Agility People! What equipment do you have at home?

[Simkie]

I’m curious about what equipment the agility people here have at home, and where you got it. Or how you built it. And how much it cost

Ms Koa started agility classes a few weeks ago–we are 3 weeks into the 7 week series–and I have managed to build a couple simple jumps, some weave poles and a pause box at home. Koa is a bit of a simple dog and being able to run through some stuff at home has been a HUGE help to avoid embarrassment at class. The rest of the class is all “smart” breeds…we have a Sheltie, a Cattle Dog, an Australian Shepherd and a couple Border Collie crosses…my Ridgeback is at a SERIOUS disadvantage here…

Any tips on ways to do the rest of the equipment without spending a boatload of money?

[alittlegray]

I did the jumps, weave poles, tire jump, etc with PVC. I looked up regulations to make sure I was using the right size materials for everything. I think all together the materials for the tire jump, weave poles and 5 free standing jumps was around $200.

DH is building me a pause box and a ramp/teeter as well but they aren’t done yet. We don’t have a plan in place yet for a closed tunnel, so we will probably break down and order one online.

[Marshfield]

PVC is your friend. I have jumps, weave poles, tire jump. Dog walk DH made out of wood. Teeter board as well. I want to buy a full size teeter though.

[AnEnglishRider]

When I was training my dog to, uh, jump stuff (I wouldn’t call what we did in my backyard agility necessarily… because the only thing we did was jump), I made the jumps out of bricks and planks of wood.

[Bluey]

When I was training, I had four sets of standards a club member makes, so I could put up to four jumps for pinwheel exercises, had a kid’s collapsible tunnel, pvc poles and pvc small ones that stick in the lawn to make weaves.

In reality, we use most anything to practice, even furniture in the house, the back of the sofa for dogwalk, etc.
I also had a wobble board for balance.

While you have to train on the proper obstacles, so much of the training can be done anywhere, on lawn furniture, from a chair to a table to the next chair, a coffee table for table and below it for tunnel, a towel over two chairs for tunnel approaches, your imagination is the limit.

Brooms always make good training jumps for angle jumping, etc.

Most important, be sure you don’t overjump your dog and don’t a puppy at all before it is up to it.

There is so much more to agility than the obstacles, work on all that too.

[wendy]

I have a contact trainer (travel board), four PVC jumps (I spent money and bought the folding ones from Clean Run so I can easily load them into the car and go to different settings to work on not-getting-distracted-by surroundings), a set of six 2X2 weave pole trainers, and a wobble board.
My experience the only must-have home equipment is weave poles + contact trainer, because during the initial training of weaves they kind of need daily exposure, and you need somewhere to practice your contact behavior. Everything else is kind of optional. Jumping your dog more than one or two days a week is probably not very good for them.

[Bicoastal]

I am a complete newbie, too, but have picked up a couple household things:
wobble board and balance disc -Walmart/Target/Sports Auth
a plank -picked from the trash . Chuck grippy shelf liner on top
yogurt/sour cream/margerine lid
long wooden spoon

Those last two items may seem weird but they are each for targeting/send outs. Oh! and a bathmat/placemat also for targeting a down/drop for table work.

I love Bluey’s suggestions

Tips to build a PVC jump that can be stored under my bed for a chick and her Pap living in the urban jungle??

I will be watching this thread closely!

[Bluey]

We laid a ladder on the ground and walked the dog thru the rungs to teach leg awareness.
We used bottom steps to teach stopping and waiting, a start for contact work.

Our dog club has a regular agility training field, but for winter work we have indoor agility classes that don’t have jumps, but can work on so much else.
Our concrete, lightly matted floor is not good for more than the rare jump.
Try to attend some of those for more ideas on what to work on at home and how to keep your dog safe doing it.

We have some beginner dogs that start in those winter classes and by the time regular spring classes start are awesome already.

[bdj]

[QUOTE=Simkie;5740262]
I’m curious about what equipment the agility people here have at home, and where you got it. Or how you built it. And how much it cost
Any tips on ways to do the rest of the equipment without spending a boatload of money?[/QUOTE]

Big question here is: How serious are you about agility? If you think you might get serious about it, which venue(s) do you plan to trial in?

