Bandit's Corgility Journey!

Corgility is what I affectionately call it when a Corgi competes or trains for dog agility. This is how wikipedia defines dog agility:

Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off-leash with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles.Consequently the handler's controls are limited to voice, movement, and various body signals, requiring exceptional training of the animal and coordination of the handler.

Bandit is my almost 5 month old female tricolor Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Here is a picture of her!

Even though Bandit is young, now is a great time to start working on some basic handling skills and exercises with her so that she can excel at dog agility in the future! A friend of mine competes with her two corgis and even was invited to the American Kennel Club National Dog Agility Championship! Anyways, this friend of mine has been working with myself and Bandit weekly on these agility skills. It is definitely much harder than you would think. It is a good thing that I am starting her early, because it takes years of training before most dogs are ready to compete. Some of the skills that Bandit has been working on (besides basic obedience training) include:

• Go-Arounds: This is where the handler sends the dog to go around an object. In training I have been using a post or a chair.
• Left/Right Spins: This is when the dog will spin to the left or to the right depending on the physical and verbal cues that the handler gives.
• Touch: Using a small round target, I am teaching the dog to go and touch the object. This will help when shaping her to other obstacles and to learn some of the more difficult handling skills.
• Flips: When executing the flip, it is when the handler turns 180 degrees and the dog stays on the same side of the handler. When the handler turns, so does the dog, but the dog "flips" away from the handler during the turn.

Well, this is about all I have for this first blog! I look forward to updating this blog as Bandit learns (and hopefully excels!) at Corgility.

-Marissa and Bandit