Small Challenges Course
“Build Your Dog’s Confidence & Build a Stronger Bond with Your Dog”
Small Challenges Course
“Our Small Challenges Course Builds Your Dog’s Confidence & a Stronger Bond with Your Dog”
We are proud to offer the Cedar Rapids / Marion area the “A Better Dog 4U Canine Small Challenges Course.”
The Small Challenges Dog Obstacle Course consists of a series of low impact physical challenges.
The object of the course is three-fold. First, it puts your dog in a situation where it has to overcome a series of physical challenges one at a time. Next, with your encouragement, you and your dog must learn to overcome each section of the course. This is done as you work together.
The result of this is that you get a more confident dog. And at the same time, it helps to build your dog’s trust in you.
Second, the course provides a physical fitness element that every dog will benefit from. Every dog can benefit from this kind of low impact work out.
Lastly, the challenge course gives your dog the ability to learn to problem solve.
How The Small Challenge Course Works
As your dog begins to move through the course your encouragement and guidance gives it the confidence to complete one obstacle at a time. As your dog completes each of the challenges you offer lavish praise and maybe a treat or two. (Depending on the Dog). Giving your dog these rewards serves to reinforce the dog’s confidence and as a result your dog’s confidence will continue to grow.
Your dog’s confidence will not only grow because it is completing each of the physical challenges. Its confidence will also grow because it is learning to trust you. Working together like this will help the bond between you and your dog grow stronger. You will find that as your bond grows, your dog will trust you more and more. Moving forward you will notice that your dog will trust you to help it get through all of those scary situations that it fears or is unsure of in its daily life.
Additional Benefits of The Small Challenge Course
Physical Benefits
The challenge course obviously provides a physical fitness element that every dog will benefit from. All of the obstacles on the challenge course are low impact and fully adjustable. It can be used by most any dog. Dogs who may be carrying a few extra pounds or older dogs with mobility issues can still benefit from some time on the course. One hour on the Small Challenges Course has about the same results as the same amount of time walking. This makes the course a great alternative during bad weather or in the winter months. Most of our clients say that their dogs are ready for a nap by the time they get home.
The challenge course can be modified to accommodate all sizes of dogs from teacups to large-bred dogs. It can also be modified to suite older dogs and dogs with physical limitations. Our course is a great way to test the skill level of most any dog up and down the physical scale as well as the confidence scale.
Mental Benefits
The Small Challenges course gives your dog the ability to learn, and problem solve. Because the obstacles are not commonly found in your dog’s everyday life, each of them makes your dog think about how to conquer it. Your dog also learns to listen to you and follow your instructions. With repeated use of the course, your dog will begin to remember how it completed the obstacle the last time. This builds your dog’s confidence quickly.
