Roger has been swamped with work and has not been able to work on agility stuff for us lately. I am trying to encourage him to do a dogwalk or an a-frame next.

I think he is considering the dogwalk closely but is having trouble coming up with a design that would eliminate any gaps in the areas where the boards would meet. I have insisted that there be no gaps, because my dogs manage to find any flaw and stick their toes into it. Then we have a Sports Injury and must go to the Veterinarian for an Examination and Medication. Then, the worst part, the Injured Party must *Rest* for at least a week. Needless to say, this resting stuff does not go over well with my border collies.

This same issue with gaps will also come up with the a-frame, at the top where the boards meet. I was thinking that there could be little pieces that you set into place in these gap areas when the obstacle is set up, and then you could remove these when you go to take it down to move it or whatever. But how to secure them?? Perhaps a little T shape, and the top of the T has paint or nonskid stuff on it like the rest of the walking surface. They might be something you have to secure with a screw and bolt on the other side.  If anyone has any ideas for this, please share them here. The obstacle needs to be safe, with no gaps for dog toes to get stuck. The nature of the PVC pipes and boards is such that the boards will not meet up exactly and touch each other, and that is the main problem here.

Meanwhile, I will try to bribe Roger with chocolate to get him working on more obstacles for us.

Affordable Agility (affordableagility.com) has tunnels, barrels, and chutes. Their competition-quality items are the cheapest I have found on the internet. They also have “practice” versions, which are not as sturdy.  I believe they sell the chutes and the barrels as separate items, so be sure you are ordering all the pieces that you need. Practice tunnel ($55-160), Competition tunnel ($150-$245), Practice chute/barrel combo ($95), Competition chute only (+/-$100), Competition “budget” barrel only ($45).

Clean Run: (these are “practice” quality) Pac-n-Go Tunnel ($90), Pac-n-Go Chute ($85), Pac-n-Go set ($230). If you have the book from Clean Run about building agility stuff, they have instructions in there for sewing your own chute–then you’d only have to buy or build a barrel.

I ordered the Pac-n-Go set from Clean Run (cleanrun.com) that included two tunnels and a chute/barrel combination. The price was decent, and the quality is good. I am very happy with those.  I never leave these “practice” items outside when I am not using them.

For training the tunnel, one person holds the leash and the other one goes to the other end of the tunnel and demonstrates they have food, toys, or a game waiting. Very simple. With the chute, you will want to fold the chute part back on itself until you have only a little bit hanging down for the dog to go through. Then you extend this a little bit every time. If you have help, you can have the dog go through the entire thing, but have someone hold it open at the end.  Then after they have the hang of it, you can let them drop the end as the dog is about a foot from the end. Then you can do it as they are 2 feet from the end, etc.

These things are quite hilarious to try to teach if you are all alone, as I am. Roger is the builder in the family and definitely NOT a dog trainer. For the tunnel, it was very easy. I threw a ball or a squeaky toy through to the other side and presto! Doggie goes through. For Kipp, I got him to go through one time and now he is a tunnel freak. If there is a tunnel in the yard, Kipp goes through it over and over and over.

For the chute, if you are all alone, you need a very cooperative dog if you do not want to roll the thing up and do it gradually. I stood at the collapsed end and sent Kipp to the barrel part and then called him to me. Kipp turned himself into a sausage encased in chute the first time, but he did manage to come out the right end. Kipp is not so good at continuing in the same direction if he cannot see, kind of like me when I am swimming with my eyes closed. After doing this a couple times, it dawned on me that since I could send him around to the barrel part, I could hold up the chute part for him to see his way through a couple times and then drop it when he got near the end. That worked perfectly. If I am running beside him, I just call “Chute! Chute! Chute!” as he is going through so he can follow my voice and not get turned around. With more practice he probably won’t need the help. If he does still need the help, who cares? We just do this in the backyard… If you are taking class, probably they have a better way.

For Tess and the chute, I had already practiced with Kipp so she got the benefit of being sent to the barrel and being able to see her way through once, then I dropped the end a few times when she was almost out, and then I had her go through on her own and she did great. Now she is a master.

