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lundi 19 mai 2014

Dog Agility: Understanding What Makes A "clean Run"

By Cheng Bernhardt


If you would like to be a part of dog agility, you are not alone. This sport has become hugely popular since its creation in the 1970s. Every dog agility organization is a little bit different. Each has designed its own unique dog obstacles courses and each has its own rules and restrictions, but here are a few bits of basic information that might help those who are just starting out.

Generally, you will encounter the same basic obstacles everywhere. Your dog will be expect to navigate several different kinds of jumps, run through weave poles, sit and stay on the pause table, shuffle through tunnels and handle several contact obstacles. These contact apparatus include the a-frame, the dog walk and the teeter totter or see-saw. Practice makes perfect, so set up a dog agility course in your backyard to make it easy to practice every day. All of the dog agility equipment you need can be purchased at Carlson Agility, which sells pause tables, a-frames, tunnels, dog agility jumps, teeters and everything else you would ever need.

Each dog agility group separates dogs into different categories or competition classes, which are based on the size of the dogs, as well as the experience level or the age of the dogs. For each class, there is a specific amount of time allowed for completing the course, and each obstacle must be completed correctly in a certain order. The dog must complete the course without earning a fault. There are time faults given when a dog takes too long to complete the course, as well as many other faults.

You also must navigate all of the obstacles correctly, or other types of faults are given. The contact obstacles must be completed correctly, or your team (a dog and handler form the team) will earn a missed contact fault. If a dog completes the course in the wrong order, this is called an off-course fault. Turning away from an obstacle or pausing for too long in front of an obstacle is a refusal fault. If the dog passes an obstacle, this is called a runout fault. You also will earn faults if you knock down a jump or don't make it in and out of the weave poles correctly.

It's not just the dogs that can earn a fault; the handlers sometimes make mistakes, too. A handling fault is applied if the handler touches the dog or touches an obstacle, which is not allowed. Even if this is accidental, it is still a fault. Training in the ring is another fault a handler can receive, and this is a penalty that varies greatly from group to group, and some groups don't have this penalty at all. If the handler brings toys or treats onto the course, that also can be a fault as using incentives is almost always forbidden during competition.

If you wish to train and compete in dog agility competitions, simply contact the organization with which you wish to compete and ask for a set of regulations. Study them carefully and train using their guidelines. The more familiar you are with the rules, the better your training will be and the more likely your dog will be to achieve success on the agility course.




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