This class is where all the fun starts. Foundation agility is essential for the performance of the dog and creates a high-quality team that will ultimately enjoy the most fun, as well as success, in the future. The curriculum will focus on the individual dog’s needs to build confidence in agility training. There will be fun and games played to aid in the use of small obstacles like wobble boards, planks, etc. The handlers will need to give the dogs many treats and lots of toy play to establish a high rate of reinforcement to work with objects as they begin to build a team connection. There will be some amount of time on working on leash in the beginning. That said, the dogs will need previous experience in a social environment, preferably in one of our obedience classes at NOCI. This is for the safety of the dogs. All dogs will have some frequent times in a crate and it would be a great help to all teams to have a soft folding crate in class for dogs to stay in. This class will set dog/handler teams up for success as they progress in agility.
Topics to cover are so many that a complete list is not practical in this description. However, here are some brief examples: Mat work, clicker/marker use, table work, wobble boards, planks, rear end awareness, shaping, targeting, using a high rate of reinforcement, teaching verbal cues, the use of games to bring on object focus as well as handler focus, single bar jumps, tunnels, intro to contacts, 2×2’s/channel weaves and more. The main idea in each of these topics is to allow the dog to think that all the behaviors they are doing are their idea while the handler is influencing it. Having a dog think it’s their idea will help them to proceed with confidence. Some of the objects in agility are so challenging for dogs that if they are pressured, or even lured, they will develop poor skills or outright refuse to perform the necessary skills. Topics will increase as skills in teams increase. This class is often repeated and participants who stay together will probably find themselves in a hybrid between Foundation agility and Beginner agility.
Prerequisites: Dog and handler teams will have prior experience in group class environment. Dogs cannot exhibit aggression towards people or other dogs. Dogs should exhibit a reliable recall and sit/stay. Dogs need to be comfortable with other people touching its body and collar. Dogs need to be relatively comfortable in a crate. Director/instructor approval.
NOCI instructors are excited to introduce the game of dog agility to everyone! Come join us.
