# Agility training



## marleysmom (Apr 16, 2008)

Tobi's puppy kindergarten trainer suggested that we take agility instead of basic obedience. He already does most of what they teach them in that class so we can skip it. I was sooo proud! :wub: My question is about his age. Should we wait until he is at least a year? He seems so delicate and don't want to stress him at all. He just reached the 5 lb. mark! Also, what exactly do they do in agility? Is it just the obstacle course? Thank you!


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## lilguyparker (Aug 16, 2007)

Agility is a lot of fun. It makes for great bonding for pup and parent, too. It's also great for obedience training. 

Ideally, the dog should wait until the growth plates have closed before doing competitive agility training. Usually that's around age one or older. However, a lot of dogs start before one to prepare them for competitive agility. They're usually not thrown into it. Depending on where you go for agility, some places will have puppy agility or kindergarten agility or pre-agility. Parker started in pre-agility which was all flatwork and the obstacles were not at full height. So no worries about his joints. There's a sheltie in Parker's class who started agility at 6 months. She was ok because she was not exposed to full height and repetitive jumping. 

Yes, agility is an obstacle course, but it's more to it than your dog running an obstacle course. Personally, I think it's more about you as a handler and the flatwork, and not so much that your dog can conquer a full height obstacle or running really fast. There are others this forum whose pups are in agility. I'm sure they can give more input. But as far as when to start, you can start now with the flatwork and possibly introducing the obstacles in a very modified format. 

Just remember one thing...it should be all about FUN for your dog.


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## PreciousPrince (Feb 27, 2006)

I did do agility with Perri, but his trainer retired from teaching to focus on competition at the beginning of the summer. There's no one else around us, and I'm so sad! It really is a great bonding time. I would guess your trainer uses the clicker (I couldn't imagine learning agility without it) so if you're not familiar with the clicker already, perhaps you could have a lesson that shows you the basics of how it works so you can be practicing with it. It would also be good to start behavior shaping too, you use that a lot in the beginning and Perri didn't get the whole offering behaviors thing which made it a lot slower. She can also show you how to start to practice targeting and give you little training assignments to work on. In other words, I think a private lesson or two with just you and the trainer would be well worth it and Tobi would have a good foundation for when the class starts.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Just be sure the class is geared towards puppies. That means bars are on the ground (or at 4 inches for larger dogs). No full-size A-frame. My Peepers is 8 months old and looooves his agility classes. We don't do full-height jumping or jumping drills until he is an adult. 

I do agility with Peepers and my older boy Soda Pop. They love it!


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