How to Agility Train Your Dog

Upon adopting a pup, most of us vow to be the best pet parent ever. This often evokes heartwarming experiences, like taking your dog on fun adventures and having snuggles on the couch. But as intense as the concept of training your dog may initially seem, this is actually one of the best ways to bond with your pup.   

Agility training, which can be implemented at a young age, is a skilled step up from obedience training, and involves engaging your dog’s body, mind, and spirit through obstacle-type courses. As a bonus: They burn off all that excess energy (which can lead to undesirable behavior), interact meaningfully with you, and will dazzle folks with all the cool tricks they’re learning. After all, at the end of the day, what these loving creatures really want is their human’s undivided attention. 

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Getting you and your dog into agility training is a relatively easy thing. It just requires a bit of makeshift equipment at home (think boxes and cushions), as well as a lot of patience and persistence. Read on for everything you need to know about how to build a strong bond with your dog by getting into agility training. 

Dog agility training: getting started

“Buddy and I were watching the Westminster Dog Show, and I really think I want to get into it with him. He is a little slow and nervous — I wonder how he would do? I’ve heard it can help with their confidence. I think that would be great for him.”

As a trainer, I often hear something like this from clients. People who have never tried agility training with their pups are inspired by competitions they see on TV, and they want to give it a try with their dog. You don’t have to go all the way to Westminster or even get serious with agility. It can just be a fun way to engage with your dog. Any dog, no matter their shape or size, can do agility. 

Before getting started on agility, it helps to acquaint your pup with some fundamental obedience training, so they get used to the concept of positive reinforcement. Then, when you’re ready to move on to agility at home, you can use what you have around you to teach them the agility basics. Below, a lot more details on how that works.

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At-home agility training for dogs

Agility works on many of your dog’s different skill sets: honing off-leash skills, approaching various obstacles, and taking directional cues. Practicing agility can greatly improve the relationship between you and your dog. Agility builds a connection with your dog, which helps them better understand you and your cues. 

If you have a shy or nervous dog, agility can help bring them out of their shell and show them that the world isn’t a scary place. If you have any concerns about your dog’s ability or exercise level, you should check with your veterinarian to make sure they are healthy enough to do agility. 

If you are looking to do agility for fun at home, you can work with what you have for some of the skills. However, if you are working towards competition, you will need to invest in equipment or find a facility to help your dog build those skills. 

Agility cues for dogs

Agility can be like a foreign language to a new dog parent: You will be introduced to obstacle cues, directional cues, and skill cues. When starting agility, it is helpful to have prior, basic training with your dog. (In fact, many agility schools will require that your dog passes a basic-training class and understand cues such as “sit,” “down,” “stay,” and “come.”) Your dog doesn’t have to be perfect when you first start, but the more fluent they are with these basic behaviors, the easier things will be. Some behaviors that your dog will learn through agility are left and right turns, the dog walk, tunnel, table, A-frame, seesaw, different types of jumps, and weave poles.

Increase flexibility

Working on flexibility with your dog is important when doing agility. Asking your vet for ways to help your dog stretch can keep your dog in tip-top shape and free of any injuries that may come from the basic wear and tear of agility. Just like a human should stretch before and after physical activity, your dog should do the same. There is a lot of movement in agility that your dog may not be used to doing in everyday life, and stretching will help keep them flexible. 

DIY tunnel training

Tunnel training — or, running through a tunnel — can be scary for your dog. Tunnels are not always in straight lines and may curve, which will make it difficult for your dog to see the exit. You can start slowly training this activity at home by using a box and treats. 

Here’s how.

• Pick a box that opens at the top and bottom, and affix the flaps so they stay open. Make sure that your dog can comfortably walk through it. 

• Begin by placing a treat at the entrance, and let your dog reach in to get it. Do this a few times so your dog becomes more and more comfortable reaching for the treats. 

• Begin to place the treats further into the “tunnel” box. Once your dog is comfortable with that, toss the treat through to the other end. You can go to the opposite end and call to them if they need some coaxing. Reward them when they get through. 

• If you are ready to make the course harder, connect another box to the first one and make your tunnel longer. 

If you are looking for more serious training, you can purchase an agility tunnel. (The prices range from medium to high.) You’d start by expanding the tunnel by a few feet, then gradually extending it over time as your dog becomes more comfortable in it. Once it is completely extended, you can make the training harder by bending it slightly to create a curve. 

Improve attention span

Agility teaches your dog impulse control and directional cues; it builds your relationship working as a team. Over time, your dog will want to engage more with you, and their attention towards you will improve. They will learn how to respond to your slightest movements and interpret your body language. 

Practice jumping

Look to your environment for fun things your dog can jump over. It’s best to start with an object that is about five inches off the ground. 

• Toss a treat onto the other side of the item you want them to jump over. Your dog should follow the treat. Do that a few times. If your dog walks around the object, you may need to lower the item or block the sides — so the only way they can reach the treat is by going over the object and not around it. 

• As your dog catches on, increase the height of the object they’re jumping over. Be sure to move slowly, to help your dog solidify their understanding of the behavior. 

