Customer Reviews

Excelling at Dog Agility - Book 1: Obstacle Training (Updated Second Edition)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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This book is an ideal starting point for anyone wanting to learn about the wonderful sport of dog agility and how to train their dog to compete in the agility ring. In addition, it can help the experienced agility handler train their beginning dog the right way from the start, helping to ensure success.

This book is written as a companion to Simmons-Moake's award-winning set of videos on agility training (which are also excellent), but you do not need the videos to enjoy the book. There are pictures and diagrams, and the book is well-organized into easy to understand sections. The author breaks down the art of training agility into simple concepts, which she reemphasizes and builds on throughout the book. Simmons-Moake clearly understands how dogs learn, and encourages positive, motivational methods to teach dogs how to perform each agility obstacle correctly and to enhance the dog-handler relationship.

I highly recommend this book! Agility is an addicting sport, one of the most fun things you can enjoy with your dog, and this book is a great way to learn about it.

Masterfully worded with wonderful illustrations and diagrams, Jane Simmons-Moake has created one of the best books on dog agility training I've seen. This book covers obstacle training for all of the AKC/NADAC/USDAA equipment, focusing on excellence and doing things "the right way" from the beginning. Each obstacle is presented in an easy-to-read, step by step format. She provides tips for those who have troubles teaching a particular obstacle, and has special sections on fixing dropped bars and missed contacts. Not only does she show you how to train the obstacle, but also how to work from a distance with control and confidence... from the beginning! Many trainers leave distance training until the basics have been mastered, but this book allows even the novice agility enthusiast to get a competitive edge early on. Her method will produce consistent and satisfying results! Included in the beginning of the book is also a chapter on equipment and getting started. A brilliant read from start to finish! I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in agility, from the "newbie" to the seasoned competitor!

I thought it would be fun to teach my italian greyhound some agility, so I picked up the entire series by Simmons Moake. She give excellent instruction on teaching your dog each obstacle, and how to properly approach and preform the obstacle the right way from the beginning. This book might not be appropriat for those with little patience (of the trainer or the dog), because she focuses of doing one obstacle till it is preformed appropriately from all directions at speed. She does not go into doing series until the next book. So, if you are just interested in having fun in the yard with your dog - this might not be the right book for you. If you could go on to competition and you and your dog want to feel confident in preforming a course I highly suggest picking up this series.

For background, I have trained three dogs and wanted to get started in agility. This book got such great reviews that I ordered it... but when it got here, I read up to page 44, skimmed the rest, and returned it.

It was a lot of common sense stuff like "dogs may become reluctant if you pull them through the weave poles with the leash". Well, gee, that I could have figured out on my own. :) No clicker use either, which surprised me.

There *was* lots of mention of entering the obstacles from different angles and making sure you're in different places when the dog enters and exits, which was a good thing to point out. There was also a brief comparison of different techniques for teaching weave poles which I found interesting (still no clicker techniques though). So it's not that it was completely content free, but there was so much repetition and filler that I felt like the useful information could have been condensed into a one-page handout for each obstacle. It hardly seems worth buying the book for that.

This book was an easy read and chocked with great information for the beginning agility team. I liked the simplicity and simple tips.

This book was chose to be on the prestigious 'DogRead' as a book selection of the month. We only do 12 books a year and this was May 2000. The author comes on line for the whole month to answer questions on the book. It was very well received by our 3000 member email group. The author was very knowledgeable and easy to understand even though also very in depth.

treshell owner DogRead
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