SearchBuilding Your Own Course
I'm really anxious to get Leo started in obedience and agility and have just located a place that is about 5 miles from us! The next sessions don't start until second week of March and I can hardly wait......In the meantime, I would like to put a couple of ideas on the back burner and try to come up with a couple of items for our backyard. There's quite a bit of space, for a practice area, especially since Leo has done such a fine job of removing all the flowers, vines, etc.. Of course the winter helped it along and I'm anxious to see what might come back in the spring. The little neon green growth will be very tempting to the boy!
Anyway, can't invest much money into this project, but do have some scrap lumber, pvc pipe..etc.
If any of you have built a few items for practice at home, please share with us! Any specific do's or do not's that would save me the frustration of the blonde moment, "...oh??...that won't work!" after it's already built!
Just google something like "build agility equipment" or some variations like that. There are a lot of plans out there on the internet.
I've been really lucky in that I've been given a number of pieces of equipment. My friend happened to be dating a guy whose ex-wife used to teach/do agility. She moved out and left behind a number of jumps, weave poles, etc and I scooped them. Another friend gave me some jumps and a tunnel when her dog was diagnosed with CVI. I know she had gotten some of it from a training place that was retiring old equipment. Another friend gave me some stuff when she moved into a retirement home.
I built some backyard agility equipment several years ago, and it's relatively easy to do. Some common things are very easy to turn into obstacles. Here's a few pics of some of the things I made.
The PVC bar jumps were easy to build, except for the little things on each upright that holds the bar. You want it to be able to fall if the dog accidentally hits the bar, that way it wont injure the dog's foot like if it were rigid.
The tunnel was just a plastic 55-gallon drum that I took a saw and cut both ends out.
The lattace was leftover from some work I did on my front porch.
The tire jump was a piece of 4" corrugated drain pipe that came from Home Depot.
Thanks for the ideas, everyone!
Ziva's Dad -
Drain pipe...brilliant, drains itself, unlike a tire, huh?
The see-saw attached with a bracket..?? And you've made 3 height levels on the see saw ?
The jumps have (perpendicular to the uprights) pegs ?
Where does one find a plastic drum?
Nupe - You are so out of the box my friend. I just take my Buddy to the tennis court!
And, Yes, Get some photos of that!!! I'm waiting! Tennis, anybuddy"
Lots of people around here sell those plastic drums for trash barrels. I got mine from a friend that works at the water treatment plant here....they came full of some kind of polymer additive that is added to water treatments...totally safe environmentally, but a real bear to clean out.
Yes, I made different heights for the jump bars and the teeter totter thing. I also used a 2" X 12" X10 feet long board lying across two very short saw horses for a dog-walk. You just have to secure the board with clamps or hinges to keep it from sliding off as the dog walks (or runs) across it. I had a blast working on this stuff. It's all gone now. Gave away what wasnt ruined in the flood we had here a couple of years ago.
My tire is a motorcycle tire but completely duct taped in multi hues so water doesn't get in it.
You might check with your local Lowes, Home Depot, or other hardware store/lumber yeard to see what they can give away. When I went to get materials to build Freyja's flyball jumps they gave me some already grooved pieces of wood for the uprights. They used these to protect their lumber as it came in and then gave away for kindling wood. These worked great for the uprights, and I ended up only spending $20.00 for the entire 4 jump set. I'm sure there are several other things that they "jumk" that you could use for obsticles. Have fun.
I see more "Honey Do"'s projects in Eli's future... great tidbits to enhance the fun of the backyard.
And yeah Nupe I once let Miles play tennis with me and Eli.. he was in heaven, chasing the ball back and forth... I didn't realize that the courts (at least around here) are like SANDPAPER and he ran quite a bit of his pads off. :( I felt awful.
Freyja's Dad thanks for the suggestions on lowes & home depot. I've bought .50 pieces of wood at home depot before, built a doghouse so huge the three of us can't move it! Yea, this is going to be fun! I enjoy trying to make something out of scraps.
One more question... What's the best place to locate rules or courses?
Thanx Again for all the input!
AKC rules are available through the AKC website.
Did you ever hesitate encouraging the agility skills? I have this quite little concern telling me that I am giving my dog the skills he needs to escape the safety of his own backyard. . .