These obstacles, once learned, will probably turn out to be your dog’s favorites. There are no contacts and no possible way to do them wrong–they just go through and that’s it! Piece of cake!

The broad jump will give your dog an opportunity to jump a distance horizontally rather than the vertical challenge offered by normal hurdles, as Kipp shows us above. We’ve created a jump with lower boards at either end with a raised center (this allows us to run the dogs in either direction over the jump), but you can put it together so it is approached from one side, with ascending boards the entire way; you can also space the boards differently (see design notes at end of article). Assembling a jump like we’ve built here will take three to four hours and will cost about $50.

Tools

You will need a PVC pipe cutter, a sharpie, a measuring tape and a short length of 4 x 4 or another solid block with a square edge for aligning perpendicular joints.

Materials

Below are the pre-cut pieces and connectors (all for 1″ pipe), ready to be assembled. The straight pieces of pipe are about 24 feet in total length, which means you’ll need three 10-foot pieces of pipe to construct one broad jump. In addition to the pipe and connectors, you will need to buy one 16′ vinyl ranch fence rail.

1 16′ vinyl rance fence 6″ rail, cut into four 4′ pieces (1)
2 90-degree slip connectors (20)
3 1-¾” pipe stubs (22)
4 slip end caps (4)
5 “T” slip connectors (16)
6 5″ pipe sections (16)
7 4″ pipe sections (12)
8 30″ pipe poles (5)

Note on the fence rail: The trim aisle at Home Depot has a hand saw for cutting long pieces of trim to length; you will probably want to use this facility to cut the fence rail in half to get it home, as 16′ is pretty hard to handle. When you get the two eight foot pieces home, cut them in half; it’s more important to get all four pieces the same length than it is to have them be precisely four feet long. If your cut at Home Depot didn’t exactly split your rail, you should cut the shorter piece in half at home, and then cut two pieces from the remaining board to match. Bringing a tape measure and a marker to the store will help you cut the rail exactly in half, saving a step.

Assembly

Please see the tips page for general hints on cutting and assembling PVC pipe. Look for the red glue symbols in the photos to show the freshly glued joints in each step.

On this particular obstacle, you’re going to end up doing the same step as many as 16 times, so it’s a nice zen activity!

Start by gluing a 7 4″ pipe section to the center connector of a 5 “T” connector.

Do that seven more times, for a total of eight (8) identical assemblies, as shown above. These are the risers for the two high boards in the center of the jump.

Next, glue one of the 3 stubs to the center connector of a 5 “T” connector.

Do that seven more times, for a total of eight (8) identical assemblies, as shown above. These are the risers for the low boards at either end of the jump. (Do you detect a pattern here?)

In the next step, we’re going to glue a 90-degree connector to every one of those subassemblies from the prior steps. Above is how we’re going to keep the connectors aligned properly. By holding the “T” flat on our work surface, we’ll twist the 90-degree connector on and hold it flat against a scrap of 4×4 (you can use anything you want as long at it is perpendicular to your work surface).

Here we’ve taken a 2 90-degree connector and have glued it to one of the short risers we created in a previous step.

And here are all 16 sub-assemblies, glued and ready to go. Zen, I tell you, zen. Just don’t zone out too much!

Next, take your four remaining 7 4″ pipe sections and glue them to the four remaining 2 90-degree connectors. These will hold the guide poles.

Now we’re ready to assemble the side rails. Shown above are the components for one of them. We will be using two of the guide pole bases we just assembled, as well as four each of the short and tall risers, arranged short-short-tall-tall-tall-tall-short-short. To join the risers to each other we will use seven 3 pipe stubs. It’s important that this entire rail’s components are coplanar, but it’s not difficult to assemble them as such. Start at one end and work your way down, pushing each new piece flat to the work surface.

Here I’ve started to assemble a rail. I found it easier to glue the stub to the next riser in line and then glue that to the existing rail.

Here’s one rail which has been glued up. Note the double glue symbols, each of which indicates a pipe stub with a glued joint to each riser.

Before setting this rail aside to dry while assembling the other one, take eight of your 6 5″ pipe sections and glue them to the rail as shown. These are the pieces that will slip inside of your boards.

