Is your dog nervous when he is around other dogs or people? Dog agility training is useful in providing both the environment and the necessary structure in order to help with building confidence in your dog. If your dog is timid it may take a while for him to venture away from you, but agility classes are a great place for people to learn the best way to train their dogs.

As a very shy or timid dog will only be able to learn when they are relaxed it is better to begin their agility training somewhere that they feel safe – this is probably going to be at home.

So, how do you start dog agility training at home? First you will need guidelines on how to proceed with the training. A search on the internet will product masses of information on agility training, and there are also books and videos that will help with visual aids and lessons plans from beginner right through to expert level.

Next you are going to needs some equipment. There is a large variety of equipment that will be useful and helpful to have around when you begin dog agility training at home, and what you choose will to some extent depend on the space you have available. For instance do you have access to a large yard that will hold 10 or so obstacles? Or do you only have a small yard meaning you will need setup the agility equipmentand then take it down for each lesson? Do you intend to carry out the training in your basement or your garage? Your answers to these questions will help you to think about the equipment that you will need.

Make sure your equipment is safe and sturdy. One of the absolute must haves for agility training is a pause table. This is a table that is approximately 12″ high, that has adjustable legs for later use. Remember that if your dog is particulary shy, then set up your pause table within an area that he is comfortable with.

If your dog is one that tends to bark at anything new, then put up the table and leave it untouched in your home or yard for a few days – this way your dog can inspect it at his own pace. If he is still having trouble then put some treats or his favorite toy onto the table so that he will be encouraged to get up on the table – don’t rush him, let him go at his own pace. You may find that this initial stage can take more than one lesson so be patient with him.

If your nervous dog loses interest in the toy or food that you put on the table, then you can always (if he is small enough of course!) try holding him on your lap while you sit on the table. If he is too big then have him on his leash while you sit on the table.

The aim of this is to get your dog to be able to jump up onto the table when you give him the command word (for example “table”), to stay on the table when you move away from him, and to come to you when you call him. Take this stage slowly only backing away by a small amount initially. Building up your distance at a slow pace will help your dog to feel relaxed with his agility training.

The next stage is a contact trainer, particularly for a nervous dog. These come in many designs, one of the most popular is a three piece contact trainer. This will have a pause table with one mini A-frame side and the other a mini dog-walk side. You can get your dog to sit on the table, and then go ahead and coax it to come down via one side or the other.

Don’t forget dog agility training with a nervous dog will take patience, and you need to carry this out in small stages so that he is relaxed with what you are teaching him.  Push him a little, but not much that it is counter productive.

If you follow these thchniques when you introduce new obstacles to your dog, he will be able to succeed on each obstacle. This is great for confidence building.