I’ve made my rats an A-frame! If you’re not familiar with dog sports, an A-frame is a type of obstacle that is commonly used in dog agility competitions. The dog has to run up one side of the obstacle and then down the other side.
The yellow portion is called a “contact.” When going up and when coming down, the dog must touch the yellow portion of the A-frame. This is so the dog actually runs up and down the obstacle, rather than jumping on or jumping off.
If you’re not familiar with dog agility, check out this video of trainer Susan Garrett and her dog Feature at an international competition in 2012. You’ll see an A-frame and you’ll also see what a typical agility course looks like. Agility is a very fast paced sport and the dogs must be very athletic and well trained to compete at the top levels.
Now, my four rats are just as smart as any dog, so I think they will excel at the sport of agility! I plan to start introducing the rats to the A-frame and also to make them some other rat agility obstacles.
I’m not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but the rat A-frame I built has a hinge on the top, so that it can be opened to different angles. The base it is sitting on will hold it at either a more steep angle or at a more shallow angle. I plan to use the more shallow angle, which makes it not quite as tall, at the beginning of training. It is set to the steep angle in the top photo and it is set to the wider angle in the photo below.
I’ll post more photos and video after I start introducing the rats to the A-frame.
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