Enjoying Dog Agility (2nd edition) is the premier beginner’s guide to the fast-growing sport of dog agility. Author Julie Daniels, a national and international agility champion and one of the early pioneers of the sport in the United States, has written an upbeat and informative must-read that shares her insight into all aspects of agility, from initial training of the dog to competing and succeeding in agility trials. A perfectly crafted guide for novice agility handlers, Daniels’s book teaches handlers to motivate their dogs, use positive-training techniques, and, most of all, have fun with their dogs.

Divided into two sections, the book begins with “This Is Agility,” the section that introduces readers to the basic requirements of the sport, methods of handling the dog, conditioning for the dog, and developing true teamwork with the dog. The second section is devoted to “The Obstacles” and discusses how to train the dog for all of the major obstacles found at trial: the apertures (open and closed tunnels and tire jump), the ramps (A-framed, dogwalk, and seesaw), the jumps (bar and solid jumps, spread jumps, and broad jumps), the pause table, and the weave poles. Each obstacle in Section II is presented with step-by-step training instructions on how to introduce the dog to the obstacle and how to navigate it, including avoiding and fixing problems along the way.

As Stuart Mah (of Rising Stars Dog Agility) says of the author and her classic text, “Long-considered one of the ‘grand dames’ of dog agility, Julie Daniels writes in an easy-to-understand style. Reading Enjoying Dog Agility is like having Julie there, discussing agility with you personally.” Fully indexed for ease of reference.

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