Never before has “repeat for the other side” covered more ground, but, well, use your remaining 3 stubs, riser assemblies and 6 5″ pipes to create a mirror of the rail you just assembled. Our board sequence is symmetrical, so as long as you do exactly what you did the first time, you’ll be fine.

Note: If you are making an asymmetrical jump (for example, all of your boards go up like a staircase from low to high) it is critical that you glue your risers into the new rail so they mirror the risers in the rail you’ve already assembled. If you started with low on the left on the first rail, you will need to start with low on the right on the second rail. Be very careful about this–dry-assemble the second rail and hold it up to the first as they will be used together if you have any doubts at all.

Now comes the fun part. Take one of your boards and slip it over the first two pipes on one of your rails. This is a tight sliding fit and doesn’t require any glue (which will also allow you to take it apart in the future, if you want or need to). Starting the board at an angle to go over first one pipe and then the other may make things easier. Note, if your pipes seem to interfere with the ribs inside the board, just gently spread them a bit, they may just be slightly crooked but will not interfere once they’ve started.

Push the board fully home.

Repeat for the three remaining boards. If your rails came with mounting tabs, a couple of your boards may still have them, as seen on the furthest right board here. Make sure they face down for best appearances.

Lay the rail with four boards so the rail faces down. We will now insert the other rail into the boards. This will require some patience, as there are eight pipes to fit into a fairly tight space. Start with one end with the second rail at an angle to the jump assembly. Put the first pipe a fair ways into the first board, then start bringing the rail towards the jump assembly, starting each pipe as you go. Towards the third or fourth board, you’ll need to keep watch that you don’t undo your previous work as you try to get each subsequent pipe started as the angle begins to get quite shallow.

Patience is the key, they will all eventually start! Once they do, stand the jump up on the first rail and press them together so that all boards are fully seated on both rails. Shown above are both rails fully inserted into all four boards. All of the hard work is done!

Glue the 4 end caps to the 8 guide poles…

…and then glue the guide pole assemblies to the jump, and you’re done!

And there’s our finished broad jump!

Alternative Designs

There are a lot of ways to customize this jump to your own purposes:

• You can vary the length of the pipe between the pairs of risers to space the boards further apart
• You can alter the heights of the risers for shorter or taller boards (see note below), or to have the front edge of the board lower than the rear edge.
• You can use a stair-step arrangement, from low to high (which is how I believe most “professional” broad jumps are arranged)
• You could use pairs of pipes four feet long between the risers instead of vinyl fence boards. You will probably need to wrap each pair in a material to mimic a board, though.
• It may be possible to use only a single riser per board, designed to slip into the center opening of the board. This would allow you to swivel the board slightly to have a lower leading edge, and of course would just about halve the connectors needed, cut the pipe down by about a quarter, and cut the cost by perhaps 30%. However, it will not be as sturdy, and I cannot guarantee the boards will stay put despite the tight friction fit. Let me know if you try it!

Note on board height: The lowest board on our jump still has a leading edge top height that is higher (3.5″) than many official dimensions allow. This is because off-the-shelf PVC connectors don’t allow for a lower board in this design without modification. You can modify regular PVC connectors and still use this design and get the lowest board to be just a smidge over 2″ high: Cut one leg of a 90-degree connector flush with the bottom of the other leg, and cut a center “T” connector fitting off to be flush with the rest of the connector. Join these to each other with a very small pipe-stub, probably no more than half an inch long. This won’t be the strongest joint in the world but there’s not much stress on this in any case.

Weave poles are great fun for your dog (as Tess demonstrates), but they do take a bit of training. These adjustable poles make that training easy–start with them open, allowing your dog to run down the center “channel,” and slowly narrow that over time until your dog is weaving through the poles. We are going to make a set of six poles; this will take about three to four hours and will cost about $28 for materials.

It pays to be accurate when cutting and gluing, ensuring each pipe is seated fully in its connector, and that perpendicular joints are as true as you can make them.

Tools

You will need a PVC pipe cutter, a sharpie, a measuring tape and a short length of 4 x 4 or another solid block with a square edge for aligning perpendicular joints.

