Foundation Training

The objective of these sessions is to fully equip the young dog with all the foundation skills needed to enable both handler and dog to reach its optimum potential in their agility careers.

Much of the work will be based on techniques used by Susan Garrett, arguably the world’s best trainer of agility dogs, and whose seminars Pauline and I attended in the summer 2007.

Topics covered include focus, motivation, start line technique, verbal commands and targeting. We will also spend a great deal of time on rear end awareness and use of jump grids to build a technique/style that will be successful.

At this point I must emphasize that no agility equipment will be used until the dogs are at least 10 months old. Firstly, for obvious reasons, but secondly, because we believe that in order to become effective, foundation techniques need to be ingrained in the animal before equipment is introduced.

We feel that this training is the most important area we are covering and are offering in our opinion the most innovative and up to date techniques available today. Our aim is to produce a succession of dogs who, when first introduced to competition, are ready to stand out from the crowd.

Places will be strictly limited in order to give individuals the attention needed and I cannot stress too strongly that attendees must be prepared to follow the whole programme over many months and not mix and match techniques with others. Commitment to each session is vital as progress needs to be monitored carefully before progressing to the next level.

It is envisaged that these sessions will commence immediately before or after the regular sessions.