Honestly, if you’re just doing it for fun - what you’ve got sounds fine - some of the other equipment can get pretty spendy quick.
If you’re getting serious about it - venue becomes important - everybody uses the dogwalk, A-frame and tunnels, but (for example) there’s no teeter, tire or closed tunnel/chute in NADAC. AKC and USDAA use all of those, but USDAA has shorter contact zones on the dogwalk (and a smaller tire, maybe?)

I started with my first dog with jumps (PVC from Max200), a tunnel and 6 weaves (2x2s). We did really well with that stuff at home, and worked on contact equipment in class. Teeter was an issue (I run AKC almost exclusively) so I got a teeter (luckily, I found an old one that a local club was selling, so it only cost me $25 and gas money - it isn’t pretty or adjustable but it works). Then I got 6 more weave poles… because you have to run 12 at Open and Excellent… then current dog started having weird dogwalk issues, so I got a dogwalk…

If you think you’re getting serious about it, then what you’ll probably REALLY want to do is to find out which equipment dealers are in your immediate area - for me that’s Max200 and MADAgility - they bring the equipment that most of our local clubs use for trials, and you can always ask them to bring your latest purchase to a nearby trial for pickup (saves on shipping). If you get in touch with them early enough, Max200 will often sell you the equipment that they used at that trial for a small discount (that’s how I got the tunnel and the second set of weaves). Other vendors may not supply equipment at your local trials, but if you can drive to their shop and pick things up, you’ll save a ton of cash on shipping!

Countryside Agility offers free shipping on tunnels - they’re very nice heavy duty ones, just shy of competition grade. Tunnel bags/holders are expensive, but bungee cords and 5 gallon buckets filled with sand or water with a lid on top are cheap and work pretty well. Tunnels are tons of fun, and with a tunnel, some jumps and weave poles you have the makings of a Jumpers course!

Teeter frames are usually relatively inexpensive, but then you need a board which has to be painted and given texture - sand or kitty litter are supposed to work well. In my (limited) experience, Lowes and HomeDepot are NOT good places to buy boards - they sell “stud grade” - which is often warped, cracked or full of knotholes. I go to a local woodworking supply place, that carries a much higher grade of wood, at a cheaper price, and they’ll actually help me find the cleanest, straightest boards in the bunch, and load them my car for me!

Best deal I’ve found on a dogwalk is Affordable Agility’s PVC bases - $300 plus shipping - it’s really nice and even after buying boards and paint (and rubber to rubberize the contacts), it ended up about half the cost of one from Max200…

You might also let your agility instructors know that you’re on the hunt for equipment - if they compete, they probably know the local (to you) vendors. And they may also know other folks who are interested in upgrading or getting rid of equipment…

[Ride_On]

I have 12 weaves that go in the ground and a few jumps and my son in law built me a see saw. I put my course up and have to take it down each week for the lawn to be cut. I have privat sessions once a week and then in the fall I will do a class again so we have lot of equipment to work with. My dog loves Tunnels, A frame and the tire so we need to work on the dog walk and the see saw.

[DarkenStormy]

I just have a set of weaves and 2 jumps at home. I use my stairs for contact work, my hallway for cross work( my trainer is drilling flatwork into my head) and we work on the table in class. I am fortunate that I have too good places to go and train and practice so I don’t need a lot of the stuff at my house.

[Simkie]

Thanks, everyone!

We’re doing this to have fun and give Koa a job, so I’m not taking it too seriously! It looks like we have AKC, DOCNA, NADAC and USDAA trials in Colorado, so perhaps we’ll give it a go with one of those groups (any suggestions on which is better? Koa is AKC registered.) I don’t expect that we’ll ever be horribly competitive, but it would be fun to get a title, perhaps.

In class, we’ve been introduced to weave poles (channel training method), the chute, the tunnel, the a frame, the teeter, the dog walk and jumps. The table is coming next week. She’s been a rockstar on all of the “expensive” equipment, thankfully. I built a set of 6 weave poles that stick in the ground, plus two jumps and a pause box. We do maybe 5 - 10 minutes a day working on the equipment in the backyard, and maybe another 10-15 working on flatwork. I keep it fun and low key and happy work

[IFG]

I have WT agility equipment. My weave poles are step in fence posts. My jumps are my horse jumps. My seesaw was a board (that we milled when we took down trees), roped into a half round top of the log left over from the milled trees. Set that on top of some 6" X 6" that I use for trailer chocks. Worked great. He finally overcame his fear of the seesaw. Tire is an old vacuum hose taped to an old hula hoop. I did buy a tunnel Figuring out how to make a chute in the classy vein of everything else. I am thinking fabric attached to a garbage cab with the end cut off (maybe weighed down by horse manure) instead of sand bags.