Materials

Below are the pre-cut pieces and connectors (all for 1″ pipe), ready to be assembled. The straight pieces of pipe are about 29 feet in total length, which means you’ll need three 10-foot pieces of pipe to construct one set of six weave poles.

1 “T” slip connectors (10)
2 slip end caps (12)
3 90-degree slip connectors (14)
4 1-¾” pipe stubs (6)
5 4″ pipe sections (18)
6 30″ pipe poles (6)
7 18″ pipe dividers (5)

Note, this project is a good one to have a few spare connectors and lengths of 4″ pipe at the ready; I wasn’t satisfied with a couple of my sub-assemblies and opted for a do-over!

Assembly

Please see the tips page for general hints on cutting and assembling PVC pipe. Look for the red glue symbols in the photos to show the freshly glued joints in each step.

In the photos below, there are a few steps where I illustrate one of a particular sub-assembly, while you will actually need to build several. I will note these instances in the text.

Let’s start with the base.

Start by gluing six end caps 2 to six sections 5.

Next, glue six “T” connectors 1 to the six sub-assemblies from the previous step.

Glue six more sections 5 to the other side of the “T” from the previous step. It is important that these pieces are all firmly seated in the connector.

Glue the six stubs 4 into the “T” connectors in the sub-assembly from the previous step.

This is how we’re going to ensure that the next connector goes on perpendicular to the sub-assembly. After gluing the “T” on in roughly the right orientation, we are going to quickly place the assembly on our work surface and press firmly against the two “T” connectors, so that the new connector is flat on the board and the “T” in the center is firmly against the scrap of 4 x 4.

Orient the scrap (or whatever you’re using) to make the job go smoothly. If your pipe is a very tight fit in the connector, be ready to press firmly to get both “T” connectors flat against the work surface and scrap. It is important that the pipe is fully seated in the new “T”, as well.

You will be making four of the above, using the remaining “T” connectors 1. In addition, you will make two more in the same fashion, using 90-degree connectors 3 in place of the “T” connectors (see photo below).

Here are all of the sub-assemblies we made in the previous step. Note the orientation of the 90-degree connectors on the two sub-assemblies–they must be orientated as shown.

Now the fun part! Using the five dividers 7, glue the subassemblies you’ve accumulated into one long base. Start with one of the 90-degree assemblies and work down as shown above. It is important that each new sub-assembly added is coplanar with the previous ones. This is easy with the first two or three, but becomes more awkward towards the end of the process–the base will be about nine feet long when you’re done, so be sure you have enough flat workspace to keep everything aligned.

I’ve shown two glue joints above, but you will want to glue them one at a time.

This is what you’ll have when you’re done. Note, I did not glue this up on the ground–it was easier to photograph there.

Our base is done, let’s move on to the poles.

For each pole, take two 90-degree connectors 3 and glue them to a section 5 as shown. It is important that the section is fully seated and that the two connectors are coplanar. Glue the joints one at a time.

Make six of these assemblies, as shown above.

Glue six end caps 2 to the poles 6.

Finally, glue the poles into the pole base assemblies as shown. You’re done!

Place the base on the lawn where you will be using it, and slip the poles on. It’s best to wiggle the poles a bit while slipping them on, and hold them by their bases while doing so.

Here the poles are set to their fully open position…

…and here the poles are fully closed.

Note: For settings between fully open and fully closed, always rotate the poles in the same direction to maintain their spacing.

Kipp concentrates as he makes his way through nearly-closed poles.

Alternative Designs

Instead of the 90-degree connectors at the two ends, you can use “T” connectors and leave their ends open. This would allow you to use a spare 18″ pipe section to temporarily join two sets of poles together to make one larger set.

Six poles is about the longest section that can be easily moved around. If you want, say, eight poles, I would recommend making two four-pole assemblies.

The spacing between poles here is 20″, which is a standard measurement. You can change any of the measurements, but I’d be careful with varying this spacing.

You will want to take a few weeks to do close them down, practicing a bit each day. Start with six poles and then add two poles as your dog has mastered each set. Go from 6 to 8 to 10, etc.

If you find your dog stopping before the last pole to look back at you or to run to the next obstacle, try throwing a toy or a treat past the last pole on the side they should come out on–they will be focused on that and go all the way through.

