Dog Agility

[ASmouseInTheHouse]

What is it? It's a popular dog sport sanctioned by numerous organizations that involves a dog navigating an obstacle course in a certain order, as directed by the handler. Speaking from personal experience, it is much easier said than done.
I've created this topic because I'm curious if anyone here is or has been involved with agility training (or any other dog sport, since I haven't met anyone else who does).
Here's a page that explains the obstacles.

My dog Skye has shown an aptitude for running and jumping since she was a puppy, so I thought hey, she'd be good at it. So far, all the training we have done has been based off books I read and agility sites on the internet(Clean Run has been quite fun to explore; it has an extensive online store and magazine. Some other cool sites are AgilityNerd and Bad Dog Agility). We might join an agility class in the future. If we were at a trial, we'd barely have enough skills to scrape through a Novice Jumpers class, since I haven't taught her any of the contact obstacles (they're too expensive to buy). And Skye goes crazy with distraction and excitement when we step out of the backyard, so it'll be a while until we can train outside the house, much less run at a trial.

I'd be happy to talk more about this sport if anyone has any questions.

[bookworm]

I know what this is, but don't have any experience with it myself or personally know anyone who does it.

The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge is on tv occasionally and I've watched it a few times.

[Catspaw]

That sounds pretty cool! I recently watched something about chicken training, which is apparently sometimes used to help train people who want to train other animals because chickens are easy to train using food (it was a piece in a 2018 episode of the Rick Mercer Report I watched a rerun of, for anyone interested - maybe a fellow Canadian also loves Rick Mercer!) so maybe consider training a chicken first?

Dog agility sounds interesting and also challenging. Are there affordable classes offered near you?

[ASmouseInTheHouse]

That sounds pretty cool! I recently watched something about chicken training, which is apparently sometimes used to help train people who want to train other animals because chickens are easy to train using food (it was a piece in a 2018 episode of the Rick Mercer Report I watched a rerun of, for anyone interested - maybe a fellow Canadian also loves Rick Mercer!) so maybe consider training a chicken first?

I once heard my aunt talking about how people train chickens - and then my other aunt, who has a farm, reported how her chickens are so slow on the uptake that they run into the mesh of the coop instead of out the door when they are let out every morning. It sounds like an interesting thing to try one day if I ever have chickens!

Dog agility sounds interesting and also challenging. Are there affordable classes offered near you?

There are a couple of places nearby that offer agility classes. The main obstacle to getting into an agility class is completing the training club's prerequisites. Since agility is an off-leash sport, you have to take at least four classes of obedience before you are allowed to train for a dog sport. Currently, I am in Basic obedience with Skye, the first of many classes before agility class. The cool thing was that before I enrolled in the class, I volunteered at an agility trial they held at the training center. It was freezing cold and raining the whole day, and when it was over, the vice president said I would get 50% off the first class I joined.
We are about to go into Week 4 of 6 of the class. The open level agility class meets at the same time outside, so when we finish up inside, I walk Skye and discreetly watch them working on tunnel discriminations and serpentines. We'll be there eventually!

[Catspaw]

Chicken intelligence sounds...concerning.

I hope the obedience classes go well and you get to do all the training you and Skye want to do!

[bookworm]

Just happened to come across this video; thought of this thread so thought I should post.

[coffeeappreciation]

Never done it before but I too want to teach my dog. We adopted him and he's shown that he's great at navigating tight spaces at top speed and enjoys overcoming the little obstacles we make for him-- I'm looking through your links!

[ASmouseInTheHouse]

Pink is an amazing dog! Her handler, Jennifer Crank, is a part of the Bad Dog Agility crew, so she sometimes appears in their videos and podcasts!

Never done it before but I too want to teach my dog. We adopted him and he's shown that he's great at navigating tight spaces at top speed and enjoys overcoming the little obstacles we make for him-- I'm looking through your links!

Great! I would suggest joining an agility class! A good instructor will help you understand how the sport works and how to train a dog new to the sport. If there are a lot of obedience prerequisites, don't worry, these will help you get a dog who can focus on you, even off-leash and in distracting places. Agility is built on these foundation skills.
In the meantime, there is a lot you can do at home to prepare your dog for agility. Fitness (of the dog!) is a big one. This can be usually be taught with household objects. Here's an article on one form of dog fitness: https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/train ... -your-dog/

More websites to explore:
Susan Garrett's blog/podcast. She is a very successful competitor in dog agility. She also has online training programs, but they are pricey...
Clean Run Magazine's free issues! A word of warning, their articles are primarily geared towards experienced trainers/competitors in the sport. It took me a while to figure out what language they were speaking.

I hope you have fun with your dog!

[Catspaw]

I was thinking about this thread because I was watching the latest episode of The Amazing Race Canada (yes, that's a thing) and there was a dog agility task! The racers had to learn some commands and get a dog through the course in 45 seconds or less. It was funny when one girl said that dog wasn't doing what she told it to, and I was thinking, "It's probably you giving the wrong command - the dog is the expert!" She did get it soon afterwards. Just one of those fun things where I thought of the ToO, and probably appreciated the task more because of this thread.

[ASmouseInTheHouse]

I was thinking about this thread because I was watching the latest episode of The Amazing Race Canada (yes, that's a thing) and there was a dog agility task! The racers had to learn some commands and get a dog through the course in 45 seconds or less. It was funny when one girl said that dog wasn't doing what she told it to, and I was thinking, "It's probably you giving the wrong command - the dog is the expert!" She did get it soon afterwards. Just one of those fun things where I thought of the ToO, and probably appreciated the task more because of this thread.

You're definitely right! I went to a dog show in July where there was a ring for AKC's "My Dog Can Do That!" Basically, the general public and their dogs were allowed to train on a mini agility course. I didn't bring my Skye, so one of the workers let me handle her Border Collie, who already knew the obstacles. The dog was definitely the expert, but something about my timing and movement caused her to pop out of the weave poles! I tried again and made an effort to keep my shoulders still, and she did it!

It's been a while, so here's a general update on Skye and I and our agility journey:
Last I posted back in April, we were almost done with our first basic obedience class.
About six months and three more classes later, we are now approaching week 6 of 6 in our first agility class! We're not on the A-Frame/dogwalk/seesaw yet, just working on foundations such as weave entries, contact behavior, wobble boards, and low jumps.
I must admit, those three obedience classes really did make a difference. When I started, I couldn't imagine having Skye's focus in a public place, around other strange dogs nonetheless, but now we do thanks to the practice and great instruction we've had. Agility or no agility, Skye is a better-trained dog than she was before.

[Catspaw]

That's very cool, Smouse! Are you planning to continue the training in the future?