that).

That tunnel from Argos looks perfect! I will have to see if Toys R Us here have anything similar price. I did look at a kids one in Ikea the other day but it was €24. If not I'll get mum to post one over to me!
forgive me for being daft ; how wide should the plank be? And are contacts the bits they have to touch coming on and off?
I have been thinking of clicker training him, do you recommend a clicker for first starting out with this?
So i could get cones and set them up to walk through and around, like a route he has to follow?
Thanks for your post, really helpful!

you can alo make hurdles. out of plumbing pipe, the white plastic sort. It's really easy, just make it so that the bar balances on the stands and can be knocked off if he bangs it with his feet.

Hi sometimes Pets at home have some cheap agility equipment, but I haven't seen any yet this year

As Hali suggested you could get a plank of wood, paint one end and lay it flat on the ground, make him stop on the painted bit, maybe give a treat and a command like touch/hit/get it, something like that, a command that you will only use for the contacts, he will eventually run along the plank and stop or sit at the end on this command and this will become extremely useful when you start doing agility properly, but be patient, this wont happen overnight, and also as Hali said, do everything on both sides of him, agility is run from both sides you could also lay a pole, or something similar on the ground and get him to walk over it maybe with the command 'over', but please don't raise it of the ground or make him jump it, he is still way to young to put that kind of pressure on such young bones.

You will also find is useful if you can get him to go ahead of you on command, maybe throw his favourite toy with the command 'go on' as a lot of the time there are 3 or 4 jumps in a row and you can't get to them as quickly as he will be able to also teaching him his left and right, but I would definitely steer clear of doing weaves yet, he's still much to young

Yes the contacts are the painted bits at the end of the equipment, but I've never seen anyone use a clicker for agility training (doesn't mean they don't), but if he has a favorite toy, or treat that he will do anything for then you are well away

O my! If it even remotely smells like food he's all over it!! Toys not so much.
I have just been looking on the web and there are some really cheap cones on Amazon, there are some that come with hurdles so I could start with those on the floor? There are various tunnels too. I am really excited for him and all the fun we'll have.
At puppy class on Saturday the trainer called us over (only 5 of us this week) to the tunnels explaining that our pups would prob be hesitant at first so we could have a go at the straight one. Bentley was off lead and wandered off through the curved one no drama at all

Robinsons equestrian do cheap agility stuff

As CLMG says, clickers aren't generally used in agility, but if you are confident at clicker training and he understands it, I don't see why you can't when you're training at home.

Contacts are a really good thing to get to grips with early because most dogs get so excited that they just jump off the dog walk (which is the raised plank they walk along) and the A-frame (as its name suggests, the frame they go up over and down on), missing the contact points (the coloured parts). Of course little dogs do generally have it easier as they are less likely to jump from higher up I'm lucky that Stumpy goes so slowly there is practically no chance of her missing the contacts

I must admit, I don't know the exact width of the plank - I'd guess at somewhere between 12-18 inches.

Yes, that's the idea with the cones. Its to get him used to following your hands as a signal for where he should go and for commands like heel (dog close by your left side) and 'side' (dog close to your right side). Of course one difficulty is that the class will almost certainly use different commands than those you might use yourself (or the ones i have suggested) but if he knows your commands by the time you go to proper classes, just tell the instructor and they should not make you change.

That's what we've got too. I didn't suggest them because her pup is too young to jump at the moment, although there would be no harm with the poles on the floor.

Training stays, recalls, sendaways plus left and right commands. These commands are very useful to teach your dog before introducing him to full agility classes.

Hi tessabelle

you could try looking on www.agilitynet.co.uk they have a shop that sells agility equipment.

There are lots if things you can be enjoying with bentley to prepare him for agility. You can practice waits in front of jumps with the poles on the floor, send aways too. Have a look at different websites that have info on gridwork as this teaches dogs a good jumping technique,he is too young for this at the mo but it's interesting. You can practice jogging with him and turning your body quickly calling his name and rewarding him so he gets stimulated by quick changes in your body direction. As the other guys said I would start contact work and did do mine with a clicker. Firstly you can teach him to walk backwards,then teach him to walk backwards in front of your plank,I'd make it approx 2 feet wide,as soon as his feet or foot males contact with the plank click and reward him. Always release him with a command so you are in control of the contact. When he is happy doing this delay the click until he has held the contact position for a few seconds. You can then build this up so he stays in position while you move around. If he will play with a toy as you release him throw a toy ahead for him and then try to play a game of tug. You want him to be crazy about contacts and think they are the best place to be.
As for weaves,i know this will be contraversial but I would start him now. I've tried numerous ways to train weaves and would now only use channels with guides,they teach the dogs great entries and speed and are really simple to train. Because of the position of the poles the dog can do all it's initial training without asking the body to bend at all. The only down side is they are not easy to put together at home.
Hope that's of some use and hasn't bored the pants off you,once I start talking agility I can't stop!
Also Greg Derrett does a great video on foundation training that is mainly away from any equipment