It’s April and Spring has officially sprung. That means that the weather is much more agreeable. Here at Whiskers, we like to take advantage of these cool April days because in May it’ll be hotter than hell! So, this weekend we decided to try something new and take the dogs through their paces with a homemade agility course!
The course we built is simple to build and cheap! You only need a few supplies:
1 hula hoop
3 pool noodles (they need to have hollow centers)
6 sport cones
6 five ft wood dowels (quarter inch diameter)
PVC pipe (half inch diameter) – We got 3 pieces, each about eight feet long and we cut them down.
Altogether these materials cost us about $45.
Gather all your supplies. You’ll need a good rubber mallet to drive your dowels into the ground.Start by hammering four of the dowels into the ground, in a straight line. Leave about three to four feet between them.Do the same with your remaining two dowels, but leave only enough space to attach a hula hoop between them. Later, we covered these dowels with PVC pipe and used packing tape to attach the hoop.
You’re going to cover each of the dowels with your PVC pipe. Also, you might want to may want to wear closed toed shoes. Or just traipse out in your flip-flops like my dumb ass.Like I said, you may have to cut the PVC down to your desired height.A good hacksaw will make short work of that.Once cut, slide the PVC over your dowels.Allow your dogs time to inspect and/or judge your handy work.I took Zeus through a test run of our new weave poles.Zeus is a good boy.Time to make these things presentable.We used “washi” tape to decorate the weave poles.
Hazel judging our work from afar.Zeus likes to come in for a closer inspection.Scrutiny intensifies.Use shorter lengths of PVC and your sports cones to make a set of hurdles.
Alvin’s got mad hops.Use your pool noodles to create, what we like to call, an “open air” tunnel.We drove stakes down to hold the noodles in place.
Alvin loved this freaking thing.
He was pretty good at the weave poles too!
Alvin’s a good boy.Here’s the finished hula hoop with PVC and washi tape.Hazel’s a good girl.
She’s also the only dog with enough athletic prowess to make it through the hoop. Zeus did master the “walk around it” technique. We gave him points for out-of-the-box thinking.
All three running the weave poles.Zeus wanted to try it solo.
Is this “dressage?”Got that “dumbo” look.
More than a normal walk, these courses can provide great mental stimulation for your high energy dog.After about 45 minutes they were worn out. And the wonderful thing is this course can be easily taken down and stored. You can rearrange the obstacles when you and your pet get bored, and it’s a great way to bond with your favorite doggos!
WHISKERS GONE WILD 