Has anyone MADE an agility tunnel?

[Rerun]

I just want to make an inexpensive tunnel to work Dante on at home, as I suspect his nerves will get the best of him during training. I've seen the DIY thread on jumps, etc and all the ideas are great. I'd like a tunnel just to work on him inside with over the next few months, doesn't even need to be that long really. Just something to practice entering/exiting with confidence. It seems like some kind of round circle object like small hola (sp) hoops inside an inexpensive blue outdoor tarp would work. He won't be running through the tunnel.

I've looked everywhere online and two major target stores for the $9 boots and barkley one everyone talks about and it appears they don't make them anymore. I remember seeing them years ago and am kicking myself now for never picking one up. Didn't think I'd take an interest in agility.

Any suggestions?

[Jax08]

I think a tunnel would be a pain to make by the time you got the hoops in and then got them covered in material. You could look in the toy section of a store, since he's still small, for a child's tunnel.

[Rerun]

How tall should a tunnel be? (regulation) Most I have seen are 24" - is that about right?

[Rerun]

And he's not super small anymore unfortunately. He's pretty lean (well of course, he's a mal), but getting tall. He weighed in at 40 lbs last vet visit a couple wks ago.

[Jax08]

Jax is 24.5" and she fits nicely in a regulation size. I've never seen a plan for a tunnel. By the time you get your time involved in making a decent tunnel that will stand up to the abuse, you would be better off buying a half way decent one. You can get one on ebay for less than $75 to suit your purposes since you aren't looking to really practice for competition.

What about teeters? Dog walks? A-frames? All of that really builds confidence also. You could find a lot of things on a school playground to work with.

[Rerun]

Yes, I saw all the plans on the threads to make the other stuff and plan to do that this spring/summer (a-frames, etc) but the tunnel was the only thing I couldn't find any ideas for. I guess I'll just have to toy with some ideas or pay for one.

[Jax08]

Here ya go...$10.99 at amazon. I think the child's play tunnels would be fine for him. A friend of mine has one and Jax was able to go through that without any problem.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Dog Agility Practice Tunnels The only agility tunnels I've ever purchased are from tinkertots.com

I'd make sure to get the tunnels that are 24" wide, that's regulation plus easier for our dogs to go thru (think they have 22" and that's too small). Get the darkest color (blue?) cause the darkness can upset some dogs.

These tunnels can NOT stay outside in bad weather, but they collapse and fit in my closet with no problem.

Tunnel Information Page looks like they no longer make the 24" so I'd get the 28" and NOT the see thru ones!!!

Institutional Play Tunnel - 9' is the one I have (I think). Better to get the 9' also because that way you can later put it into a 'c' shape or 's' shape and around things to make the entrances more challenging for training.

[Jax's Mom]

Would hoola hoops really work? I'd imagine that it would be some coiled structure inside the material to keep it from falling flat. Maybe if the hoola hoops open, you can just attach one of the ends to the other so that they form a coil? Then make a tube out of plastic tarp and attach the whole thing with wire ties?
You might be able to fine some kind of cable that's on a spool at Home Depot that doesn't easily uncoil that could work too.

[MaggieRoseLee]

I personally wouldn't waste any of my time or money trying to come up with something vaguely 'tunnel-like'. Unless you just generally want to have another piece of equipment to socialize your dog (but even then, I choose to use FREE stuff like in kid's playgrounds if I just want them to get used to things like that).

I'd save up and get one from tinkertots. They are less than $100. Long enough and wide enough to duplicate the more expensive 'real' agility tunnels. Also they store easily in a closet in the house.