If you and your dog need a bit of fun in your lives, agility training for dogs can be a perfect fit and the fun factor isn’t the only reason to consider agility training. While we could come up with dozens of reasons to consider agility training with your furry companion, we managed to narrow down the list to these four compelling reasons.
- Exercise Is Essential & Agility Is Fun
Most of us lead pretty sedentary lives, and that includes our canine companions. According to a 2020 report created by Banfield Pet Hospital, more than half of the dogs they see in their vet practices across the United States are overweight. An overweight dog is more prone to many serious health conditions, such as heart disease, joint disorders and endocrine disorders such as Addison’s disease and Cushing’s syndrome, both of which are common in dogs.
Of course, obesity is also a huge issue for humans and can increase our chances of developing high blood pressure and heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. Obesity also can be a huge factor in the severity of Covid-19.
While we all know that obesity is a problem and that exercise can help us lose weight, finding engaging and fun ways to burn off calories can be tough. A few daily walks with your furry friend are always good options, but while these are highly beneficial, they aren’t always terribly interesting.
Agility training, on the other hand, is fun and engaging for both you and your dog. While you might think that agility only provides exercise for your dog, this isn’t the case because you will be zipping around the course with your dog. As you train each obstacle, you will be exercise different muscle groups. Over time, you will become more fit, flexible and agile just like your pup.
- Improve Your Cognitive Ability
Challenging activities keep our minds sharp, and many studies show that daily exercise can reduce the likelihood of developing dementia. Additionally, with agility training for dogs, you exercise your mind. Teaching your dog new agility skills requires creativity and this helps keep your brain active and alert.
It might surprise you to learn that dogs actually can develop a type of cognitive decline known as canine cognitive dysfunction. Just as with humans, staying healthy and enjoying exercise and engaging activities can slow the loss of cognition. Daily playtime and agility training can be a great way to keep you both as sharp as possible.
- Improve Your Mood & Fido’s, Too
These last few years have been hard and stressful, and if you are suffering from melancholy or outright depression, agility training for dogs can be an option to consider. Spending time outside enjoying fresh air and exercise has been shown to boost our moods, and this includes our dog’s mood.
Dogs can get bored, stressed and depressed just like humans, and agility training can provide them (and you) with a great way to relieve anxiety and frustration. Not only can it boost your mood, but agility training also doesn’t take up a ton of time. In fact, it is recommended that you keep training times short. Two 15-minute sessions per day can be ideal.
While this might seem like a short amount of time, dogs have short attention spans so if you try to spend an hour on agility, your dog can become distracted and too tired, and this doesn’t facilitate learning. However, with a short morning and evening agility session, your dog can focus and learn and still get a good amount of exercise.
Dogs that are bored or don’t have enough exercise, can be anxious and destructive. If you have a dog that chews on things or barks constantly, etc., these behaviors can stem from boredom. With agility training, they can expend some energy and tend to be more relaxed and happier in general.
- Strengthen Your Bond
Whether you have just adopted a rescued friend, or you and your furry companion have been together for years, agility training can strengthen the bond and trust between the two of you. As you work together and teach agility skills, your and your dog will communicate with each other more effectively, and this improves your relationship.
Agility training can be an excellent option if you have just adopted a dog and it can be a great way to boost the confidence of a shy or anxious pooch. As the dog succeeds and earns praise, the dog will feel more confident and also feel more comfortable and safer around their human companion.
How To Get Started With Agility Training
When it comes to agility training for dogs, there’s no wrong or right way to begin. You can get started with just about any piece of dog agility equipment. Some people love to start out with basic dog jumps and perhaps an agility tunnel or the pause table. These tend to be three of the easiest dog obstacles to teach.
From there, you could work on learning the dog agility teeter-totter, the dog walk and the dog agility a-frame. Typically, we do recommend teaching the weave poles last, as these can be the most difficult obstacles for a dog to learn.
When you get started, it can be wise to stick with just one or two obstacles until those skills have been mastered. For instance, you might buy a dog agility kit with a tunnel and two jumps and just work on those skills for a few weeks and then add the dog walk or teeter or tire jump.
Be sure to mix up the order on your backyard course so that dogs memorize the skill and not the order of the skills. Every competition course is unique and you usually will not know the order of obstacles until just before the competition begins, so your dog needs to be focused on learning skills, hand signals and verbal signals and be able to complete many different course configurations by simply following your lead.
We highly recommend agility training for most healthy dogs. Some breeds, such as those prone to breathing issues or dogs with very short legs might not be a great fit for agility. However, if you have a healthy dog with good energy, agility training can be an excellent source of fun and exercise. If you need any agility equipment, we have everything here at Carlson Agility, including mini agility equipment, which is perfect if you have a smaller dog.
