Fast-Paced Agility
If you've never seen dogs doing agility before, you're in for a treat. If you have, you know how exciting it can be for the dogs — and for people. Agility is the sport of maneuvering your dog through an obstacle course while you race against the clock. Point deductions are assessed if your dog knocks down or misses any part of the obstacles while racing through the course. He is also timed. The dog with the highest score and the fastest time wins.
Some dogs get so excited to compete in agility that they bark and bark not just before their turn but sometimes while they're on the course. It is hard to contain your enthusiasm whether you're a handler or spectator of this fast and fun activity.
Because agility demands a certain athleticism, you don't want to start your puppy too young. The running and jumping could be tough on his growing bones. You can train him to go over small jumps for fun, or to run through a toy tunnel, but so that he can enjoy the sport with you for many years, hold off on doing too much with him until your veterinarian and your trainer think he can handle it.
Getting started is easy — all you need is a basic training class so you and your dog know how to work together, and then you can sign up for a class where you'll learn how to train your dog to handle and work the obstacles individually and as a course. In competitions, to be fair, the sizes of the obstacles are determined by the sizes of the dogs. Larger dogs compete against each other and smaller dogs compete in another group. As in Obedience, there are levels at which to compete, and they increase in challenge and difficulty. In Agility, these are: Novice Agility, Open Agility, Agility Excellent, and Master Agility Excellent.
