What is the obstacle commitment in dog agility?
Leda Kessler
2025-07-13 00:52:37
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Commitment is a huge buzzword in dog agility but what exactly does it mean. Imagine that you’re invited to a 4th of July cookout and you must RSVP to attend. You confirm by email, buy some groceries to make your famous side dish, and decline invitations to other 4th of July events. These are examples of mental commitment to the cookout. However, there is no physical commitment until you load up your car, back out of your driveway, and arrive at the cookout. Likewise, when your dog approaches any obstacle, they transition between mental and physical commitment. Somewhere in there, we find the sweet spot for agility. Wait until your dog is committed to the obstacle before you move. Your dog needs better commitment. Far too often, handlers wait until physical commitment to begin moving or cueing the next obstacle—this is too late.
Rick Gutkowski
2025-07-12 23:35:34
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Hanne Skjelstad, a wonderful agility handler from Norway, and member of Team AgiNotes, has prepared a set of simple exercises for obstacle commitment. The jump is the most common obstacle on agility courses, the training of which is, however, often neglected. These are great agility exercises for your own backyard or other small space, and all you need is one jump. That way I strengthen my dog's obstacle commitment, so that I can move in any other direction, while my dog takes the jump. When the dog has an understanding of the task, I add a cue for taking the jump. Then I gradually increase the distance to the jump. After increasing the distance, I gradually start increasing my movement in the opposite direction of the jump.
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