Agility Equipment

MericoX

Roos, Poos, & a Wog!
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#41
If my dog weighed an extra 10 pounds, I'm not sure I'd even be jumping them at 16.. That's like and extra 50-70 pounds on a person. Hard on backs and joints.. When my kids were learning they jumped stupid low, like 6". If your dog feels squishier than the back of your hand, they probably shouldn't be jumping more than elbow height.

Vets can be a poor judge of weight, and most dogs don't have a magic number to strive to. It's more how they feel under the fur. A lot of agility competitors keep their dogs on the thinner side to try to protect joints. A lot of pet people have told me my dogs are too thin, and a lot of vets see mainly dogs that are too chunky and then only make suggestions that dogs need to lose weight when they are on the large side. It makes many vets these days a poor judge of decent weight, let alone a good weight for extra strain from performance events.
Ditto this. I admit I started agility with Kiba and she was overweight, and looking back I can see how much a difference having her on the thinner side is. I would drop down the height to elbow height as suggested until you can get the weight off her, and then increase the jump height.
 
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#42
Thanks for the advice. I hadn't realized that she was quite this over-weight until this recent vet visit! Anyway, my instructor, who is excellent and whose judgment I trust, says that 16" is a safe height for Libby right now. She says that Libby has good form and "protects herself when she jumps". We don't over-practice (we don't jump every day, and only do a few jumps a session except in class), and I do have my jumps at home set lower since we're practicing turns and crosses.

I think I just wasted some money. There's a UKI trial here this weekend that's accepting day-of-show entries. I looked at jump heights, and mis-understood the "any" listed next to her height along with "Select" category. Only after I registered her online did I realize that the lowest jump height we could do would be 20". Oh, well. At least the registration will still be valid once her weight's down!
 

Snark

Mutts to you
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#43
What is the best for weave poles for bigger dogs (just PVC I'd assume, but wanted to be sure). :p
What I've done for my weaves is use plastic poles (the white ones used for electric fences) and/or wooden dowels pounded solidly into the ground, then slide the PVC poles over them. A lot cheaper than buying a set of manufactured weaves... I have mine spaced at 24 inches since that's the spacing used in my agility classes.
 

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