Dog Agility: 4 Reasons to Try

Tired of constantly playing stick throwing with your dog? Or are you tired every time you come to the dog park to look for playmates for your pet? If you feel like your dog’s exercise routine is outdated, try agility training. In addition to the many benefits these skills can provide your dog, they also help strengthen the bond between you and your furry friend.

We spoke with Shandy Blake, a certified professional dog trainer, who spoke about the benefits of dog agility training.

Benefits of the agility method

1. Physical and mental stimulation

If your dog already has an exercise regime, that’s great. But if you feel that she is getting restless, you can make your workouts more varied. The dog and you yourself can get bored if you do the same thing day after day. By training your pet on new equipment, such as an obstacle course for dogs, you can provide him with the necessary moral and physical stimulation.

2. Improve your listening skills

Agility training is a useful way to practice commands learned by a dog as part of a basic training course. This is the first step if you are interested in taking your dog to professional competitions in the future.

“Even if you don’t intend to compete in agility competitions,” Blake says, “you will notice that the dog has become more attentive to your words … As a result, the dog learns to listen to you better in everyday life, for example, he immediately comes to the call and obeys commands from the first times.”

3. Increasing self-confidence

Agility training makes dogs more confident. Shandy Blake: “You give the dog the opportunity to realize that he can run, jump, climb obstacles and go through them. It really helps some shy dogs get over their nervousness.”

4. Body awareness

Agility training helps pets develop body awareness, which Blake calls “knowing where each paw is” and improve balance. According to Shandy, dogs with good body awareness and good balance are “much less likely to get injured during other activities, such as throwing a stick or a Frisbee.”

Things to Consider

If you’re interested in puppy agility training, Blake recommends taking a basic obedience training course first. She says, “A dog that knows the commands ‘sit’, ‘stand’ and ‘to me’ will be much easier to control on and around agility equipment.”

It is wise to train your dog gradually, especially if it is a puppy or an older dog. If your pet is less than a year old, choose low weights and keep reps to a minimum.

Remember to encourage your dog throughout the training. Small rewards are the best way to encourage. Depending on what your dog likes, you can give him healthy treats, give him verbal praise, or give him a gentle pet after a successful task.

Once you start training, you will see how fun and effective agility training can be. Agility training is a great exercise not only for your dog, but for you as well, and will help strengthen the bond between you.