Practice agility with your dog
Today, I leave the floor to Camille and her dog Arya, Dog-Reporters at EmmèneTonChien.com. They will tell you about an activity they practice together: agility! This canine sport is a great activity to do with your dog. The principle is to guide your dog on a given course by passing it through several obstacles: the perfect sport to bring the dog closer to his human.
Hello Woofers!
As Sophie and Musher have already told you, I'm going to tell you about a great discipline to practice with your dog: agility.
What is agility ?
This canine discipline makes it possible to combine obedience, confidence and play. The goal is to pass a certain number of obstacles to his dog in a very precise order. Agility can be practiced in competition or simply for fun. There are different forms of obstacles: hurdles, bridge, roof, slalom, tunnel, swing, tire...
Arya, my boxer - Malinois mix , and I started less than a year ago. We take a class every week at the dog club near Bandol , where we live in the Var region . I discovered this activity through an acquaintance, who later became a friend; she's an agility instructor herself. After a trial class that was a little challenging, we didn't give up, and now we're ready to start competing.
How does an agility session take place?
warming
We start with a relaxing walk for Arya to relieve herself, as this is prohibited on the ground. It's also an opportunity to warm up your joints. Once the walk is over, we run a short lap. And yes, humans also play sports!! And then I have Arya work on a barbell doing the figure eight. Arya jumps over the bar and back to the right, then she jumps again and back to the left, all without me moving. Thanks to this exercise, in addition to warming up your body, we also begin to “connect” for the rest of the session.
Musher and Sophie: Yes, the figure eight, I have Musher do that too, but few people know what it is. That's because it's an expression commonly used in horseback riding. The basic figure eight exercise consists of alternating circles in one direction and then the other to work on the animal's suppleness.
The practice
Before starting the practice, the instructor tells me the route we are going to work on. Arya stays quietly on the edge of the field while I work my way by trotting in order to memorize it. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about the techniques I'm going to have to use in order to best guide my furry friend so that she understands where she needs to go.
As soon as I feel ready, we cross the starting line. Arya is very attentive to my body language. The dog, whether it is the size of a Chihuahua or a German Shepherd, works a lot with human body language so gestures are very important. So I have to be completely sure of myself during the course. You have to go fast without missing a single obstacle. On some of them there is a red zone at the start and end of the obstacle to signify that Arya should not jump. It can be a footbridge, a roof, a swing… It must imperatively pass through these zones to validate the passage of the obstacle. It is therefore very important to establish specific orders so that the dog does not get lost on the course.
Agility with your dog: where to start?
First you have to find a canine club in which you feel comfortable with the instructors. But that's not all ! You also need some materials.
To get started with Arya, I used:
The harness and the leash were used to work each obstacle one by one. Arya was a little nervous at first, but the treats got us going. Once we were able to remove the leash and getting over obstacles was easy, I replaced the treats with the toy. It's obviously a lot of work and patience and it is imperative to make sure that agility pleases our companion in order to be able to share extraordinary moments!
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The final word
Since we have been practicing this activity, our relationship, already very close, has only grown stronger. I recommend it to all sports dogs and handlers, who want to work while having fun. I'm really happy to have discovered this activity and I hope I have made you want to try it!
Musher and Sophie: By the way, if you'd like to start agility, there are plenty of dedicated groups on Facebook. And if you'd prefer to observe the sport before trying it yourself, keep an eye on the competition calendar : there might be one near you!
See you soon the Waoufer's!!
Camilla and Arya
Thank you Camille for this great article! It makes you want to try agility with your dog, right? Musher has a crazy vertigo too, it's a discipline that we have shunned a little. Let's say she greatly prefers water sports; to each his own!
You can find videos of Camille's agility classes on her Instagram account @kamou_bnfx
