The Growing Demand for Dog Agility Sports in the World!
Dog agility is the fastest growing dog sport which involves you to direct your dog in a race through a path full of obstacles. The pet handlers have always been looking for interesting and engaging activities to keep their pup active, relaxed and entertained. Such sports help you in bonding with your dogs and at the time you can help them explore their hidden skills and natural talents. The agility sport helps in promoting self-reliance and builds trusts between you and your dog. This is the major reason why the agility sports are getting so popular in all parts of the world.
What is Agility Sport?
To be precise, during an agility sport activity, the dogs are allowed to run without leashes and the dog-owners can neither touch them nor remove the obstacles. They can guide them through the path using toys and foods as incentives and rewards. The handler can control their dogs with various body signals, music, their voice and movements. This sport displays an exceptional coordination between the handler and the pet.
The course of an agility sports involves a set of standard hurdles that are designed by the judging committee in a chosen area. The surface might be of dirt, rubber, grass or matting. These obstacles are commonly marked with numbers indicating the sequence in which they should be completed. These agility courses are designed to be complicated enough that your dog cannot easily complete it without your directions. The handlers can assess the agility course and plan the handling strategies to guide their pet throughout the race. The strategy must be prepared keeping the speed, time and precision, in mind. As a handler, you must know about the strength and weaknesses of your dog, so you can plan the best strategy for them which shall help them in completing the race in the given time.
Some Common Obstacles Used To Make The Game Fun Are:
Contact obstacles: These are made up of ramps, planks, etc. on which the dog is required to ascend and descend according to the judge’s pre-decided course.
Examples: A-frame Obstacle, dog walk obstacle, crossovers for dogs, seesaws, etc.
Tunnels: These are light weight tunnels made up of fabric. The dogs need to go through them in a told direction with the help of their handler’s directions.
Examples: Open tunnel, closed tunnel, piped tunnel, crawl tunnel, hoop tunnel, etc.
Jumps: The task might involve asking the dogs to take short and long jumps through tire or over a set of hurdles. The jumps can involves jumping over a pool of water without getting wet or maybe through a set of short panels that can be adjusted according to the height of your pup.
Examples: hurdle, double jump, multiple jumps, panel jump, tire jump, long jump, etc.
Thus, we can conclude that in today’s time, agility has become one of the most cherished dog sports in all parts of the world. Many prestigious championships are being organised internationally which is why more and more dog-handlers are looking forward to their train their pups for competitions like this! Hurry, so that you can start your dog’s training from today only!
