Happy new year, everyone!!! LD (for those new to the blog, my fiance the lovable dork) had the brilliant idea of making agility equipment today for Tasha. Because of her cattle dog high activity level, I have been trying to come up with ideas to keep her active this winter. Winter in Wisconsin is not kind and it is especially cold for a 20 pound short haired dog that likes to pull out chunks of her hair due to her allergies. I hit on agility recently because I could put a broom across two chairs and use it as a jump or line up chairs and throw a blanket over it to create a tunnel. Agility seems to tire our girl out quickly, which is a very nice change.
Taking some PVC pipe, tees, caps and a hacksaw, we created a jump that has four height settings at 12″, 16″, 20″ and 24″. We will probably add some more heights later but 24″ is pretty high currently for the 17″ tall Tasha. I will update later with the plans for the jump later when LD can draw out the finished plans, as they did change and were not fully specified in his original drawings.
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| LD hard at work. |
We also made a set of weave poles. We might need to make them more supportive as Tasha gets better at them, but for the moment, she believes weave poles mean you cross through the first section and then run down the remaining length of the poles, but I only said she was smart, I never said she was a total genius.
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| The weave poles down the entire length of our hallway. |
The two pieces of equipment together (plus the hacksaw) only cost us about $28 compared to about $80-$100 if you buy them and only took about an hour and a half to assemble including the trip to the hardware store. Tasha absolutely loves the jump and is learning to love the weave poles.
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| Tasha waiting for some more fun! |
Update: Here are the plans for the jump so you can make your own.
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How wonderful that you’re providing an outlet for your dog. There’s a group on yahoo that is all about making your own equipment. You might do a search and join the group. In the mean time here’s a few low cost ideas: You can make a practice teeter by using a section of 4″ x 4″ as the teeter base. Then just use a sanded wood plank for the actual teeter. You’re just practicing to get your dog used to tipping the teeter, so it doesn’t have to be exact. Ikea has children’s play tunnels that are a bit more rugged for indoor use for about $10. You can use those phys ed cones with holes in them for jumps when you stick the PVC poles in the holes. Also, you can glue the sticky side of velcro on the sides to a make-it-yourself jump-like base and a hoola hoop, with taller side poles. Just glue the velcro (the other fuzzy velcro side) to the outsides of a hoola hoop so you can adjust the height. Easy tire jump. Just remember not to ask your dog to jump until it’s at least one year old. Before one year old the dog’s bones aren’t developed enough to not potentially damage the dog’s development. Before one just practice the jumps set all the way on the ground, and have fun. After all the most important part of agility is playing with your dog.
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Can’t wait to build!
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