But, we did our first “B” match last week-end, and he was a star!

[bdj]

@Simkie;5741709

It looks like we have AKC, DOCNA, NADAC and USDAA trials in Colorado, so perhaps we’ll give it a go with one of those groups (any suggestions on which is better? Koa is AKC registered.) I don’t expect that we’ll ever be horribly competitive, but it would be fun to get a title, perhaps.

No one venue is “better” than any others, but they’re all a little different! I can’t speak to DOCNA or USDAA, but I have done NADAC and I’m currently running all AKC.

Between the two - NADAC is a little “friendlier” for green dogs - competition can be just as tough, but they have a much wider variety of classes to enter, so that if, for example, your dog doesn’t do weaves yet, you can still run Tunnelers, Touch & Go, Jumpers and Hoopers, because none of those classes have weave poles. NADAC also doesn’t use spread jumps, tires, teeters or tables, so that’s something to consider as well… Their entry fees are generally smaller per class/run, but since you could do 6 runs a day, it ends up costing about the same per weekend as AKC (around here at least). You do have to register your dog with NADAC, but it’s, like $15 for the lifetime registration.

AKC is the venue I’m most familiar with - There are only 4 classes - Standard, Jumpers with Weaves, FAST (sort of like Gambler’s Choice) and the new one, Time2Beat. Standard has all the equipment, Jumpers will always have jumps and weaves (and maybe tunnels), FAST can have everything but the table (though you do have to be able to work “away” from your dog a bit), and T2B is new, so it varies a bit - it can have 12 weaves, twice on a course.

Titles are pretty straightforward in AKC - three Qs (qualifying runs) and you have a title and can move up, Novice through Excellent - after that, there are more titles, but you need more Qs to get them. NADAC titles are a bit more confusing (to me, at least) - three Qs gets you a “certificate”, I think, and then you can move up, or stay at that level to get Superior awards and Versatility awards - it’s complicated, and there are charts and checklists… you can find them at www.nadac.com

I’ve heard good things about USDAA, but haven’t tested those waters yet - friends tell me that it’s very fun and I’d like it, but at this point, I can only really afford (time and $$-wise) about one trial weekend a month, and since I have convenient AKC trials, that’s where I’m going. At the “Championship” level of USDAA, my little dog would have to jump 12" and I’m not sure how I feel about that - she only has to jump 8" in AKC.

(OH, that’s one other difference between AKC and NADAC - AKC has two possible jump heights for each dog - Regular and Preferred, which is lower. NADAC has the same thing - though they call theirs Proficient and Skilled (the lower), but you can also apply for exemptions based on the dog or handler’s age to lower the jump heights even more - and their jump heights top out at 20" - AKC goes all the way up to 26".)

Sorry for another epic…

[clm08]

I’m starting to feel bad because the only equipment I have is an older set of weave poles that are not the official 24". I don’t have a lot of space in my back yard either to set up the bigger equipment even if I had it, and my dog loves to jump too much for me to need practice jumps. We practice weekly in our class, though, and it is weird but he usually does better when we have a break, as in a 1 or 2 week break between classes. Our biggest challenge are the weave poles, which he does pretty well if we haven’t done them in a week or longer, go figure.

We compete in NADAC and AKC and have a blast, although sometimes I do wish we had space and all the equipment at home because he can be too much wound up in some trials and just blows some classes. I say he is a poodle with a BC mind! :lol:

[Imaginagent]

I have quite a few jump standards, some bought, some made. My agility instructor helped me understand that jumps look different to the dogs depending on how they are made so some have built in ground bars, and I have some free standing jump standards with no ground bar. They do look different to the dog. I have a double jump (need to order triple). Built my own broad jump and tire, as well as the pause table. Have stick in the ground weaves as well as some made on a fence board. Dad built me an A-frame for Christmas out of metal pipe (round like for carports) with hardy board for the ramps. Glued on slats of hardy board, painted, sanded, running great and hardly cost anything as we did it out of mainly leftovers. Teeter next as one dog has issues.

Just bought a 20’ tunnel with sandbags on sale.

