Emails to the new puppy owner -- Internet Bernese Mountain Dog Consortium's PandaSite

Emails to the new puppy owner (Part 5 of 8)

By Mary-Ann Bowman

Today we have a real treat. I asked Kris Osojnicki to write some ideas for you about how to get a puppy started in agility. Kris is probably the best berner agility person in the country, and has been to national several times with her berner, Lexi. I am very appreciative that she agreed to help us all out with some puppy agility ideas.

Mary-Ann

Preparing your puppy for the wonderful world of Agility:

Agility is a very fun activity for you and your dog. It keeps both of you in good shape, is good exercise, and a great training/bonding opportunity.

Unlike obedience, (which by the way is also very fun) in agility, you can interact more with your dog regardless of if you are training, or competing. They love the praise, and excitement! It makes the event far less stressful from a competition standpoint for both of you.

Obedience and Agility compliment each other very nicely, and both venues seem to benefit from each other.

Activities that you can work on with a young puppy, in preparation for agility:

Lay an extension ladder along the ground. Have puppy walk (under total control) through the rungs of the ladder. Bribing them with a treat in front of their nose if necessary. The idea is for them to totally accept the activity. So, you don't want them running, or bolting through with abandon. The goal is for them to encounter each of the rungs. They can step on them, step over them, whichever. But, you don't want them "avoiding" the encounters. If they are unsure, just slow down, and use lots of food! This activity is great for teaching them that they have a rear end, and how to use it properly!

Get the puppy used to things that move under their feet. Ideally, construct a "crude" teeter, by taking a plank, about 8-10 feet long, and maybe about 12" wide. In the middle, (underneath) attach a PVC pipe, the width of the board. Approximately a 2" diameter or so. This will make a very low to the ground teeter totter. The PVC will accomplish the rocking motion. Get pupp y used to the movement very gradually with tons of food if apprehensive. This exercise will make teaching the "real" teeter totter a breeze.

It seems that young puppies are quite willing to accept that things in life "move". As they get older, they are less accepting of this. So, the younger the better.

You could take this same plank, and prop it up on two same height items, (bricks, water bowls that are solid etc.) one on each end. To keep it off the ground just taller than the PVC in the middle. (So now, it doesn't rock). Let them hop up onto the plank. It may be about 3" off the ground? And walk along it. They may fall off, no big deal, just encourage them to keep their hind legs in line with the front legs, and get them used to "walking the plank". When they gain confidence, encourage speed on this one.

Take a round plastic garbage can, and remove the bottom. Make sure that the edges aren't rough. Get them used to going through this circular tube. When this is a breeze, attach a short piece of fabric. (A old sheet cut up works great). Only extend the fabric a couple of feet past the item it is attached to. You can attach with a bungee cord, or any other item that works. As long as the extension is short, it shouldn't get much tension, pulling it off. When introducing this, open the end up so the puppy can see the light of day. Ideally, have one person holding the puppy at the entrance and the other calling puppy through with treats. He should be confidently going through solid part before adding fabric. When he is confident of all, start to drop the fabric on him, as he comes through, so that he gets used to going through the fabric out. Gradually stop opening the entrance, and let him find you through the fabric. Talking to him the entire time.

Now is a great time to introduce target training. (Teaching puppy to touch a target with his nose) Get yourself a small plastic circle or square. Ideally about 3" across. Clear is best, but white works too. Get a clicker, and some treats. Clicker train the puppy to touch the target with his nose. When he touches target, click and treat. If he attempts to pick up target, chew it, kick it etc. just either don't reward this behavior, ignore it, or if necessary distract puppy to do something else and start over. Once they figure out what you want, they will do it incessantly. This is perfect! Then, begin placing it on the floor in various rooms, areas, etc. and pair a word, "touch" with the target. So that when you say "touch" they look for a target, and go touch it with there nose.

If you have this behavior solid, it will make your training of your contact obstacles, (dog walk, a-frame and teeter) EXTREMELY easy, and your instructor will love you and your puppy!

I am sure that Mary-Ann can help you in more detail about the fine arts of clicker training to a target.

Lastly, get your puppy used to being on your right side and left side. Do this by having him follow your hand for food initially. In obedience they will spend there time on your left, but in agility, it is equally important that they work on your right. Get them used to changing directions, and changing sides happily and quickly.

All of these activities will provide an excellent start to agility training. You can start formal agility training at various ages, depending on the program. Some programs have excellent puppy classes, starting anywhere from 3-4 months on. Don't ask the puppy to do anything that is orthopedically stressful until after a year of age, and a set of initial x-rays of hips and elbows have been evaluated. Orthopedically stressful things would be close together weave polls, where a definite "weaving action" is necessary. High jumps, (up to 16" or so is fine once they are about 6 months or older, but no higher). At younger ages, you can lay the jump bar on the ground, or set it at the 8" height. Full height a-frames are tough on there young bodies, but if the class lowers it, to about 3 feet off the ground maximum, running up and down it should be safe.

Use common sense when working in more formal environments like class settings, and make sure that the instructor in charge is keeping in mind that your puppy is young, if you partake in a formal class. More and more programs are getting puppies off to great starts.

HAVE FUN!

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