Thinking of Trying it

I'm thinking of maybe doing some agility with my American Eskimo Dog. Anybody do agility with this breed? I've never done any kind of agility before. How hard is it to train your dog to do it? And you can't use clickers, right?

I dont personally know anyone doing agility with the breed but I don`t think are many of them in UK anyway
Training `ease` or not is mainly to do with a dogs personality, its definitely a bonus if they are naturally playful, though it can be a great way to bring out play in quieter / shy dogs.

Tools wise, a lot do train some Agility elements with Clicker, though toys and treats are more common. I dont think a clicker is beneficial with every element necessarily *but* if its what works for an individual dog I`m all for it, [ speaking as an Instructor myself ] and I can certainly accommodate it should a student want to use a clicker, and really so should any instructor so long as they understand about clicker training :smt001

Best thing is to find a club then go and watch first, to make sure you are comfortable with how they teach and to take the opportunity to chat with the instructors and students.

A most important factor is the age of a dog - I wont allow dogs under 12 months to start training `proper` under me because they are still developing bones, tissues and muscles etc, [ some large dogs have to wait a bit longer ].

HTH :smt001

Edited to add, found some links for you which speak very well of the breed for Agility and obedience etc :

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jamarsch/aedca/

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americaneskimo.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Americ...-Dog&id=201822

Hey, thanks so much, Patch. Your reply was very helpful. :smt001