I would also be concerned at a dog starting agility at such a young age, both NI's and Utes are large dogs and are very slow maturing, their skeleton will not take large amounts of exercise at that age. I have only just started my 2 jumping through a hoop, and it is only for a couple of minutes once a week,they are 16 months old.
I have mine on a dogmatic, which sounds similar to the one you have. I also have them on a lead as well, and the dogmatic only comes into play if they make a sudden lunge/pull forward. It would be very easy for Jess to break her neck if you just used the headcollar thing

The agility that the trainer does is very basic for her, he wont let her do some of the 'big' things because of her only being a pup.

He didnt let her do the A frame or long jumps or anything like that.

He does, however, let her do 2 small jumps, and one 'jump' through a wheel (but Jess walked through this untill the last attempt) and some weave walking and going through a tunnel.

He does sound like he knows what he is talkling about as he is a ex police dog handler/trainer. I wouldnt of allowed him to do things like the A frame with her if he wanted to as im very cautious about putting pressure on her joints myself.

I do thank you for your concern Patch, I dont hink that you are 'sticking your oar in' at all it is nice to know that you show concern for Jess.

I have the muzzle thing clipped to her collar also when I use it.

I will only be using it untill the Canny fits and im sure that wont be long.

Is it not ok for her to do some little agility jumps?

As if it is a danger I will not allow her to do it.

To be honest with you I would never ever encourage either of my 2 to learn to jump or go over the A frame. The reason for this is that lots of these dogs will literally run up and go over a 7 ft fence with no worries at all. If you don't believe me ask fellow NI owners!!! I deliberately stay away from anything like that as I don't want them even to get interested in it. When my 2 were that age I didn't let them do anything at all like that anyway as I feel it is too soon for them to take any impact on their skeleton. Like you say this guy is an ex-dog handler and knows his stuff, so I would never presume to tell him what to do. Just my personal opinion that is all. If you start teaching Jess to jump or run up the A frame you will regret it, she will not just use the knowledge for training and agility!!! These dogs are very clever and adaptable and if she is in an enclosed space she will be out and off before you know it.

I use a Gencon Allin 1 All-in-one head collar, they are very good and don't restrict the mouth or rise up in the eyes like a Halti or Gentle Leader. The Gencon doesn't pull the mouth either.

why, if your trainer is so good, is he not teaching you to prevent her from pulling?

not good on the agility front myself, but i think she's too young to be starting.
18 months would be safer.

I have only been to one lesson, and the first thing we did was show us techniques on how to walk her correctly on a lead and he did show us things to improve her walking to heel.

He reccomended the Halti to me as I am disabled thus cannot implement all of his techniques as I cannot walk without aid, so I dont have both hands spare to reprimand her.

I also need to practise this at home and asd many NI owners will tell you, getting a NI to not pull on a lead is a lenthly process and certainly will not be taught one lesson.

I have faith in his abilitys as a dog trainer and he has come highly reccomended off many people.

OOOOOPPPPPS!!!

Sorry I didn't know,
Big Foot strikes again

Good luck anyway.

I'm off to hide and give myself a good talking too.