Agility training?

Hello,

I have a 9 month old pit/border collie mix. She is very reward driven and loves showing off her skills. Her new favorite thing is to run laps around my house at full speed in and out all of my kitchen chairs and table and under a coffee table. She has never knocked a chair down or the table. I was thinking about getting her signed up for some agility training. Anyone have any suggestions? HTnaks!

You have to wait till they are 12 months old to start because the jumping can damage their joints.
Try to find a training club in your area that also does agility is the best way to start, normally you need to do a basic obedience class first to show you have good control of your dog before you can do off lead stuff like agility.

Do you want advice about teaching agility generally or about finding somewhere to train? We are mostly UK based on this forum and here we would find a club or a trainer who take things slowly and don't rush your puppy into doing too much too soon. Most of the clubs here have waiting lists but a lot of private trainers have started up so it would be a case of visiting a training session to make sure you like what you see.

If you are new to agility, I wouldn't do much on your own as that is how bad habits develop!

When people say not until 12 months old it can make a newbie wait until they are a year or older before going to agility.
What they mean is do not do jumps more than knee high. keep off the seesaws and A frames.
anything which might jar their joints.
You can teach them to stay close. play follow your hand as a kind of chase game.
Nose touch is good.
Learn to clicker train .
Teach direction . A good stay and a good recall.
Go between uprights with or without poles on the ground.
Walk along a flat plank teaching a stop at the end.
All foundation work which will stand you in good stead when you do begin an agility class,
an excellent sport for dog and handler

You can most certainly start training for agility now.
there is a lot more to agility than just being able to the obstacles.
Groundwork and basic obedience is just as important.
Instead of jumps i like to ask the dog to walk over the jump poles on the ground and stuff.
Getting him to walk over poles is great for body awareness,you could also use a ladder and ask him to walk along it while its flat on the floor. This is also body awareness. Wobble boards are great for seesaw training and its also body awareness.
http://agilitybits.co.uk/Equipment/s...bble_board.htm
http://agilitybits.co.uk/Equipment/cavaletti/cava.htm
Body awareness is very important in agility,the dog must know how to control all his body,how to keep his back legs up to prevent bar knocking and how to run full speed down a dog walk and still achieve a stop contact(weight shifting)
It helps with making sharp turns in the ring.
Body awareness makes for a great agility dog.Doing tricks with your dog also helps with body awareness.
Stool work is also good(thats what i am doing currently)
Have a look at these,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TTFAsGyJ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85cG12op15E
Body awareness is also important for everyday life and everyday obstacles you may come across on walks and stuff,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjLaDQKXKzo

You may also find it helpful in the future if you work on contacts now,no equipment is needed at all if you want to do stopped contacts(which i highly recommend).
There is lots you can do,foundation work.
And if you want your own equipment for the future,have a look at www.agilitybits.co.uk
I got all my plans from there,its so much cheaper than buying stuff.

You can also train tunnels,dog walks,pause table and i find it ok to train on a very low a frame(i'm talking 30 or 50cm high) but thats just me,others don't recommend it. I would not try a seesaw,until they are 10 months old minimum and only a baby seesaw. I do not recommend doing weave poles as it is very straining on the body.
Directional commands are also good to start now, the basics are
-left and right
-here(means run in my direction)
-send away
-run ahead
and i also train 2 extra commands of turn and twist,turn means make a 180* turn to the left and twist is 180* turn to the right. You do not need those though.