Agility Equipment (and a couple Frisbee pics) - Page 1

You guys are probably getting sick of me posting about this kind of stuff, but training my GSD to hunt pheasent fell through, since the person who wanted me to teach her in the first place randomly quit talking to me and I'm not really a hunter myself.

Anyways, long story short I've been looking around for agility equipment and was totaly shocked at the price of that stuff (I am still sorta getting into the "real dog" world). I did manage to find a pretty cheap "starter kit" that comes with pretty basic things (ooh, and ribbons!  ), but I am not totally sold on that yet.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any good links with instructions on how to build some of these things, espescially those more complex obstacles that are an arm and a leg. Or heck, even some cheaper equipment. I'm convinced I totally don't know where to look for dog stuff anymore, LOL!

On another note, at least we have Frisbee! (this is the 5th one in about 2 weeks... cheap pieces of crap, LOL) It is her current mission in life to NOT let that thing touch the ground, and she has such intense focus with it - it's almost funny to watch her zero in on it the way she does... and she can really get some air when she goes for it! Although I have to say I'm a bit surprised our neighbor hasn't freaked on us yet... I am not a very good throw, and Qira likes to bounce it off of her nose sometimes and crack it into the side of her house.

As for the pictures, she is just getting done shedding (I don't blame her, the temps have been crazy around here, plus we're outside all night in below freezing temps, then stuck at home all day in an 80 degree house - ugh!), and I swear her teeth are whiter than that.


(here's a good focus one .... excuse the blurriness, she was chasing after it when I snapped this)

Beautiful girl, Dawulf...i'm surprised the frisbee doesn't melt with the way she glares at it!

A friend of mine used fiberglass driveway markers for the weave poles.  I don't think they are quite as flexible as the real thing and I'm not sure how far apart they are spaced.
We have a home made obstacle course with various jumps and a trestle walk, stairs, A frame, etc. that was built 5 years ago out of pressure treated lumber for about $1500.   For the tunnels we went to a home construction place and bought sections of black plastic tubes in various lengths and diameters....puppy size to adult size.  Also found some old metal barrels that we stacked and strapped together.  Just found a bunch of plastic barrels that are on the to do list.
We talked to a few construction people and they were able to get used stuff for us.  Our only requirement was that they had not been used for hazardous liquids and no sharp edges, points etc.
I can get pictures later if you wish.....it's not really for agility, more for training the SAR and police K9's and just having fun.
Pirates Lair may have some ideas.  They had a great puppy video not too long ago. 
A friend in Belgium with an obstacle course went to a Toys 'r' Us type of a store and bought a woven rope climbing wall (I don't know the proper term).  That's also on our to do list. 
There are ideas floating around on the internet using PVC pipe also.........
I'll see if I can get pictures of this stuff...............

http://www.formufit.com/pets-dog-agility-plans/?gclid=CO2pg6TFwK0CFcfe4AodqiWoAw 

Check craigslist for scrap lumber. Get a drill and some screws or a hammer and nails;-) You can build some good obstacles pretty cheaply. They may not be pretty (ok, they won't be). Also post a "wanted" ad for used agility equip. You might be surprised. Agility is a trendy thing and people get in and out of it and the equip. sits in their garage. At least, that's what I've discovered here. 

Try a floppy cloth frisbee. I have a guess she'll love it.   And it won't make nearly as much noise or wear on her teeth if she sets out to destroy them. Walmart has them cheap; don't pay a fortune for them. 

These frisbees are the only ones that hold up for my boy!  Of course if you let them run off with them they can be chewed to shreds pretty quickly, but for a dog that breaks a plastic frisbee on the first catch, this is the way to go.  Too bad he can't get a paying job as a professional frisbee tester, we've tried them all!  http://www.amazon.com/Ruff-Dawg-Flyer-Assorted-Colors/dp/B000BTL4KU

Charity = Thank you! Also, I'd love to see some pics of what you have done. Sounds pretty complex and interesting, I'm definantly up for the ideas. :)

Blitzen = Thanks for the link! Will definantly look into it.

Jen = Will also look into that. I completely forget about Craigslist sometimes. And about the cloth frisbee, that was what the fist one we tried was. I had found it when we were cleaning out some boxes, and the first time I threw it her teeth punctured it. But maybe that was more of a people-frisbee than a dog frisbee. Will check 'em out!

Summer = Thanks for the link! I've been thinking about trying a good rubber one but they seem so heavy. Do they fly well? Seems to me like some of the ones I've seen would knock her out, lol.

I just wish she would learn to keep her tongue out of the way. She has bitten it twice now - first right in the middle, and second just blarely on the edge... blood about gave me a heart attack both times, heh.

Is it her tongue bleeding for sure? Check her teeth. Make sure there's no gingivitis or anything that would make her gums bleed. The first signs are a thin brighter red line at the gumline. 

Yeah, it was her tongue. A little searching confirmed a small cut on the bottom/edge (the second time) and a larger jagged cut in the middle (the first time). Both are healed up now. The first was definantly worse - she was litterally dripping, and I almost thought I'd have to take her to the vet... but it stopped and never started back up (thank God). That was a couple weeks ago though.

Speaks a lot about her though, for me - not once did she make a peep, and I think she was even pissy with me for ending our game. As I took her inside she kept trying to snatch the frisbee from my hand.

No, a whiner she is not! 

That's good; tongues heal fast. Mouth wounds stop bleeding pretty quickly unless they're REALLY major, in which case you would not be debating whether or not to take her to the vet. 

I am working on some pictures to send you of some equipment a friend built that I have used on my dogs. Some of it is pretty intricate and big, but you'll see most of it is scrap wood.

Dawulf,

I PM'd you