S is for Stamina

As well as speed, both you and your dog must have a good amount of built up stamina to successfully run the courses in dog agility. Stamina can also help with other areas of dog agility, too. Such as a dog will low or no drive. Stamina is more important to dogs and handles who compete on a regular basis, however stamina can help both of you in just about anything and everything. Anyone can do this; it's fun and keeps you both fit, too.

A good way to build your dog's stamina is to take it one step at a time. Take your dog over one jump, and straight afterwards, reward with an entertaining and enthusiastic game of tug. If your dog won't work for toys, food can also be used, however tugs are generally used to create drive, also. This is an added benefit to building this stamina. You should aim to progress to more obstacles until the reward, thus your dog having built his/her stamina, and being more willing to work, due to expecting a reward each time. This is also a fun and exciting way to build stamina, drive and skills.

So now you see... stamina is an important part of dog agility. You will soon discover that using some simple and fun methods which will appeal to your dog will help you out when it comes to running in the ring. And remember to enjoy your training.

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