Foundation Agility Skills with Camper

We spent a warm Texas morning running foundational exercises with Camper to determine what skills he needs to work on at home. This is just a quick video of the different drills and the purpose.

Ladder Exercise - This exercise teaches backend awareness. As the dog moves through the rungs they are reinforced for good foot placement when they hit the ground. When they hit the rails it is less fun and stable. Notice by the third or fourth pass Camper is tracking well inside the rungs.

Wobble Board - Wobble boards are great for all kinds of scenarios. What I see very early is Camper is not confident about how the whole board moves. He is surprised at the movement and sound. In hindsight I should have stabilized the board with my foot to prevent the surprise and his reaction.

Jumps - Camper has no problems with jumps aside from his enthusiasm. He is not seeing each jump yet, but that will come with time and experience.

Tunnels - Tunnels are fun. Camper zooms through when straight so we’ve begun introducing a bend to help him learn to move through a curved tunnel.

The bottom line from any training session is to plan your goals for the training session and finish on fun stuff your dog enjoys. Set your expectations so that you can finish before your dog loses interest (or worse gets stressed). Use the outputs (both what needs work and what was easy and fun) to shape your next training.

The Cato board is a great multi-purpose tool for place training and (in this case) teeter and wobble board work. In this case we’re using it to reinforce Camper being comfortable on the board when it tips.

I’ll post an update once Camper has more experience with the Cato board.