• When you know your dog will jump more than 90 percent of the time, begin to add the word “jump” and a hand signal, such as pointing toward the item you want them to jump over. Since dogs understand body language better than verbal cues, it is best to always add a hand signal. 

Jumping can cause stress on your dog’s joints, so doing this too many times repeatedly or making them jump too high can injure them. Always err on the side of caution to keep your dog safe. Age, breed, and prior health issues will determine how high or often your dog should jump.

Increase body awareness

To learn agility, a dog will need body awareness, or that their front legs and back legs can move separately. This does not typically come naturally to them, but you can teach this awareness by slowly encouraging them to touch a target with each of their paws. 

• Cut an eight-to-10-inch circle of cardboard and paint it yellow. Why yellow? It’s an easy color to draw a dog’s attention. 

• Begin by rewarding your dog with a treat each time they look at the circle. 

• Next, wait for your dog to engage a bit more with the circle, such as moving forward towards it or sniffing it. 

• Begin to lure your dog towards the target and try to get them to touch it with their front paws. Once they do, say “yes” and give them a treat. Repeat this step many times, making sure to give your dog a break to play or sniff when needed. 

• As your dog gets better at landing their paws on the target, begin to say a verbal cue like “paws” just before your dog’s paws hit the target. 

• After several repetitions, you can just say the verbal cue, wait, and then reward when your dog’s paws touch the target. 

Left and right cues

Did you know dogs can learn their left from their right? This command is great when you’re walking somewhere that may have obstacles like trees or light posts, or when there's a fork in a hiking trail. 

Helping your dog learn directionals begins by teaching them how to spin in a circle in both directions. 

• Have your dog follow a treat with their nose. Direct their head to look towards their tail, and release the treat right away while their body is still in that position. Repeat this so that your dog gets comfortable with the movement. 

• Continue to lure your dog into a C-shape, bringing their head towards their tail. Eventually, you will lure them all the way around into a 360-degree circle. Be sure to reward them when they complete each rotation. 

• Now add the cue: Say “left,” and instruct your dog to do the full circle. Reward them when they complete it. Once your dog is doing a full circle, don’t do too many repetitions at a time, or they’ll get dizzy. 

• Now ask your dog to do a circle (without a treat), with your hand near their nose. Practice moving your hand two inches from your dog’s nose, then three inches away, and so — until you can make a swiping hand motion while saying “left,” so that your dog makes a left circle on their own. 

• Once you and your dog have mastered this on one side, begin to teach them to do it on the other.

Tricks

Teaching your dog different tricks helps both of you have fun, work on treat-timing, and build a bond. Tricks are also a way for your dog to gain confidence, which is a major part of agility. Some go-to tricks to start with include touching something, jumping through a hula-hoop, and jumping over obstacles. 

Build comfort with moving objects (seesaw prep) 

The seesaw is one of the scariest pieces of agility equipment for certain dogs. The dog has to step on one side of the seesaw, then begin to walk across to the other side. As they get over the middle hump, it will start to go downward. In practice, this should be taken very slowly, because as your dog adds speed, the seesaw will come crashing down, hard and fast. If your dog gets scared, they could fall off and hurt themselves. 

• Find objects within your home that are unstable, but safe for your dog to walk on. A couch cushion with a ball under it, or a piece of wood with a tennis ball cut in half and glued to the bottom are some examples. 

• Reward your dog for walking on the uneven surfaces. Starting small is important here: If your dog gets too scared, they may not want to try this again. 

• Heavily reward your dog, especially if they are nervous, each time the object they stand on moves. 

• As your dog gets more comfortable, you can increase the difficulty. 

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Professional agility training

Agility is a sport that can be practiced at home, or if you’re more serious about it, in a facility. If you practice at home, you will want to get equipment as your dog gets better at agility training. There are several online tutorials explaining how to build your own equipment — most obstacles can be made with PVC or wood. You can also purchase the different obstacles in smaller versions for your backyard. 

If you and your pup get hooked on at-home agility, you may want to build both of your skills by joining a class. This is also a great way to prepare for competing, if that interests you. Either way, agility training is so much better when done in a class setting, where a trainer can teach you the foundations of agility and its safest practices. Some facilities even allow you to rent their space and use their equipment for training. 

Bottom line

Agility is all about fun, and a great way to build your dog’s confidence, attention span, flexibility, and conditioning. It is also a great way to increase your bond with your dog, so you can both become a better team. 

References

• “5 Tips for Successful Dog Training.” Vetmed.vt.edu, vetmed.vt.edu/news/2023/dog-training-tips.html.

• Dziak, Kelly. “Ideas for Training Your Dog at Home – 4-H Animal Science Resource Blog.” Rutgers.edu, 15 Apr. 2020, 4hanimalscience.rutgers.edu/2020/04/15/ideas-for-training-your-dog-at-home.

• Inkilä, Leena, et al. “Part I of Finnish Agility Dog Survey: Training and Management of Competition-Level Agility Dogs.” Animals, vol. 12, no. 2, 17 Jan. 2022, p. 212, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12020212.