Exercising Your Dog: The Agility Course

I was watching a TV program the other day and one of the guests of the show brought her dog along. She was looking for help in breaking some of her dog's bad habits. Another guest - a dog trainer - listened to the issues and then stated the obvious. The dog is not the problem, the owner is! This one was pretty obvious since all the things the owner did not want the dog to do to her guests in the house she allowed the dog to do to her. I stayed interested in the show just to see what the trainer would recommend as corrections to the behavior. This was like watching a very abbreviated version of the Dog Whisperer without Cesar.

One of the first things the trainer did was to change the dog's leash to one that connected in the front around the chest. This made it easier for the handler. The next thing was to put lots of small treats into a pouch for rewards. And the last thing was to set up a mini agility course. You may or may not know that agility training is a growing activity in the dog world. It is similar to an obstacle course with runs, jumps, A-frames, pole weaving, tunnels, ramps, etc. You get the picture. Well it was pretty amazing how quickly this energetic dog took to the mini course and sought out food rewards. Now if only the dog's owner would continue with this training.

The benefits other than the physical exercise test control, patience, teamwork, speed, etc. The winners of agility trials are a combination of best time a fewest faults. Although agility trails are open to dogs of all breeds, medium sized quick and nimble dogs do the best. But the dogs all benefit from the test, so if you have a dog in need of challenges this is one option to consider.