Aspen is 6 months old and has A LOT of energy! He loves to jump and run and is great at following us when we run around and tell him to follow. I want a way to incorporate fun, exercise, and training and think agility might be good for us. Is he too young to start that? Can I do it at home? How do I start? What exactly is agility? He was originally to be bought as a hunting dog as his dad is from a hunting line but we don't hunt. I want him to be able to work though because it is in his blood.
Agility is an obstacle course that the dog runs round in a preset order. The idea is to be accurate and fast (but it doesn’t actually matter at all if you’re inaccurate and slow). The handler has to run too and also remember the course so they can direct the dog over it. The running and memory aspects are what have always put me off Agility as I’m sure I’d forget the course (that and lugging round equipment) - so I do Flyball instead! Dogs do love Agility though! There are quite a few variants...you can do Agility that’s just jumping or just tunnels... At our dog club dogs need to be one year of age to start Agility (or Flyball) but there’s no reason why you couldn’t start with things like weave poles, the table, walking along platforms, the tunnel etc. It’s mainly jumping that’s best avoided. And if you’re doing repetitive activities (especially stuff like the weave poles that involve twisting and turning) I’d keep it slow and not do much in a session. Off lead control is paramount with these sports so that’s another thing you can put time into perfecting. Just find a group on your area and have a chat to them about it
Thanks @Oberon! I had heard of it and had a vague idea of what it is. What is flyball? I just found out that we have a "state of the art" agility center not too far from where I live so I am excited to check it out! Aspen has to go through an obedience class first though!
Sounds like there is a lot of potential to get involved in Agility then! Flyball is a team sport. It involves two teams of 4 dogs each, racing against each other. They go over jumps and retrieve a tennis ball from a spring loaded device. It’s very exciting. Do a bit of googling and you’ll soon find plenty of vids In my avatar my dog Obi is going over a Flyball jump (not very quickly, haha!).
Agility is a lot of fun! I did non-competitive agility with my dog Brogan in the US. In the classes we took, it was just using the equipment in very easy ways, with jumps, A-frames, etc. adapted for the dog's size or disabilities if they had any. For example, as Brogan didn't realise he had back legs and couldn't clear anything over the height of a step, he would do the jumps sized for the chihuahuas in the class. It was pretty funny. So if you could find a class like that to start with, there wouldn't be an issue of age in the sense that Aspen's joints are still too young. Most places do have at the minimum a restriction that the dogs must have basic obedience, which makes sense given that you need to direct your dog through the course and he needs to be well-behaved with the other dogs in class. I never tried flyball but have seen it demo-ed a lot and it's very intense. Usually it's border collies and terrier-types who take part (though great to see Oberon having a go in @Oberon 's avatar!). It always looked to me like it would be really hard on a dog physically as they really whack that end board (or whatever it's called). But I know nothing about it and dogs do seem to love it. In sort of a "this is my doggie crack cocaine" kind of way, but love it nonetheless.
The idea with Flyball is to teach a ‘swimmer’s turn’ on the box, so the dog contacts the box sideways. Whacking the box front on is indeed poor technique The super fast teams are often mostly BCs but any dog can do Flyball...you’ll see all breeds and many crossbreeds at a comp these days Teams are put into Divisions according to speed and so it really doesn’t matter at all how fast or slow your dog is. Obi is not a fast dog in any way but he’s reliable and most importantly he has fun. It’s a sport for any dog, as long as it can haul itself over a 7 inch jump and carry a ball.
My two older dogs (3 yrs) have just started agility. They adore it! SO much fun for us all. We have a private lesson, twice a week. I would enjoy it less in a group environment at this early learning stage. I won't start my puppy until she is 18 months, but I have still started some of the concepts. They need to be able to work on either side of you, so it's important to work on that; W&S struggled with doing anything from my right side because they're so used to being on the left. You need a really solid sit/stay for the start, because it's hugely exciting. My two have a brilliant sit/stay for most stuff, but agility tests it to the limit! You can also work on things like wrapping a post (sending dog away from you to go round a post and come back), in both directions. The most crucial part of agility is your body language, because that tells the dog what to do far more than your voice. I'd love to try flyball, but I don't think anywhere offers it round here.
My puppy is 10 months and we have started to do lots of pre work to do with agility. This wasn’t intentional. We joined a class described as Fun Scentwork but it is so so much more. The two other dogs in the group do the agility course some weeks depending on what we are doing and the trainer tailors what Red and me can do. It was something I knew nothing about but I can see Red is excited by it (and me ) and it’s definitely something I want to pursue. Thank you @snowbunny about the tip of sending out in both directions around a post - Red can go out from the left, round a post then she comes back to me on the right and round the back of me into a automatic sit. I didn’t train the last bit, she just does it . I think @alschwahn younwill find all the training you are doing helpful so that when he is old enough, he will enjoy.
Yes, everything in agility has to be practiced on both sides. This post thing is preparation for when you need to send your dog past a jump, and for her to then turn to wrap the wing and jump towards you.
Ditto all above, it's a lot of fun for most dogs. You CAN start at 8 weeks old by getting puppy used to different surfaces, low heights and basic obedience. However I strongly suggest you do NOT do this or any agility without some lessons first. A good teacher will help you introduce puppy and learn the best ways without risk of injury to pup.
In our agility school, pups under the age of 1 are not allowed to do it as it can be too strenuous on their bodies. Obedience is really good to do prior to agility due to the sit and stay as well as following commands. We only do it for fun and absolutely love it. I've been looking into flyball recently too!
You could look at Hoopers. There's no jumping and you can take it at a slow pace, so should be suitable for a puppy. http://www.outintheopen.co.uk/OutintheOpen/NADAC_Hoopers.html