As someone said, depend on what you want to do and issues you may have with your dog. Weaves are hard to get just once a week in class. My dad helps me build stuff, especially things I have issues with. One dog was wanting to bail on A-frame and sometimes dog walk, so that issue needed to be worked on more than once a week at trainers. Now we need teeter because other dog has issue if I am not right beside her and try to get ahead to front cross. I save course maps from trials so I can set up things I have issues with at a trial. For instance, my one dog is getting better and waiting on contacts when I am near, but at the Perry, GA. trial, bailed on A-frame with tunnel underneath. Had to go around tunnel to get to other side of A-frame and he saw me go sideways, so bailed. Guess what get sets up at home!! I am now going to be proofing him waiting no matter where I am.

[IFG]

[QUOTE=clm08;5741772]
I say he is a poodle with a BC mind! :lol:[/QUOTE]

Too funny, that is how I describe one of my Standard Poodles.

[LetItBe]

My one big piece of equipment is a contact trainer. I’ve got tunnels and a chute which I rarely pull out once they know them. I’ve got assorted agility jumps as well as a panel and broad jump from an obedience set of equipment. Then there’s the weaves… I’ve recently gotten a set of 12 as my other 3 sets were different sets of 6 weaves including a set of 2x2.

LetItBe

[bdj]

[QUOTE=clm08;5741772]
I’m starting to feel bad because the only equipment I have is an older set of weave poles that are not the official 24". I don’t have a lot of space in my back yard either to set up the bigger equipment even if I had it, and my dog loves to jump too much for me to need practice jumps. [/QUOTE]

Heck, all of my weaves are 22" ones - they work fine! I think my dog actually finds the “big” weaves at trials a little bit easier now, because (even though she’s small) she has a little more room to get through! I heard someone speculate that some dogs who had REALLY solid 22" weaves were popping out on the 24" ones because they had sort of “patterned” on the distance covered, rather than the number of weaves (and a set of 12 24" weaves is almost 2 FEET longer than the 22" ones), but I don’t know how true that really was… it certainly doesn’t cause my girl any trouble, and I know we only train on 22" weaves.

Having weaves, ANY weaves - 24s, 22s, 2x2s, stick in the grounds, channels, weave-o-matics, whatever! - is WAY better than having no weaves at all, and if you’re going to have one thing, I think weaves are the thing to have.
That said, I think it’s very nice to have a couple of jumps (because it’s helpful to be able to work on sequences at home) and a tunnel (even a short or lightweight one) gives you lots of potential questions to set up and train on.

[wendy]

Originally Posted by Simkie
It looks like we have AKC, DOCNA, NADAC and USDAA trials in Colorado, so perhaps we’ll give it a go with one of those groups (any suggestions on which is better? Koa is AKC registered.) I don’t expect that we’ll ever be horribly competitive, but it would be fun to get a title, perhaps.

No one venue is “better” than any others, but they’re all a little different! I can’t speak to DOCNA or USDAA, but I have done NADAC and I’m currently running all AKC.

USDAA is probably the most competitive, difficult venue- the jump heights are high (too high for most dogs in my opinion), the courses are difficult, the times are short. It’s very friendly though and has plenty of “games” classes so you can get multiple runs per day. Would not suggest starting a green handler/green dog out in USDAA, but perhaps starting out in another venue then switching after a year or so of experience might work well.

NADAC is all about flow, speed, and distance handling; they’ve discarded several of the traditional obstacles (which I dislike), but watching some of the skilled distance handlers at NADAC trials is quite an experience. Plus you can get in at least 6 runs per day because they have plenty of “games” classes. And running a fast, tunnel-sucking dog through Tunnelers is a very difficult but very fun handling challenge.

Never tried DOCNA, don’t seem to be any in this area. Never tried AKC either, for several reasons- you can’t get into trials unless you overnight entry forms the night before the entries open (WAY too stressful for me- other venues you can send in your entry the day before it closes and have a good chance of getting in); you don’t get very many runs per day because they don’t have the games the other venues have (although they seem to be adding more and more lately), and the AKC courses I’ve seen are extremely twisty and turny with little flow and look like they’d be very stressful to a dog’s body. Plus I’ve heard it’s not very friendly.

Another venue is CPE- CPE is awesome for starting a greenie dog out in, they have a “level 1” with very easy courses, no weaves, and no teeter, so your dog can experience a trial environment with a good chance of success. CPE is geared towards the “recreational” agility team. They also have lots of fun games so you can get in multiple runs per day.