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Comment by Brittany and ruger on April 4, 2011 at 2:46pm

well if i dont antend a agility training class i well be finishing my training school with in a year because i am becoming a dog trainer and in my school it includes agility trainingsoifi dont attend a class in a year orlease i will be a trainer and trainedtodo it withhim but i willcheckinto someclasses but for now i want to just work onsimple commands

Comment by Melissa and Franklin! on April 4, 2011 at 1:13pm

Franklin and I did agility for about 6 months until he broke his foot the first time. Things to help you prepare, as you said he can't compete until he is a year old and in many cases the trainers won't even accept a dog under one year into training. However, if you are able to have all your obedience training down before you go to agility they  may let you into classes early. I did all of Franklin's obedience training myself and had him at a pretty advanced level (i.e. able to have him sit and stay from a full run while I continued to run and distance training). Since he was trained so well they allowed me to go to an evaluation and they allowed him in the classes at 8  months. Many times it will be 2+ months or more of classes before you are ready to compete so starting early shouldn't be a problem. If you are serious about competing, I wouldn't recommend buying a bunch of equipment and trying to do it yourself. There are a lot of rules and regulations and its best to learn from somebody who knows all the little ins and outs. It is much easier to teach a new behavior than it is to unteach a wrong one. This goes down to tiny details like how they lay down or how you guide them to an obstacle. To get him ready, and over the next few months just work on a lot of obedience, a lot of focus, take him to new places like playgrounds and get him used to going on weird surfaces and equipment, also work on heel. Heel in circles, sit/stay, heel at walk/jog/run etc. Teach him "target" and "watch me". Um, that's all I can remember now! :-)

Comment by Jane on April 4, 2011 at 12:09pm

I did a beginner agility class with Henry last summer and plan to do it again with both dogs this summer. It is definitely fun! If you're thinking of doing competitive agility I would wait until you can attend a class with an instructor to do any serious training. A lot of trainers have certain ways of teaching things and it can be hard to "undo" previous training. There is also the risk of injury on some of the obstacles if not done correctly.

 

May I ask where you saw a starter kit for $30-50? I looked into buying some equipment a while back and it looked like a lot of the obstacles ran $100+ each or more.

Comment by Comanche Flame on April 4, 2011 at 11:05am

What a fun thing you have chosen to do. How lucky your little one is to have you as a mom. I did all my training my self, but I did not do anything but basic commands, and social skills.