Dog Agility Week Two: The Pause Table

Hi everyone!

This week we will look at the Pause Table, another fundamental obstacle and skill that your new agility dog should learn.  The Pause Table is used in standard AKC courses and it is a unique obstacle.  The requirements for the pause table are as follows: the dog must jump up on the table and hold a stay as the judge counts for five seconds.  The handler may not touch the dog nor the table during the entire time.  Technically,  the dog does not have to perform a down or sit on the table for AKC Agility, but it is recommended.

In this video, you will see the beginning to end steps on how to train your dog on the Pause Table obstacle.  Remember to reward your dog frequently and take the training slow.  Continue to practice this even throughout your agility career and feel free to add challenges for you and your dog.

I hope you enjoy the video and find it helpful!

Happy training!

-Hayley

Dog Agility Week One: An Introduction to Jumping

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all as excited to begin training as I am!  I have created and published my first agility foundations video to my YouTube channel (channel name: Hayley Mack) and I have included one here for you to watch.
In this video, we will begin with two jump exercises that can be modified or tweaked to match your desired difficulty level.

For the first exercise, begin with three jumps spaced out about 8-10 feet in a straight line.  Use a treat, toy, or ball to drive your dog through the jumps.  Remember to keep the bars on the ground, because this exercise is not necessarily designed to train you dog to jump (we'll get to that later), but to teach them to drive through the obstacles.

In the second exercise, we are teaching the dog to wrap a single jump.  Begin with one jump with the bar on the ground, and send your dog through the jump.  Immediately, pick them up with your opposite arm and use the cue word 'here' to call them back to you.

Remember, in any type of training that you do with your dog, positivity it key.  Make it a fun game, and not a dreaded chore for your dog.  Agility is all about the connection of the dog and handler, so keep that in mind with your future training!

Practice these skills for the next week and if you have any comments or questions, please let me know!

Happy training!

-Hayley

A Little About Myself and My Blog...

Hello everyone!

I am super excited to begin this blog and share my knowledge and passion for agility with the world.  Here, you will find everything there is to know about dog agility and you will also find weekly videos that go into descriptive detail on everything from the foundations of agility, all the way up to advanced handling techniques.  I will be posting all videos to a YouTube channel (channel name: Hayley Mack) with new videos each week, so feel free to head over there and subscribe.  As I said before, this is a new blog, so I hope you are excited as I am to begin in this wonderful world of agility!

As for myself, my name is Hayley Mack and I am crazy about dogs and everything dog training!  I have been training dogs for over 7 years and I have been involved in dog agility for about 2 years.  From my very first agility class, I was already hooked!  I have two amazing fur-babies who mean everything to me.  They are both rescue dogs, Goliath is a 
Yorkie mix and Strider is a greyhound mix.  They constantly amaze me with their drive to learn and their desire to make me happy!  Strider (pictured below) and Goliath will be my models for all my videos and tutorials, so you will get to know them very quickly.

As for the month of September, you will receive 2 videos, one on the introduction to jumping and another one showing the steps to teaching your dog the pause table agility obstacle.  I look forward to sharing these lessons with you and I hope you enjoy them! 

Also, feel free to follow me on Google+ where you can receive updates as to when a new blog post is posted and when new videos are uploaded.

I hope you find this blog and videos helpful in your journey of agility training and thank you for taking the time to read a little about myself and I hope you stick around and follow your passion for dog agility!

-Hayley