Dog Agility???..Anyone

[Amanda W]

Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off-leash with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles.[1][2][3][4][5] Consequently the handler's controls are limited to voice, movement, and various body signals, requiring exceptional training of the animal and coordination of the handler.
In its simplest form, an agility course consists of a set of standard obstacles, laid out by an agility judge in a design of his or her own choosing on a roughly 100 by 100-foot (30 by 30 m) area that is made up of grass, dirt floors, or rubber mats, with numbers indicating the order in which the dog must complete the obstacles.
Courses are complicated enough that a dog could not complete them correctly without human direction. In competition, the handler must assess the course, decide on handling strategies, and direct the dog through the course, with precision and speed equally important. Many strategies exist to compensate for the inherent difference in human and dog speeds and the strengths and weaknesses of the various dogs and handlers.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_agility

Anyone eles do this

 

[Baby Bean]

I would love to do this with my staffy as she had a go at a fete thing we were at and loved it! Unfortunately though as she is not good with other dogs she isn't allowed It's a shame as she has so much energy and is so clever! Our garden isn't big enough for any of the equipment to do it at home either.

 

[Yodabo]

I would love to do this with my staffy too but like baby beans dog, she isn't dog friendly I think she would love it! Oh I would love a big house with loads of acres for her!

 

[amyjayne77]

I should really give Roxy (jrt/Parson) a go at this. She is so fast and can jump so high it's hilarious. She loves learning new tricks too

 

[Cazza]

Suprise suprise I do agility!!! Started 20 years ago with my first Dobe!!

I run classes too!!

Love it - it's a great way of keeping you and your dog fit and active and helps wear out busy little brains!!

If you can't get to classes you can start very easily at home with broom handles on bricks or buy cones with poles (about £30 for 6 jumps). Large cardboard boxes make fab tunnels as do linen stands covered in a blanket!!

Garden canes poked in the top of large plant pots makes fab weaving poles too!!

An old towel or blanket is a good pause mat.

Scaffold planks can be low level dog walks or wobble planks with awedge of wood under!!!

Most dogs love it, we have Chihuahua's through to Leonbergers doing it at class!!!

 

[Emily0505]

I LOVE AGILITY!!!

I complete with my WSD Cairo. It was his first season out this year although we started out a bit late and only made it to about 5 shows (can be a bit tricky with my work too) but... In the last show we went to, he got his first rosette...

3rd Place in the Snooker!!

I was sooooooooo proud of him (and me )


I teach classes too and do obedience and have dabbled a bit at HTM but just do that more for fun really.

Great to see other doggy people on here

XX

 

[Amanda W]

I LOVE AGILITY!!!

I complete with my WSD Cairo. It was his first season out this year although we started out a bit late and only made it to about 5 shows (can be a bit tricky with my work too) but... In the last show we went to, he got his first rosette...

3rd Place in the Snooker!!

I was sooooooooo proud of him (and me )


I teach classes too and do obedience and have dabbled a bit at HTM but just do that more for fun really.

Great to see other doggy people on here

XX

I have stopped agility at the moment due to money but i have started something new which is flyball another great idea

 

[Emily0505]

I haven't done any flyball with Cairo but our training classes used to do it years ago. Personally it wasn't for me- I found that once we had taught the dogs how to do it, there wasn't much else for me to do apart from wind the dog up and let him go when it was his turn! It was fun, but I just didn't take to it.

What dog(s) have you got?

XX

 

[sazz]

I really would love to get into agility, my sav is a staffy x shepherd and has had a go before, she loved it but can get so excited she confuses herself. Was also thinking of fly ball as sav is obsessed with tennis balls, she will pass over food for a tennis ball.

 

[mummy2b19]

is there a website with local training on it my sisters collie would love it he currently will jump the horse jumps up to nearly 3 ft and we have a plastic hoop that he jumps through! he is so clever he will even bark without actually making the noise if you tell him to shhh xx

 

[PyscoFalcon]

Sam did it until a few weeks ago.

He's getting a bit old for it now and we need to keep him calm for when baby is here. (It's sooooo easy to wind Dallies up!)

 

[monkeynut]

Just seen this! I compete with my dogs, one a retired grade 6 dog, my grade 5 bitch and a youngster at grade 3 and another youngster (10 months) so not competing yet.

I compete pretty much every weekend in summer!

 

[willowwisp]

We do for fun! We are still in the 'puppy' class so it's 3 weaves, stepping over poles etc to prevent joint wear. We enjoy it so much we brought a set for one of the paddocks and practice a couple of times a week.

 

[TundraOwl]

Will be starting soon my mums partner and his dog used to do it competitively and did really well, him and his Weimaraner Peggy were champions in their class at one point and qualified for crufts, he can't keep up with her now tho bless him, well he is 60, so I'm going to start beginners with my flat coat retriever Bruadar and he's going to come along and teach and get Peg going again, hopefully I'll get good enough to run Peg for him, although Bruadar is pretty nippy so she might do well too, although I have a horrible feeling she has the attention span of a flea! Lol love her to bits tho should be a laugh if nothing else x

 

[Linzie2012]

My BC use to do agility but he got bored with it - you could start to see the frustration coming out. Typical BC always want to do something else.

But my Cockers are daft enough just to keep going around the course