Did you ever hesitate encouraging the agility skills? I have this quite little concern telling me that I am giving my dog the skills he needs to escape the safety of his own backyard. . .
I lol'd on this. :)
This thread has been a great inspiration to go out to Home Depot or Lowe's and get crackin' on agility stuff! Of course, I probably ought to also call them and ask if they allow dogs. My understanding is it's at each individual store's discretion, not a blanket company policy.
I've wondered about the backyard escape possibility myself, but I guess if Elka is having enough fun with the agility equipment, she won't want to leave!
Lol funny story about home depot...After hearing that they allowed dogs I thought great, and brought Dakota specifically there to look for new window blinds. We just marched right in and no one said anything, I even talked to a couple employees while shopping and they didn't even bat an eye! So I thought ok this is awesome, I'll be coming here more often!
Well...last week Ray and I had to go to home depot so we brought Dakota. When we got there he says, are you sure she's allowed in there? I said yes I'm positive, I brought her along last time! We get up to the door and sure enough there's a big NO DOGS sign right at eye level!
WHOOPS...
It still doesn't explain why no one said anything to me the first time, but she was a bit smaller then and with the floppy ears they may have thought she was a lab or service dog in training. Oh well!
"they may have thought she was a lab or service dog in training."
Oh no they didn't.. they KNEW she was a Doberman and didn't have the nerve to ask her to leave..
Kate you would be surprised how many people think she is a lab! Or rather, they don't quite know what she is and lab is the closest guess. I've also met several people who thought all dobes were black...one lady said to me "Oh, I didn't know they came in brown!" Geez lady it's a dog not a sweater!! I told her, "well we wanted purple but they were all sold out at the time." LOL
I don't mind - the ones who do know are generall the ones who have been around dobermans before or have had one and usually want to give her some lovin and tell me she's beautiful! No complaints here! :D
LOL@Sweetpea!!! (I personally wouldn't want a purple doberman haha) It's the same thing with me when I take Fancy out to stores and such. Some people avoid us, some people can't wait to meet her. A couple of weeks ago I dragged hubby with me when we went to the feed store. A couple came up to us, the man was in a wheelchair and they just couldn't get enough of her, and they are lab people! My hubby sure was proud.....I told him that happens all the time with her. By the way, the wheelchair didn't phase her, good girl!
Way to go Fancy! It is a good feeling when people gush over them isn't it? And as for the ones who cross the street when they see us coming I just shrug and laugh...their loss not mine!
i know this is a really old thread but i'm trying to go back thru everything to get some good advice/ideas and sweetpea i lol despite myself.....ur reply was great....
haha! I love it. Sometimes I just look at Laith and think "I wonder if I just run into Target with him, if anyone would even say a word...I mean he is more clean than half the people I run into..."
Just in case new agility people like myself are looking up information....
You can get a ladder and teach the importance of their back feet to them. Which they do not realize they have.
Besides the ladder, get a piece of wood and place it on concrete blocks. Instead of doing that- I just find a picnic table and let him walk that thin seat. (Hey, whatever works!)
And for the weaves, you can always use cones. Or tiki torches. Which would be sort of cool if lit. Or a disaster. :p
Depending on where you live there is almost always a agility course in a dog friendly city at a park. If not there- a kennel club that is free for training/exposure.
another option if there are playgrounds near you for kids - or a schoolyard you can access. We take him to the playscapes and he loves to run up and down the stairs and find his way in/out of the walkways. He even tried a small slide once. They often have balance beams and I get him to jump over the benches and stuff. He loves it......
Here's Rocky in the tall one looking down at me - I'll call him and he has to find the stairs and get to where I'm at for a treat.
This is the smaller one that he'll do the roller slide and he can get in/out of it in more ways
He loves to run up and down the steps of the big one though.
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Alot of you guys already know, I live in New York City where space is at a minimum. I have a decent size backyard, relatively speaking, but what I do to really exercise Buddy good, is to take him out to our local park let him run on the baseball field and then I put him inside the tennis court and let him run and jump over the tennis nets lol he loves it!! I dont let him run on the hard surface of the tennis court too much (thE HARD SURFACE IS NOT THE BEST FOR HIS JOINTS), but I let him run on it for a couple of minutes and I love to see him leap those nets lol.....(I will have to get a pick of that) ...............:)