I have a very high-energy breed dog (Belgian Malinois) and am constantly adding more options to our home activities that we can cycle through in order to burn through his energy (both physical and mental). Sometimes, this can be complicated by the fact that he is three-legged and his physical stamina won't always keep up with the mass quantity of energy he contains. We also live in the Pacific Northwest, so outdoor activities can come with a lot of mud during half of year (or more) and therefore, a lot of cleanup. I have been interested in trying some agility training with my dog, but because I wanted to keep it fun and casual for him. No high-pressure classes with people dreaming of competing with their dogs someday... I have no delusions of competing in agility with my three-legged dog. This was just going to be a fun way to burn off some energy and learn something new. So, having never done anything with canine agility before, I started looking at the idea of a beginner level agility setup that we could use in our home "doggy playroom" that I have set up in our 2-car garage.
I looked at a lot of basic agility sets on Amazon, narrowed it down to three, and then waited to see which one went on the biggest sale for Black Friday. They all went on sale except this one. I am on a very limited budget, so price is pretty important to me, and to be honest, this one cost more than the others even before the sales. But after much internal debate, I still bought this one. I wanted all the features that this set had: multiple tunnels and jumps for continued variety in course set up (my dog hates doing the exact same routine/pattern more than twice in a row of anything, so I needed to have enough pieces in the set to be able to change up the elements and have it feel like a "new" or different variation of the course to him each time I set it up); the ability to set it up indoors and also outdoors when the weather is nice again; and good user reviews that give me some idea of durability, since I am spending my hard-earned money on it. All three sets I'd been considering had these features, but what the other two didn't have were the side wing banners on the jumps. I liked the idea of the side wing banners because of several things I had read while researching agility courses, including the possibility that it could improve the dog's visibility of the jump. I don't know if that is true or not, but since my dog and I had never done this before, I thought we could use any possible advantage to figuring it out (mostly me... my dog is a genius).
So, I pulled the trigger and went with my gut and got this Fun For Tails agility course. I can't tell you how glad I am that I did! I'm sure the other courses are fine, but our experiences with this one, and especially with the company Fun For Tails, have exceeded all expectations! The course was shipped and delivered quickly. I set it up in stages once it arrived, introducing each obstacle to my dog one at a time to get him familiar with how to do each part of the course individually before it all came together. The last obstacle I took out of the box to set up, a few days after receiving it, was the hoop jump. Unfortunately, I discovered that after putting together all of the other course obstacles, I was two pieces short of a complete set. This didn't prevent me from setting up the hoop jump, it just meant that I couldn't attach the side wing banners to the hoop jump because the two pieces that were missing were the short poles that held the bottom of the banner wings out at the base, but the hoop jump was still usable.
I sent a quick email to the customer service email I easily found on the included setup instructions, and within 10 minutes I'd gotten a response. The company took immediate action and went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we needed to have an amazing time with their product. They provided personalized and exceptional customer service. It is obvious how much they value and appreciate their customers, and stand by their product and company. It has been quite some time since I've had such an amazing customer service experience, and I cannot speak highly enough about how impressed I am with Fun For Tails and how they run their business!
I have been using the completed set with my dog for about two weeks now, and it is one of his favorite activities to do! It is quick and easy to set up, and then take down and put away when you are done. I usually just put away the tunnels into their respective bags, and then disassemble the other obstacles part way so that they can stack flat against the wall to make for faster setup, since I will likely just be pulling it all out again the next day. However, it also doesn't take too long to put it into the convenient transport storage bag it comes with, and then it barely takes any room on a shelf to store. For me, there really isn't a point to taking it apart completely, because if I skip a day now, my dog won't stop asking me to do the agility course. He will lead me over to where the pieces are kept and nose them and "sit pretty" to tell me he wants to do it. When he is so tired that he starts laying down on the course (sometimes in the middle of the tunnel or between weave poles), and I am trying to put the pieces away, I have to move him to the other room and shut the door, or else he will continue to run the course on his own (very clumsily) while I try to put it away. Bless his little heart, lol.
I really like that the height of the jumps is adjustable. My dog is great about getting over the poles with his front foot, but doesn't pay much attention to his back feet (possibly because I am still using treat lures, and he really wants that treat!), so I keep the jumps set pretty low for now since he usually grazes them with at least one set of back toes. I thought he'd be nervous about the tunnels, but he LOVES them!! He won't do the blind tunnel yet, but the extra fabric can fold back over the rest of the structured part of the tunnel, and it leaves us with a short tunnel, which works great, too. The course is very adaptable, which is exactly what I'd wanted. And with all the pieces, I can set it up differently each time, and my dog loves the changes and variety in obstacle arrangements.
As far as durability, I thought it would be fun to leave the long tunnel out during a playdate with my dog's bestie, a one year-old chocolate lab who is a delightful, happy, speeding, tank of a dog who has no idea how big or fast she is. I put the rest of the course away, since their playtime isn't really focused. The tunnel was a hit! And, more importantly, it impressively held up to chocolate lab tank-zoomies (sometimes from within the tunnel itself) with no noticeable damage or change in shape or condition to the tunnel after an hour of intense playtime. So, yes, it's durable! The jumps and weave poles are PVC pipes and joints, so when you move them around, you can expect that a pole or end piece is going to pop off or loosen. It's supposed to - that's what makes it easy to assemble and disassemble, right? Super easy to just pop whatever came off right back into place. I'm sure if you wanted something more permanent, you could glue it together, but I use this same space for my dog's obedience training, Nosework, doggy playdates, and many other activities, so being able to take the whole course down in minutes and store it in minimal space is a huge bonus for me.
Needless to say, this course was worth every penny! We love it! I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in a fun, interactive activity to try with their dog!