This is the Year to Challenge You and Your Dog in Agility

This goes out to all you that have been running dog agility for awhile. It is easy to get into a rut with your dog and even get bored with dog agility if there aren’t any challenges. It is up to you to keep things fresh for you and your dog. So, make this the year of challenges. Try a new venue, set a goal that you and your dog have never reached before. Spice up your practices and for you procrastinators, compete this year.

In order to keep your dog’s mind fresh, it is a great idea to do some cross training. If you have a herding breed, give herding a shot. Neither you or your dog have to master the skill, it is just something new you can do together. If you have a dog with a good nose you can try tracking and nose work. The idea is to try something new together, build some new skills and strengthen your team bond.

You can challenge you and your dog to learn new agility handling skills. Don’t try them all at once, find ones that build on what you already know and advance your skill set one move at a time. Don’t wait for perfection before competing. Trials are simple litmus tests to see what your team needs to work on. If your team has difficulty running under time, try some new motivation skills. This could be the year you find that key component that gets your team raking in the Q’s.

If you have some basic equipment and local friends that run dog agility or want to give it a try, hold some play days or fun matches. It’s a great way to have fun with your friends and your dog while keeping agility in the mix. If you need help with making practice courses try our try one of our course resource books for course ideas. You can also meet with friends at local parks and have an obstacle walk where you look for fun and safe obstacles for you and your dog to  try.

The important point to remember is that if you are not having fun with dog agility, your dog will follow suit. Get out there and freshen things up for you and your dog and both of you will benefit in whatever you do.