What Are the Best Products for Dog Agility?
A well-exercised dog is a happy dog, and more and more dog owners are looking to do more with their furry friends than a simple walk in the park.
Agility training was once the realm of dogs that were training to compete but, with the rapid development of new agility products and their increasing affordability, backyard agility training is becoming increasingly popular as a fun and challenging activity for you and your dog. Here are our top picks for dog agility products, whatever your end goal.
Flyball
Combining agility, physical exercise, and a dog’s love of fetching tennis balls, flyball is a team sport where your dog runs a set distance, fetches a ball from a dispenser, and then returns to you (fastest team wins). Often in competition, dogs barely break pace – launching themselves from the dispensing box much like a swimmer finishing a length.
Flooring
Whether you are training your dog indoors or out, consider the surface you are working on. Jumping and running on uneven, hard or even particularly soft surfaces can cause issues with your pet’s paws, legs, and joints – so you’ll need a slightly cushioned but relatively firm, even surface for your agility training. Foam anti-fatigue matting makes the perfect flooring for your agility sessions. It’s tough enough to stand up to impacts and scratches (protecting your lawn or patio from bearing the brunt) and has a slight flex to it, so your dog won’t experience any physical issues.
You can get anti-fatigue matting in a huge range of sizes and thicknesses (we’d recommend a heavier duty version) so you can make pathways or cover as much of your space as you want. If you are training your dog in flyball, you should cover not only the runway but also the area around the dispensing box.
Tunnels
These are a great place to start your training journey – they’re one of the easiest things for your dog to learn and are super simple to set up and take down as required. They are manufactured from lightweight, durable canvas and you can make tunnels into straights or curves as required – and when your dog has mastered the tunnel, you can integrate it with other tools and start to build a real obstacle course.
Slalom
Next up is the slalom – it’s essentially a set of evenly spaced vertical poles that your dog runs around, swerving alternately left to right. Start off slowly, guiding your dog through the slalom on-lead or with treats as the incentive, then increase the pace as your pet learns what is expected. This can be a great way of keeping your dog engaged – exercising the body and the mind at the same time.
Hoops
A hoop is a jumping obstacle – it can be either hung or freestanding, and your dog jumps through. You can usually adjust the height quite easily to keep things interesting for the animal, just make sure that there is sufficient room for a run-up and landing.
Bars
Rounding out the classics is the jump bar – an adjustable horizontal bar for the dog to jump over. As with hoops, you’ll want to make sure there is enough room for the animal to make the jump safely, but the benefit that a bar offers is that it can be approached from different angles for a more versatile workout/play session.
Author Bio: First Mats started life as a safety matting specialist, but has since expanded to become a complete industrial and commercial supplies company. The focus of First Mats is to provide safety-focused products that improve the wellbeing of staff through quality-approved products, backed up by extensive knowledge. www.firstmats.co.uk
What Are the Best Products for Dog Agility?