Looking for suggestions. Rain is now 20 weeks old and seems to show an aptitude for Cat Agility. She's a very quick learner. We began clicker training shortly after we brought her home from the shelter, but we had to take several weeks off due to serious illness after her first 10 days. After she recovered from that, we picked it up again and began adding some simple tasks. Another short break due to spay surgery, and we're back into training. Then I realized just how good she really is. We have learned the tunnel obstacle and we're pretty consistent and quick with that, and the pause platform. We are moving on to hurdles. She's getting the skill of clearing a low hurdle without just walking over it. We are at about an 8" height now, on the second day of practicing this task so it's still a very new skill. But she responds great to the clicker. She is an indoor-only kitten, and our backyard is a rocky, muddy mess most of the time so outdoor training isn't really suitable. We don't have a spare room that I can use for training, either. We're in a 1 bedroom duplex. Our "course" is in the living room, and even that's pretty small! It would be great to have a more spacious area, but I don't drive, I don't have a large working room, and I don't know of any place nearby where we could go with our gear for training sessions (say, a conference room or rec room somewhere...) If I were to travel to shows, it would be with another friend who shows her Aby, but I honestly haven't seen any Agility events at the shows I've gone to with her... mostly CFA and/or TICA, but I guess they don't host much Cat Agility around here.
What tips do any of you who have trained and/or shown in Agility have for a team who is just starting the training process, even if we don't go into the serious show circuit? Do any of you Agility teams do it at home just for fun? And if you have a very small residence, what ideas can you share on setting up a course for home workouts? How about getting a new "athlete" to competitions, or earning points, when there aren't many chances in your area?
Where can we get some proper Agility gear? Our hurdle is a pair of milk crates with some 3/4" PVC pipe for the bars. Our tunnel is a kid's play tunnel, wide enough for her to run through without crouching. Our swerve (slalom) poles are just small pylons. I'd like something a bit more "professional". Sorry if I'm not using the conventional terminology... correct me if there's a better or accepted term!
We're new to this and I have a lot of questions, I know--I'm not new to training cats, just new to the Agility sport.
What tips do any of you who have trained and/or shown in Agility have for a team who is just starting the training process, even if we don't go into the serious show circuit? Do any of you Agility teams do it at home just for fun? And if you have a very small residence, what ideas can you share on setting up a course for home workouts? How about getting a new "athlete" to competitions, or earning points, when there aren't many chances in your area?
Where can we get some proper Agility gear? Our hurdle is a pair of milk crates with some 3/4" PVC pipe for the bars. Our tunnel is a kid's play tunnel, wide enough for her to run through without crouching. Our swerve (slalom) poles are just small pylons. I'd like something a bit more "professional". Sorry if I'm not using the conventional terminology... correct me if there's a better or accepted term!
We're new to this and I have a lot of questions, I know--I'm not new to training cats, just new to the Agility sport.