Dog agility training involves working the animal through a course made of jumps, tunnels, ladders and other obstacles. In competition, the event is judged on the dog completing all the obstacles without faults. The fastest time is used to determine a winner in tie situations. A dog agility training course can be made of easily assembled homemade devices.
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Easy Dog Agility Equipment
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Many dog agility course obstacles can be built from PVC pipe. This pipe is commonly used in plumbing projects and is available at most hardware stores, lumber yards or home improvement stores. PVC can be cut with standard hand tools. Components are assembled using plumbing fixtures and special glue. Pipe and fixtures come in a variety of sizes but generally are only available in white.
The Web site Peak.org contains plans for several pieces of agility training obstacles built entirely of PVC pipe. The jumps, benches and ladder are all durable and light allowing them to be moved easily for dog trainers without a permanent training ground.
A simple PVC training hoop, an obstacle puppies are trained to go through before they've matured enough to jump over obstacles, is made up of seven pieces of 1 inch PVC pipe cut to the proper lengths, two T connectors and two right angles. Along with the pipe and fixtures, some PVC glue and a hand saw are required. The training hoop is sized so the dog can run through it with his head down. Depending on the training course, several of these hoops may be necessary.
Another simple dog agility training obstacle built from PVC is a dog jump. Seven pieces of PVC pipe are cut and connected T fixtures into the base of the jump. PVC pipe also is used for the jump crossbars. Use clamps as supports for the crossbars allowing adjustability in the jump height. Some dog agility training programs require as many as 10 such jumps.
Some dogs have a tendency to want to run around jumps rather jump over the crossbar. A PVC pipe barrier can be made and placed at the ends of the jump. The barrier is constructed of a PVC pipe framework with a net material filling the middle of the frame.
While the pipe and fixtures are uniformly white, a little color can be added to the dog agility training obstacles by wrapping colored tape around the pipe. This will also personalize the obstacles allowing the owner to readily identify them if several trainers are working together.
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