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Agility, home made.
Posted on February 26, 2010
As promised, here is my latest project:
Last week I built my own little agility course in our backyard! It was sunny outside and I decided to finally get started on this project. My husband was home to help and I was so excited! The excitement was only lowered a bit by the sudden snow that appeared as soon as I had everything set up and was ready to go.
But I know spring is coming. It’s so close I can almost feel it. Mac’s agility class is starting next week and Maize’s isn’t far away, either. And then these little PVC constructs are going to come in very handy! Because I know at least about the weave poles that you are supposed to practice them more than just once a week in class. And Mac is already getting so good. We just do it once or twice a day. Did I mention that I find these so handy?
And the best thing is, other than what you find in most online stores, this practice equipment is really inexpensive. I lost a few receipts, but I promise I did not spend more than $100. Probably closer to $70. That got me enough PVC for two jumps, a crawl element, weave poles and a (kids) tunnel. Still to be build are a pause table and a teeter. The pause table will be basically for free. We are still waiting for the store to call us about one of their electric wire spools. Once they got an empty one we will put a board on top and maybe some carpet scraps and voila, there is our pause table. My husband did not like the building plans for teeters online, so he’s got his own plan (that still has to be executed). But other than that we are set for practice!
If you can feel the spring now, too, and want to start a project like this visit some of the following websites or do your own search. BUT please, for your own sake, think it through a little better than I did. I just printed out all the instruction and headed of to the store just to come back home and find out that the instructions were missing parts. And then I had to go back because I ran out of spray paint. Then again because I forgot to buy end caps to put on all of the poles. And then again to buy more spray paint… and once I had all of my paint I thought I should have chosen more stylish colors. But the store I went to didn’t have the variety I would have liked so I will just give everything a make-over next spring.
Okay, I was gonna list some websites for instructions,wasn’t I? Here they are:
Canine Crib (nice and cheap instructions but make sure to check your list, they are missing things here and there)
Instant Agility (I liked their idea of the weavepoles, but I was too lazy)
Camp Bandy
Apparently there is a book, too: Do-It-Yourself Agility Equipment
And seriously, there is no need to have a husband around (unless maybe for the teeter). PVC is so easy to work with. Cut, paint, stick together. I ended up glueing a few pieces because I have mine sitting in the yard all of the time and my dogs play recklessly and run everything over that is not glued or stapled into place. And I have to admit that I might eventually invest in an actual dog tunnel. Mac loves it, I’m actually going to have to work on how to have him NOT go through it) and they love to play with it, hide in it, run underneath and so on. Plus, the kids tunnels are just smaller and not so easy to curve. But other than that I am super happy with my setup and can only recommend it. If you plan it well it takes no longer than a weekend for everything to be cut, the paint to dry and everything to be assembled.
Update: I just got my Modern Dog Magazine (Spring 2010) and all the way in the back I found a How to… Make your own Backyard Agility Course. So if you are interested, it makes it even easier than mine with a hoolahoop hanging from a tree and plywood and cinder blocks for a dog walk. Check it out!
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looks like fun! thanks for the links, I’ll have to check them out for once the snow melts!