If your dog makes a mistake or misses a pole, this just means you went a bit too fast. You can go back and make it easier by opening the weaves up a bit again, then try again to close them some.

This ladder is useful for teaching your dog to mind their back feet–and is a fun obstacle in-and-of-itself. You can build it with or without side rails (which are helpful if your dog is what is technically known as a “cheater pants”). With side rails as shown, the ladder will take about three to four hours to build and cost about $30 for the materials.

This is a fairly large piece and there are points late in the assembly process where having a helper would be useful. That said, I assembled this alone and didn’t experience any difficulties. (Excuse some of the photos, dusk was falling fast and it looks like I assembled this in the middle of the night!)

We will be building the ladder in two halves and then joining them together near the end of the assembly process.

Tools

You will need a PVC pipe cutter, a sharpie, a measuring tape and something that enables you to determine whether a couple of your glue joints are perpendicular to the main assembly. I used a combination square, but you could use anything that will leave your hands free and which stands straight; a scrap of 2 x 4 or 4 x 4 lumber a foot or so long resting on the “factory cut” end is close enough for this work.

Materials

Below are the pre-cut pieces, ready to be assembled. The straight pieces of 1″ pipe are just barely over 40 feet in total length, which means you’ll need five 10-foot pieces of pipe to construct one ladder. If you carefully adjust dimensions, you may be able to squeeze all of the parts out of four pieces, but you won’t have any room for error!

1 90-degree slip connectors (4)
2 “T” slip connectors (22)
3 slip end caps (6)
4 “X” slip connectors (2)
5 1-¾” pipe stubs (10)
6 16″ pipe rungs (8)
7 9″ pipe sides (12)
8 3-³/₁₆” pipe sides (4)
9 10″ pipe uprights (6)
10 38-³/₈” pipe rails (4)

Notes:

• If you like making your obstacles “pretty,” as I do, you will be driven to contemplate grave acts if every one of these pieces has a price sticker on it (as opposed to nothing or a printed bar code). Buy the “T” connectors in “contractor packs” if you can possibly do so.
• I have two different kinds of end caps in the photo (different stores) and this isn’t recommended as they differ in height, which could make for a wobbly ladder on a very firm surface. For our rough lawn it’s OK.
• The length of the upper rails is slightly problematic. In theory it should be calculable, which is what I did, but I think my rails are still slightly short. The length seems like it should be:
  • ( short rail ) + ( 3 long rails ) + ( 4 “T” connector non-glue spaces ) + ( 2 “T” glue spaces )
  • ( 3-³/₁₆” ) + ( 9″ * 3 ) + ( 1-³/₈” * 4 ) + ( 2 * 1″ ) = 37-¹¹/₁₆“

  However, that proved to be too short, and even my revised measurement in the parts list may be a bit shy. Our ladder still looks good and works well, but if you want rigorous results and exact rail lengths, don’t cut your upper rails until you’ve assembled the side rail sub-assemblies, and use the exact length of those.

Assembly

Please see the tips page for general hints on cutting and assembling PVC pipe. Look for the red glue symbols in the photos to show the freshly glued joints in each step.

In the photos below, there are a few steps where I illustrate one of a particular sub-assembly, while you will actually need to build several. I will note these instances in the text.

Let’s start by assembling the four ladder sides. Shown above are the pieces needed to do one side: four 2 “T” connectors, 3 7 sides, 1 5 stub, and 1 8 side.

As you work your way up each side, be sure that your “T” connectors are all coplanar.

Shown above are the glued joints in a complete side rail, but you should glue each joint one at a time.

All four sides are assembled and ready for the next step, gluing the rungs.

Take four 6 rungs and glue them to one of your ladder side sub-assemblies. Glue the rungs one at a time, no need to make life difficult at this point. Repeat this procedure with the four remaining rungs and another of your ladder-side sub-assemblies, so that you end up with two side assemblies with rungs and two without.

Now things start to get a bit tricky, but you’ll do fine. We need to glue all four rungs to a remaining ladder side sub-assembly in one step. I applied glue to the four sockets first, then applied glue to the four rungs– doing all eight swipes of the glue brush in two quick dips from the glue can. Once glue has been applied to all of the rungs and sockets, immediately join them together. Start each stub into its matching connector and once they are all started, push the sub-assemblies firmly together by gently leaning on it to insure every rung has seated fully.

