Collect Questions

here in the UK? or should I just contact apdt to get information?

Just wondering how you go about getting involved in agility.

Thanks




A couple of links coming via PM for you MC




Thanks Mini for the links, looking forward to getting Fern started




There are usually age restrictions MC. Your puppy should not be doing any sort of high impact exercises until his joints and bones are less vulnerable. I haven't checked out the links, but if anyone says we teach full agility no matter age or breed - then steer clear.




Yep was gonna put the same thing SB

I might think about agility for Archie when he's a bit older like 2 years or something...

BUT remember you need a really high level of obedience on and offlead and obv. he needs to be good with other dogs

Other dogs are a huge distraction and only very recently have I managed to get Mr. Norty Teenager to do a sit-stay with other dogs playing in his field of vision

Also if you're really impatient to get started start training him for stuff he can do now, which doesn't include the jumps.... we bought one of those collapsible tunnels and we play with Archie all the time.... my mum at one end and me at the other, and we take turns calling him to us.... it's so funny cos he doesn't bother turning around so he scoots backwards Another thing you can try is to lay a wooden ladder on the floor and get him to walk over it... he has to concentrate on putting his feet between the rungs

In the meantime, work really really hard on obedience I think




Okay - the thought never crossed my mind to be honest so thanks for highlighting this, will steer clear until he's old enough to get involved.

Will keep hold of Mini's links though for future reference

I must have confused myself somewhere because I thought Gem's TJ was being trained for agility but I must have got this wrong.

It makes sense on the joints.

Thanks SB and Tuti for clarifying.




I think Gems is training TJ for agility.... the first step is obedience

It's the jumps and A Frames that I think are worrying, especially for a large breed prone to HD... a bit like going up and down stairs but even higher impact




You can do lots of low-impact agility training in your backyard. Tiny jumps - making sure he lands on a soft surface (grass), teaching him to 'walk the plank' the incline of which is only 2-3 inches, weave poles set a good distance apart, and the tunnel. And always use bar jumps to start with as high jumps can spook the dog.

It is imperative that obedience training comes before any attempt to do agility, and if you want to do agility, you need to be able to handle on both left and right. Dofgs here are not allowed to enter agility competition until 18 months. Obviously they have trained a while prior to this but it is to keep the playing field level for the larger, heavier dogs which need to reach, or come close to, maturity before competing.




There are usually age restrictions MC. Your puppy should not be doing any sort of high impact exercises until his joints and bones are less vulnerable. I haven't checked out the links, but if anyone says we teach full agility no matter age or breed - then steer clear. MC the links are to enable you to read and learn about the subject and maybe go and watch some events
Hi SB I will send the links to you, they are sort of magazines like dog papers .




Hi MC forgot to mention our collapsible tunnel is a kids one from ikea... probably cheaper than stuff marketed towards dogs