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MarkAndOscar
Dogsey Junior
MarkAndOscar is offline  
Location: Motherwell, UK
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 58
Male 
 
20-07-2010, 09:37 PM

Is it to late?? (bit long)

Hi all,

Have been speaking to my other half lately about agility and training etc so wanted some other opinions!

I love my boy and he is very clever.

He is 8 month's and learned the "basics" (sit, stay, come, down etc) within 4/5 week's. (At 3 months old)

Now I play with him a lot and we have a lot of games he really enjoys and he loves his walks.

But im worried im not doing enough enough to stimulate him mentally.

IS 8 months to old to start agility training with?

Sorry for the length!

Thanks.

Mark And Oscar.
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cintvelt
Dogsey Senior
cintvelt is offline  
Location: Soest, the Netherlands
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 612
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 09:46 PM
Hi,

no, I don't think it's too late at all... Infact, many think 8 months is a bit early... Here real agility training starts when the dog is fully grown.... Before that you can do rally-o-fun which is basically a course of much lower jumps etc to get the youngster enthusiastic without straining the growing muscles and bone-structure.... Why not start with obedience training.... That is also mentally challenging for your dog and can be loads of fun both during to classes and in your own time....

Good luck, and above all, have fun and enjoy!
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random
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Location: Norf Eest
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 14,995
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 09:53 PM
Dogs don't start 'proper' agility training (generally) 'til they are 12 months + as their bodies and bones/joints e.t.c need to be fully formed and grown and hardened before they can start doing this kind of activity. It's recommended that they probably shouldn't even be going up and down staircases too often before this age, as it can damage their growing bodies, especially in larger breeds, such as the lab.

So no you are certainly not too late, perhaps just the right time to start looking for an agility class/club near you and then you can pop along and ask their advice on when to join.

Best of luck!
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wallaroo
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Location: Earby, Lancashire, UK
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,196
Female 
 
20-07-2010, 09:58 PM
We've just booked Toby to start agility next month when he will be just over 1yr. We weren't allowed to start him sooner.

There are some places that do "pre-agility" but most won't let you do jumps, weaves, height etc until 12months, some say 18months.
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gilli and jago
Dogsey Junior
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Location: Leyland
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 83
Female 
 
23-07-2010, 11:02 AM
you can't usually do very much with them agilitywise before 12 months although you can get the foundation work in like recall, stay, getting them into tuggies, lefts and rights etc. It's worth looking around and getting booked in early for an agility club though as lots have waiting lists
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lisa01uk87
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Location: south lanarkshire
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,915
Female 
 
23-07-2010, 11:07 AM
No its not too late, i went along to an agility club with my mums dog who is 5, he has never been to any class before and took to it like a duck to water
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WarFlyball
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Location: Leamington, UK
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 116
Female 
 
24-07-2010, 05:32 PM
Our last dog started agility at 10 - he loved it! As others have said there is no need to rush (okay, so 10 was extreme - we didn't get him till he was 7 and then needed to wait for him to lose weight and have legs operated on!). If you secure the basics first then training will be a lot easier. Have lots of fun!
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Shani
Dogsey Senior
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Location: Doncaster, UK
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 295
Female 
 
25-08-2010, 10:00 PM
Like the others have said, the agility people might say he's too young at the moment.
What you could do in the mean time is see if you can get hold of a lengh of wood (scaffolding board might be ideal) & paint it up in the agility equipment colours (blue with yellow contact ends) lay it flat in your garden & teach him about making 'contact'. All you're realy doing at the moment is teaching him to 'stay' on the yellow for a moment. (He won't do himself any damage 'cos he's not jumping hurdles, not going to fall 'cos he's on the ground, if he gets tired he's just a few feet from his bed)
Then when you do start the agility class he will hopefuly not be worried by anything 'cos he's already seen something similar' & he'll know about the contact points (& be top of the class) .
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