You have to complete this step reasonably quickly once you’ve started to apply glue, but there is no need to panic. Be ready to put your glue brush down and start pressing the two pieces together without pausing. You’ll undoubtedly have a lot of dribble clean-up to do with four joints, so have your paper towel handy once it’s all pressed together.

Important: Be sure to glue the ladder together so that the sides mirror each other, as shown! “Bummer” would not be a strong enough word to describe what the situation will be if you don’t.

Here I’ve glued both ladder halves up and have set them aside. Let’s move on to the center uprights for the rails.

These are the pieces needed to make each center upright: 1 4 “X” connector, 1 5 stub, 1 2 “T” connector, 1 3 end cap and 1 9 upright.

Start by gluing the stub and the upright into opposite sides of the “X” connector, one at a time.

Next, glue the “T” connector to the other end of the upright, ensuring that it is coplanar with the “X” connector. Finally, add the end cap to the stub. Now make another–you’ll need two total. When done, set them aside and build the end uprights.

You will need 1 1 90-degree connector, 1 9 upright, 1 2 “T” connector, 1 5 stub and 1 3 end cap to build each end upright.

There are two glue joints illustrated on the cap end because you need to glue the stub into the “T” before gluing the cap onto the stub, as we saw in the center upright assembly. It’s important that the 90-degree connector and the “T” are coplanar and that they face in the same direction! You will need to build four of these uprights.

Here are all six uprights, ready to be attached to the ladders and rails.

Now the exciting part begins! Take one of your end uprights and lay it on your work surface, which should be flat–level helps too, but flat is important. We are going to glue the stub end of one of the ladder halves to an end support, using the combination square to ensure the ladder is perpendicular to the upright. Apply glue to the socket on the upright and the stub on the ladder half, and press them together with the upright flat as shown and the square as close to the first rung as possible. Gently adjust the ladder to perpendicular by eyeballing the gap between the first rung and the square so it is even over the entire distance.

Do a dry run first–this will help you get the square into the best possible position and will ensure a successful mating of these two pieces. This is probably the trickiest part of assembling this obstacle, and it’s not that hard, it just requires a bit of care. Once you have it glued, take a short break to allow it to set.

Glue 1 10 rail to the subassembly from the previous step. (On these joints that are glued “on the board” it helps clean-up to have your paper towel under the joint before pressing the pieces together.)

Moving to the other end of the sub-assembly from the previous step, glue a center upright to the rail and ladder half. Be sure the end upright on the opposite side of the sub-assembly is sitting flat on the work surface. There are only two glue joints here, a piece of cake compared to the four you glued to get the ladder halves together!

Take careful note of what is happening here. We’re about to glue the other end upright to our growing assembly, and to facilitate that we’ve slipped on but not glued the other center upright. This will allow us, because the ladder is sitting on its feet, to use our square again to ensure that this end upright is perpendicular to the ladder. Glue the end upright to the stub on the ladder, ensuring that the upright is parallel to the square by making the gap between the square and upright even as you push the pieces together. Let these pieces set for a few minutes once glued.

Night was falling fast at this point, so this photo shows two easy steps. First, glue 1 10 rail into the end upright we just attached to the ladder. Next, glue the remaining center upright to the ladder assembly. As with the previous center upright glue-up, you’ll be gluing two joints at the same time.

This is only a couple of minutes later than the previous photo–however, a flash was now mandatory as the light was fading. It looks like midnight!

In any case, tip the ladder assembly from the previous step up so that it rests on its end supports, with the center uprights uppermost. Take the remaining ladder sub-assembly and glue it to the main assembly. Again, there are two joints to glue at once here. Press the ladder firmly together.

Important: Glue the longer rail end, not the stub end, of the ladder section into the center upright!

Take the two remaining 10 rails and glue them to the center uprights.

