Agility training

Hi Guys,
Has anyone tried agility training? Was thinking bruno might like it. If you have can you let me know how you got on.
cheers x

How old is Bruno? It's normally sugested that a dog be at least 18 months old before starting to train for agility.

Staffs generally do quite well!

Hi, bruno is 12 months old. Thought he may enjoy it. Have ur staffs done any?

Tyson does agility and loves it but they need to be at least 18 months and be able to work off lead (advanced training). We have been doing it for 6 months now.

I bought Bailey an agility set from P@H, got him a hurdle jump, slalom, hoop jump and a 4-way tunnel. Maybe try that? Im going to try him with it just taking it easy and see if he enjoys it before trying him at proper agility! But he's only coming up for 11 months so will take it easy till he's of age to do it!

Hi stu, thank u 4 that. It sounds like a really good plan. How much did it cost for all the stuff?x

I have just been reading about this and doing tricks in the August edition of Your Dog magazine on p.48, you may find it useful.

Is it ok to start agility earlier as long as you keep them onlead? I was going to start taking Buster in the next few weeks as I think he will enjoy it but he is only 10 months. I didnt realise it was advised to wait till 18 months.

Would be a good idea to read uup on some agility techniques so you dont instill any bad habits. Agility is about the dog's abilities as much as the handlers so you need to learn too. Keep the jumps low and dont put any stress on his little joints. Reward with lots of treats and above all, have FUN

Bruno boy wrote:Hi stu, thank u 4 that. It sounds like a really good plan. How much did it cost for all the stuff?x

For the 4 things it was £65, which was saving about £40ish as its all down in price just now The 2 jumps and slalom were £15 each instead of £25 each and the tunnel was £20 down from £35 I'm sure!

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/agility-dog-hurdle-by-pets-at-home-82601
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/four-way-agility-tunnel-by-pets-at-home-82807
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/agility-slalom-by-pets-at-home-82803
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/agility-hoop-jump-by-pets-at-home-82801

I am hoping to try Charlie with Agility when he is older, he has had a couple of fun goes with the weave poles and jumps at our dog training classes and loved them, our trainer put the jumps at floor level so he could walk over them but the little brat did also follow another dog through at a jump

I think it would be a great way for him to have fun but also keeps his training up on his obedience. He can be a naughty little thing at times but he is still only very young really at just 6 months.
I was thinking about having a go at making some bits myself after seeing this site http://www.caninecrib.com/dog/training/agility-course.asp

We do have a problem with the tunnel though, Charlie got halfway through and decided he liked it in there and curled up for a snooze

Hi guys, u can start training agility at 12 months. Just try to avoid any high-impact equipment such as hurdles. You can however start to train them on weave poles, tunnels, see-saws, dog walk etc. and you could always lie the poles of the hurdles on the floor and just teach them to walk over them.

Nosipho wrote:Hi guys, u can start training agility at 12 months. Just try to avoid any high-impact equipment such as hurdles. You can however start to train them on weave poles, tunnels, see-saws, dog walk etc. and you could always lie the poles of the hurdles on the floor and just teach them to walk over them.

Yes, I agree with that. Most of the agility clubs in my area, though, won't even let you do that until the dog is 18 months.

Does anyone have experience with Rally?