# Puppy agility suuggestions



## Axel13 (Jun 23, 2014)

My new puppy is 9 weeks old now. I know that obviously we won't be doing any jumping, contacts or weaves until 12 months but I was hoping for some suggestions on what I could be doing with him now. I will be proofing his waits when we get to that stage and also working on forward focus. What else could I work on?

I have heard of using a balance board/cushion. I bought one today for my older Sheltie who is having trouble with the seesaw but could I be using this with the puppy too? I will be letting my puppy be a puppy but I don't see any harm in a bit of training everyday


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## Raquan (Oct 10, 2015)

Axel13 said:


> My new puppy is 9 weeks old now. I know that obviously we won't be doing any jumping, contacts or weaves until 12 months but I was hoping for some suggestions on what I could be doing with him now. I will be proofing his waits when we get to that stage and also working on forward focus. What else could I work on?
> 
> I have heard of using a balance board/cushion. I bought one today for my older Sheltie who is having trouble with the seesaw but could I be using this with the puppy too? I will be letting my puppy be a puppy but I don't see any harm in a bit of training everyday


Good play with no jumping. I would do things along the lines of tunnels and weave poles, hope that helped 
Honestly, just stay on the ground.


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## Axel13 (Jun 23, 2014)

Raquan said:


> Good play with no jumping. I would do things along the lines of tunnels and weave poles, hope that helped
> Honestly, just stay on the ground.


I will definitely be doing a lot of playing  I'll have to root out the old tunnel and introduce that soon. I will be leaving the weaves until he is at least 14 months old though all that twisting can't be good for a puppies hips. I only started weaving with Simba at 14 months


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

When I took a "pre" agility when my dog was still a puppy, we worked on things like getting your dog comfortable being on either side of you (not just the left side), teaching 'touch' and having them touch an object (we used a margarine lid and placed it on the floor or on other objects). Teach your dog to follow your hand. 

For props we had them step through a ladder while it was on the ground (teaches some body awareness), we set up a jump, but had the crossbar at ankle level, we had a ramp they went up, we did a teeter totter (but with another person holding the end so it didn't hit down and it was barely off the ground) .. you could actually just use a board on bricks or some such and teach your pup to walk along it. My pup loved the tunnel as well.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Forget about agility- go train your dog tricks. Check out Silvia Trkman's stuff. A dog that can't be shaped will not be a fun agility dog...


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Some great ideas are on http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/agility/395874-puppy-agility-what-should-we-working.html , I like the crate games....


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

I picked up a Fitpaws disk (rubber/inflatable) after the instructor of our puppy agility class recommended one. We're having a lot of fun with it, my puppy gets excited when it comes out of the closet. Front paws up, back paws up, spinning her rear end around, etc. With nasty winter weather right around the corner, I'm adding this to the list of things we can do in the warm living room. Worth the money, in my opinion.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

WIBackpacker said:


> I picked up a Fitpaws disk (rubber/inflatable) after the instructor of our puppy agility class recommended one. We're having a lot of fun with it, my puppy gets excited when it comes out of the closet. Front paws up, back paws up, spinning her rear end around, etc. With nasty winter weather right around the corner, I'm adding this to the list of things we can do in the warm living room. Worth the money, in my opinion.


That's a perfect thing to train, particularly with winter coming up. Classes make it much easier and more fun.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

wildo said:


> Forget about agility- go train your dog tricks. Check out Silvia Trkman's stuff. A dog that can't be shaped will not be a fun agility dog...


This video was just posted today and sums up nicely how I feel on the subject.


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