Finally (and for some reason I don’t have a photo of this–some creature of the night stole my camera, perhaps), take the two remaining end uprights and glue them to the ladder assembly, one at a time, two glue joints each. I did this while the ladder was still upright, but the whole thing is a little over seven feet tall at that point (I’m fairly tall so it was comfortable for me to fiddle around up there). You could easily tip it back down and glue the uprights on at a more comfortable height, which would also allow you to double check that they’re perpendicular using your square, though the rails you’re gluing them too should be a good enough guide.

And there’s the finished ladder, being enjoyed by Tess!

Alternative Designs

• This ladder can be built without the rails. Simply substitute a “T” connector for the “X” in the center rung and use 90-degree connectors on the ends, eliminating all of the uprights and rails.
• By not gluing the upright pipe segments 9 into the lower connectors in each upright would allow the rails to be removed as desired.
• Some versions I’ve seen eliminate feet entirely, resting the ladder directly on the ground. Building a ladder without feet would be fairly straightforward; however, build it one rung at a time in one large assembly (as opposed to assembling the side rails first)–otherwise you will be faced with having to simultaneously glue a bunch of rungs at once (imagine eight simultaneous glue joins, urk).
• I have seen a version with only one side rail, presumably the trainer is walking alongside the dog on the open side.
• You can make the ladder longer or shorter. If you shorten it down to six or fewer rungs you can probably eliminate the center support, which is there to prevent the rails from sagging (which is purely an aesthetic thing). I suspect the ladder we just built is about as long as is practical to easily move around (it’s not heavy, but would be awkward if it were longer). If you want a longer ladder, consider building two ladders and setting them end-to end.
• You can adjust the rung width or rung spacing, of course.

We put on side rails so I can use it as an obstacle even after they pay more attention to where their back feet are. My dogs are more likely to leap over it than go through it without the rails, especially if I send them from a distance.

This is the most basic of agility obstacles. It’s easy to make, will only take you about an hour and will cost about $12 in materials. You will need two adjustable jump cups in addition to the materials listed below for every jump bar on your hurdle.

Tools

You will need a PVC cutting tool, measuring tape, and a Sharpie or similar marking tool. In addition, you will need paper towels for cleaning glue joints.

Materials

Below are the pre-cut pieces, ready to be assembled. The straight pieces of 1″ pipe are less than 14 feet in total length, which means you’ll need two 10 foot pieces of pipe to construct one jump, or three pieces to construct two jumps (in which case you need to double the connectors shown below). In addition, you will need a 4′ section of ¾” pipe for every jump bar.

The parts you’ll need (all 1″ diameter pipe and appropriate connectors except as noted):

1 slip end caps (6)
2 slip “T” connectors (4)
3 12″ pipe feet (4)
4 30″ pipe uprights (2)
5 1¾” pipe stubs to join “T” connectors (2)
6 50″ pipe lower cross bar (1)
7 48″ pipe jump bar, ¾” diameter (1)

Note: You can have as many jump bars as you like, of course, just clip them on.

Assembly

Please see the tips page for general hints on cutting and assembling PVC pipe. Look for the red glue symbols in the photos to show the freshly glued joints in each step.

Start by gluing four end caps 1 to the four feet 3.

Glue the feet into two of the “T” connectors 2.

Glue the stubs 5 into the foot assemblies.

Set aside the feet and glue the two remaining “T” connectors 2 to the 50″ cross bar 6. It is important that these two connectors be coplanar. Glue one first and let it set, then glue the other in place ensuring that both connectors are flat on your work surface as shown.

Glue one foot to the cross-bar. You can eyeball this pretty easily, let the corners of your work surface guide you as you twist the foot into place.

Repeat the process for the other foot.

Glue the two remaining end caps 1 to the two uprights 4.

Finally, glue the uprights into the base assembly. Assuming you’ve made your adjustable jump cups, you’re done!

You can see that the jump cups just clip right onto the upright.

The finished jump. I used an old cross bar salvaged from a previous adventure which was stored in such a way that it has a slight warp to it, in case you notice a bend in it. Use colored electrical tape to provide contrasting stripes on the jump bar to help your dog see it; this bar would benefit from another stripe in the center. You can also use the tape on your uprights to help them stand out.

