What Is Dog Agility Training?

Dog Agility is a sport many partake in with their pet. The sport involves training the dog to make high leaps, navigate obstacles, and race through the course with precision. Training your dog to successfully complete a course takes time and patience as repetition is a key part in the training process. A properly trained dog will complete the obstacle course in record time and will carry these training lessons with them for future endeavors. One of the most difficult tasks to overcome when training your dog for agility is the use of only voice commands paired with movement and signals, no hands on interaction is allowed. Treats can be given, but only at the completion of the course. A dog handler will also need to be in fairly good shape as the owner will be running alongside the dog to signal where the pet should move next.
A dog trained on agility can be very useful for hunting as well, as they will have the experience to move through obstacles with precision and speed. For your next hunting trip with your dog, consider training them not only on the hunt but also on agility.

Training Your Dog To Sit.

Training your dog can be a bit tricky. Some dogs are high energy, or have a low attention span and grow easily bored of your training techniques. Here are some tips to help properly train your dog to sit on command.

There are three common types of techniques dogs respond to during training. Some dogs are food oriented, some are attention oriented, and others respond best to repetition. Figuring out which your dog responds the most to is the first step.

For dogs that are food oriented, training treats are key in a quick success. Whenever your pup properly responds, reward them with a treat. Slowly deduct how often you give them their reward until you reach the point where treats are no longer necessary.

For a dog that responds best to attention, praise is the best reward you can give them. Upon sitting, give your dog plenty of praise. Use enthusiasm in your praise for the best result.

Lastly, some dogs respond best to repetition. This may become tedious to you during their training, but for a dog that responds best to repetition you will need to repeat the task multiple times until it sinks in.

Once your pup has successfully learned to sit, you can move on to the next step in your training. But remember patience is important when training your dog.

Rainy Day Dove Shoot by Jason

I woke up this morning to pouring rain here in Gainesville, FL. My spirits were also a bit damp as I had plans to go to Watermelon Pond Plantation in Archer, FL to work my German Shorthaired Pointer, Hank, with bird dog trainer extraordinaire, Kate Boulos. A dove shoot was planned for the afternoon. When the rain stopped around 12:00 pm, I was happy. My fiancee and I loaded up Hank and headed out with a cooler full of cold drinks and a mullet dip for the cookout. I prepared it last night after a great day of red fishing out of Cedar Key. It turned out great and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We arrived in plenty of time to grab a quick snack of delicious bar b qued pork, chili cheese dip and baked beans and then headed out to the quail woods.
We stopped at the pond flat and shot at a few snipe, none of which I hit. We worked Hank up into the piney woods and he nailed a single right off the bat. I killed it and he made an excellent retrieve. We continued on and he pointed again, this time very intense and stood until I flushed. I got a bit carried away and hurried my shot. Unfortunately, there wasn't much bird left for Hank to retrieve. Hank continued to improve as the hunting progressed and he located a small covey on the edge of the woods in some scrub oaks. I managed to make a good shot on one; the others were flying too fast. Kate was working a nice Brittany named Spud. He pointed several times and had the birds well located. We had a backing session with Hank and he seems to be getting the idea. Spud had 2 more finds which gave me more opportunities to make Hank honor his point. I also made Hank watch as Spud made the retrieves. We finished by giving Hank, Spud and one of Kate's beautiful English Setters, Biz a good run.
We headed back to the camp, ate some more and then proceeded to the dove field. Although the weather was damp and the sky gray, the doves came in pretty good, although sporadic. We had some good groups come in non stop for about 30 minutes in the late afternoon about an hour before sunset. My dove shooting was not as good as my quail shooting, but I managed to bag 10 and gave Hank more retrieving work. It was a great day and I can't wait to get back out to the woods next weekend for more dog work, quail hunting dove shooting at Watermelon Pond Plantation.