Foundation Class

At Dig It we believe in giving agility dogs the best possible start to their agility careers regardless of age. To achieve your goals in agility, you need a solid working relationship with your dog and a clear and consistent communication system, often referred to as a "handling system." A handling system is no more than a set of verbal and physical cues that tell your dog what you want him to do next. Conflicting cues or missing links in your communication system will limit what your team can achieve in the sport by causing a lack of confidence (the dog slows down, stops, or even leaves the ring) or frustration (the dog spins, barks, or tries to bite the handler). With clarity and consistency in your communication system, your dog will be more confident, focused, and sure of his job, which will allow you and the dog not only to achieve more, but also to enjoy the game more.

The foundation of this communication system must be taught on the ground before you teach any piece of agility equipment. Teaching obstacles before you have a communication system in place is like driving a car with no steering wheel and no brakes-you are at the mercy of the driver, which in this case is your dog.

The groundwork exercises in Foundation Training for Agility will put you in the driver's seat. Whether you are starting to train a new puppy for agility or you need to brush up on some skills with an experienced dog, you'll find suitable groundwork exercises for dogs at any level.

The Dig It foundation program is now in 3 levels each of an eight week duration. The courses are designed to progress you week by week and are supported with emailed handouts every week to remind you what you did in class and so you can practice at home. Where possible these have been illustrated by colour photos of the exercises.

We will be looking at the following areas during the program:

•Introduction to targeting
•Build motivation and control through positive reinforcement
•Hand touches
•Rock-solid waits with duration, distraction, and distance
•Restrained recalls and chase-me games
•Building focus
•Releasing only on a verbal cue
•Circle work
•Staying on a parallel path to you and not cutting behind you
•Moving ahead of you on a parallel path on a verbal Go cue
•Working with lateral distance away from you
•Balance exercises
•Hind end awareness
•Proprioception

 

Level 1 – Pre-agility

• Teaches skills required to do agility courses. A lot of the skills required for agility can be taught away from the competition equipment. This course is not just for puppies however as I believe the skills learnt are essential for all dogs starting out on their agility career regardless of age
• Suitable for puppies (7mths+) as well as adult dogs. Level One foundation is suitable for puppies over 7 months of age as well as adult dogs new to agility as we will not be jumping any height but looking at getting striding correct and building the dog's confidence.
• Ideally your dog should have achieved Bronze Good Citizen award first, but if you have trained for this in one of our obedience classes then you will reach the required standard. We run one off bronze assessments throughout the year.

 

Level 2 - Introduction to Equipment

• Teaches the equipment carefully and safely. Here we will introduce different pieces of equipment each week in a safe and correct manner. We will also be working through a series of jump grids designed to teach the dog to jump correctly reducing the chance of injury later in their careers and build their confidence over jumps as that is the main element to any agility courses.
• Suitable for dogs over 12 months of age. Dogs must be 12 months of age as we will be starting the proper weave training at this point and below this age the puppies skeleton is not sufficiently formed enough to cope with the twisting of this activity.

 

Level 3 – Proofing equipment skills.

• Ensuring skills are solid for a long and happy but most importantly safe agility career. In this course we will be testing the dogs understanding of how to perform the equipment correctly and independently of the handler. We will be looking at handling skills more in this course and some more advanced jump grids teaching the dog different cues so they know when a turn is likely to be coming up.

INTERESTED? Email Claire at agility@digitdogs.co.uk or call/text 07581260664 for more info and to book your place. New classes are starting regularly but get filled up quickly so be sure to contact soon so you don't miss out. Please feel free to download and share our poster