Agility, Flyball and Hoopers
Agility
Agility is a great way to engage in an activity together. It can help build your bond with your dog, it helps harness your dog's problem-solving skills, and it can help with confidence, fitness and balance.
The key to successful agility is communication and signalling between dog and owner, therefore it can improve these areas greatly.
Our Beginners Agility course helps you peek into the world of agility in a fun and non-competitive way. We balance the high excitement of agility with calming exercises that help the dogs stay grounded and focused, which is a great transferrable skill to other areas of life. In this course you will learn the basics of agility such as how to navigate the agility equipment such as jumps, hoops, the tunnel, the dog walk, the seasaw, weaves etc. As we progress into the course, we start increasing the difficulty by creating variations of obstacles for you and your dog to navigate whilst making sure it is achievable and fun.
If you and your dog have tried agility already and would like to challenge your skills, our Intermediate Agility course could help you achieve that.
In this course you and your dog will learn more advanced techniques, drawing on more complex communication, signalling and physical involvement. You will also learn how to navigate more complex obstacle combinations and full agility courses. We will also teach you balance the high excitement of agility with calming exercises that help the dogs stay grounded and focused, which is a great transferrable skill to other areas of life. This is our priority rather than training for competition, and we use easilty accessible contact equipment, rather than Kennel Club sized obstacles.
Agility can be a high-energy and high-impact sport, which we manage carefully, so this course is for dogs over 8 months old with no physical issues that could be made worse by doing agility.
Our Agility courses run over six weeks, each class is an hour.
Flyball
Flyball is a fun, high-energy sport where dogs run and jump through some hurdles and then collect a tennis ball, turn round and run back over the jumps to their owner where they drop the ball.
Like all our training and activities, our flyball training is dog-centred and non-competitive. We want all the participants to feel secure in what they are learning and to be calm in between the flurries of running, jumping, fetching balls. Flyball is also a good way to improve recall and fetch, for those who need it.
Our beginner Flyball course is suitable for those who have never tried Flyball before, or dogs who have tried it but would like to have a refresher.
Our Flyball Club is for dogs who have taken part in flyball sessions previously and have reached the stage of reliably going up and down the flyball run off lead, and carrying the ball back to you.
Hoopers
Hoopers Beginners
Our Hoopers course runs over six weeks, one hour each week. It is a sport similar to agility with hoops, tunnels and barrels. However Hoopers is all ground level so there is no impact of jumping. There are also no tight turns so it is suitable for puppies over 16 weeks and senior dogs or disabled dogs (as long as they are fit and well enough). It is very inclusive - the hoops and tunnels are all spacious (around 80cm across) so suitable for big breeds. You will learn how to cue your dog to run through the hoops, and other easy obstacles off lead. The ultimate goal is to be able to manage your dog at distance so it is excellent for building up great connection with your dog. Practising for Hoopers is a great way to improve the all-important bond you share, which has knock on positive effects on your day-to-day life together, see practice session here. It’s fantastic exercise for dogs and humans - and it’s also great option if one or both of you doesn’t have the stamina for more intensive sports. And indeed it may be beneficial for dogs as those curves and bends helps strengthen core muscles, balance and co-ordination.
Hoopers Intermediate
Hoopers Intermediate continues progressing skills learned in the beginners class, introducing more complicated sequencing and distance skills. In order to attend this course you must have completed the beginners class or an equivalent course elsewhere.
Motion Works
Motion Works is a fun approach to facilitating fitness, movement and enrichment for our dogs.
Whether you are interested in agility or you have an older dog who would benefit from some gentle physical exercise, or a puppy over 16 weeks, Motion Works is beneficial for all dogs.
Motion Works helps you connect with your dog with some fun games helping to strengthen your relationship.
Motion Works offers a variety of physical exercises to help dogs maintain balance and control through movement and body awareness.
Motion Works provides exercises that focus on various elements of co-ordination training, teaching your dog the skills in training while building confidence and developing great communication with your dog.
It is a great way to teach proprioception to dogs and for dogs to learn and think at a distance from you.
Some people choose Motion Works to improve their agility handling, or see if agility might be a good exercise for their dog; but for others it's simply a way to spend time with their dog and provide them with stimulation and exercise.
Motion Works is great for puppies, older dogs and all ages in between.