Agility Tunnel

[jlhnokc]

Jaycee and I played around a little on the agility field yesterday. Nothing big she's not a year yet, but just something to burn off some energy and work her mind a bit. She seemed to really like things, even did the teeter totter (with my help of course!) but she didn't panic or bail about any of it. Took the A frame like and champ and even went through the tunnel. But here's my question: about the tunnel; Jaycee was slipping and slidding through the whole thing (so we only did it once, I didn't know) so are there different sizes of tunnel, or is that something that the dog just learns to go through without slipping?

[targonrotts]

first, i would like to say, be careful doing any contacts at this stage by yourself with your dog. contacts are dog walk, a-frame and teeter. a bad spill at this stage can backfire you quite a bit in training.
we start these obstacles slowly, at lowered heights and with a second person to help spot your dog while getting accquainted with it. then slowly we go to full heights.

yes, tunnels can be longer or shorter. staright or curved. one curve like a macaroni or two curves in one.tunnels can be light colored or darker.
we start with tunnel shortened up and straight. initially we have someone hold your dog and you call your dog thru and staright in. as they get confident, we make tunnel longer and start adding a slight curve. as they get better, we have owner/handler do the send and catch at the end. then we start adding distance.
we do all this gradually to help them navigate the tunnel correctly and we also make sure the tunnel is properly anchored to avoid rolling tunnel.
it is important to teach the tunnel correctly, because later we do the chute, and we do not want a bad experience with getting all tangled up with the chute cloth sleeve.

agility is a great and fun sport, but please start gradually and train carefully to avoid bad experiences or injuries. eventually, we all get there!

[Ayoka]

There are also different qualities of tunnes from the budget vertsion to the competition version.

That being siad, the tunnel material is not something dogs walk on regularily and there are generally plenty of ridges which makes for uneven terrain. A wet tunnell is also slippery and dangerous!

I would echo the "stay of the contacts until you get help" sentiment and only go for a shortened, straight tunnel to start off with.

Also at under a year I wouldn't do much more than tunnels and contacts that were practically lowered to the floor. Jumping and the steeper contacts (especially without good technique) is REALLY hard on their joints.

Are there any agility "foundations" classes offered near you? These are often geared towards puppies and use modified equipment and work on attention and distance without using jumps and high contacts. Mught be a good way to burn off some steam AND learn at the same time!

[jlhnokc]

Oh I completely understand, Agility isn't a direction I'm going to be able to take with her I don't think. I don't think she is going to be sound enough. It was more an exercise of just playing and getting her used to different things and burning off some energy. We stayed on very small things, when we did the teeter totter, I stayed right beside her and lowered the teeter with my other hand so she would not fall. Was that ok? When came to the tunnel, it was straight, but pretty long. I walked up and said through (never told her that before) then ran to the other end and she was coming like a little locomotive, but she was slipping and sliding. I realized then I had messed up by sending her through. I don't want to put her through anything that she would be slipping or sliding around. So that was my main question was just about the tunnel and it being so slippery. They do offer foundation agility at my training facility, but like I said, I just don't think she's going to be sound enough to do it. That's why I stuck with things that she had to keep 4 paws on the ground/obstable. With the exception of a few jumps that she could walk over. Thanks for the info, I was curious. I think it's something she would love, so I think I'll just play around with her every so often.