Alternative Designs

You can make the jump bar height permanent by cutting the uprights and inserting modified “T” connectors to hold the jump bar, as described in the “jump cup” post. You can leave pieces unglued to aid storage, though I would always glue the “T” connectors to the cross bar, that is where most of the strength of this obstacle resides.

You could use your Sharpie to add reference marks to the uprights for easily setting the jump bar at particular height(s).

To make a jump with more than one jump bar, just add a couple of clips and another bar.

Here are tips from Tess & Kipp:

Adjustable cups for holding cross-bars make constructing standard jumping obstacles a piece of cake. The secret to our cups is to raid the do-it-yourself irrigation section at Home Depot. Each cup will take just a few minutes to make and cost about $1.

The clip-on part of the cup is sold as a “1-inch Snap On Saddle” for irrigation systems and can be found (usually) sharing the same aisle as the pipe fittings. Making cups this way means that your cross-pieces need to be ¾” pipe (ideally). The smaller pipe for the cross pieces will be easier on your dog’s paws if they do strike the bar, too.

Tools

You will need your PVC cutter, a marker and a measuring tape or ruler.

Materials

Each cup will require one saddle piece and one 2″ section of 1″ diameter PVC pipe. You need two cups to hold up one bar.

Assembly

Important Safety Note: When you use the PVC cutter to make the lengthwise cuts in the PVC pipe, you are using it in a way it was not designed for. It’s pretty safe but take your time and be very aware of where your fingers are when you’re making the lengthwise cuts. The cutter cuts as slowly as you squeeze, but it is sharp, so be careful!

Here are the (uncleaned) pieces you need to make one cup. On the left is the “Snap Saddle” as can be seen from its label, and on the right is a two inch section of 1″ diameter PVC pipe. Make a pen mark ¾” from the end of the pipe; this will guide you when making the cut partially through the pipe.

Using the mark you made, cut a little more than halfway through the pipe, as illustrated above. Certain professional organizations have precise measurements for the depth of the cup, but “a bit more than halfway” is fine for casual agility.

To remove the partially cut pipe from the cutter, open the jaws and use a rotating motion parallel to the blade .

This is what your pipe will look like when you remove it from the cutter.

I have made a mark on the pipe to guide me as I place the blade to make the long cut. I eyeballed it by looking at the cutter from above to ensure the mark was under the blade, but you could be more precise by extended the mark out to the end of the pipe.

As mentioned in the safety note above, I’m using the cutter for a purpose other than which it was designed. I have a firm grip on the pipe, my fingers are out of the way, and when I squeeze the cutter I am doing so very slowly.

Starting the cut is the only tricky part; the pipe will want to push away from the blade. Use your hand to hold the pipe firmly in place as you start the cut (see above illustration). Once it is started, the cutter will pretty much finish the cut itself, though keeping a bit of pressure on the pipe will make it easier. As you approach your previous cut, proceed very slowly for best results.

You cutter will probably not open wide enough in any case, but don’t be tempted to try both cuts at once. Do one side at a time, slowly and with awareness at all times of where your hand is in relation to the blade.

Here the cut is almost complete. You may wish to open the cutter and adjust the pipe so the blade is closer to perpendicular to the pipe for a neater finish.

The cut is complete. Repeat the process for the other side.

Both cuts are complete. The piece is almost done!

Dry fitted together, all this needs to be complete is some glue (see the top image of this post for a pair of completed cups). Note that this join is a pretty tight fit, so you will probably not be able to smoothly twist it into place. Use enough glue and press it firmly home using pressure on the inside of the saddle and the remaining “entire circle” section of the pipe. The cups will work fine even if they are a few degrees out of “perfect” when the glue sets.

Alternative Designs

You can make permanent jump cups out of “T” connectors. You do so by using a saw to mimic the cuts we made here on the “90 degree” side of the “T”. Cups made this way will use 1″ cross bars, assuming you use 1″ “T” connectors on 1″ uprights.

I’ve seen (on eBay) at least one enterprising person making clip-on cups out of “T” connectors by cutting them down, cutting out enough of the back side to allow them to slip over a section of pipe, and making the cup part. These are undoubtedly handsome, but would be a lot of work for the casual home enthusiast to construct.