Search:

Agility Dog Training - Keeping Your Animal Fit And Healthy

Can you remember the last time you ran an obstacle course. Besides being in the armed forces, the chances are it was in your childhood. Can you recall how hard it was ? In fact, if you only looked at the course without ever trying it you are aware of how challenging it appeared.

So if we acknowledge the difficulty of such a course why do we expect our dogs to be able to do such a course. After all, they are a test of endurance, agility and conditioning. Are dogs innately conditioned to run through tunnels, over bridges and jump fences ? No, they have to be trained.

Agility dog training programs are devised so that an animal can develop the physical stamina to deal with an obstacle course. It will aid your dog in becoming fit and strong. It will also train the dog to listen and respond to it's owners commands as the animal is under the owners control during the running of the obstacle course. This is great for two reasons, the dog learns simple obedience training and the relationship between owner and animal is cemented. Dog agility training programs can boost your dogs ability to think for itself and deal with unstructured or unpredictable situations. In fact, your dog does not understand how or why to slalom through poles or run over a seesaw. This has to be learned by the animal so that it can apply these techniques to the variety of courses it will run in different locations or situations.

In fact, this is a difficult job for a trainer to get this across to a dog that has never done something like this before. You can expect a few days of training by a dog agility trainer until your dog will be ready to run a typical obstacle course. With this basic training completed, it is up to you as the owner to hone the dogs skills and take over the training regime. The end result is that you have a strong bond with your pet. On completion of this process, you will be responsible for keeping the dog fit and current with new obstacles and courses. Whilst this might be difficult at the start, you will find that it is all worthwhile as you develop a stronger bond with your dog and help to make it run the course faster.

And the aim of all this agility dog training is to put your pet into a obstacle course competition. No doubt you have seen one or two of these events at live dog shows or on the television. It is a common view that these types of competitions are cruel because the dog is forced to do something against it's will but in reality the animal loves to do things like this. However, in my opinion, competitions like these are the best parts of the dog show and are a real antidote to all the stuff judging events that go on in the main show. And most of the dogs absolutely love the event if their wagging tails and noisy barking is anything to go by. Perhaps the dog is responding to the applause of the crowd but it is good to see the animal having such a good time.

Of course, in order to be successful in running such an obstacle course it will need solid agility dog training so that it has the skills and remains safe. This is an aspect of agility dog training that most people fail to consider. The aim of agility dog training is not just the development of the dog's all round skills and fitness, but also to make sure that the dog does not hurt himself.

And of course the best motivation to make your pooch run through tunnels or slalom poles is that it will keep you pet busy and fit which makes him healthier and better adjusted to living in a family. It's just as enjoyable for you too.

By: Adrian Fletcher

Find great training tips, including German Shepherd dog training tips and effective dog potty training

Article Directory: http://www.articlewisdom.com

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated