Basic Obedience

[tk223]

I will be starting puppy kindergarten soon..my question: For those of you who have done agility (my main goal) when did you start agility training? Am I getting ahead of myself? Did you find a certain age is best to start at?

[Karen]

Hi there,

If you haven't done any agility before, I would see if you can watch a couple beginning agility classes to see what they cover so that you become familiar with what is taught in a beginning class. You'll still need the basic obedience in agility so you aren't losing any ground if you don't start agility training right away.

My first cairn started agility around age 2 when I discovered it. The second cairn I started some basic agility training at home when he was 3-4 months old. He didn't start any agility classes until he was a little over a year old. They both caught on quickly and enjoyed it. With a puppy you need to be sure the training facility keeps it fun, easy, works on good foundation skills, doesn't rush into obstacles too fast, no jumping (or very low bars) til they're older, etc.

I wouldn't worry about the age a dog starts as much as checking out the facility to see how their instructors teach and deal with puppies and dogs new to agility. You want to work on basics so you have good foundation skills later on. You want to keep it fun all the time so they see agility as a game and not a job.

A lot of places are introducing some very low equipment in their puppy classes so the puppies get used to it early. With my 3rd dog (non-cairn) I took a puppy obed/agility class when he was about 3-4 mths old. The teacher took it slow, worked in some obedience stuff like coming, staying, sits, downs, targeting, loose heeling, etc. We also had the dogs on very low equipment, maybe a foot off the ground. Bars were laid on the floor between the stanchions, tunnels were short. We didn't do a teeter or weave poles until several weeks later.

Good luck with your future agility prospect!

Karen

[cairnsby3]

Have fun in your puppy class. At our club, dogs have to have a beginner obedience class, (some clubs call it home companion) before the dogs are allowed in beginner agility. All the basic things you do with your puppy will help in the long run for agility. At the bottom, you want a well rounded dog, so socialization, seeing the world on walks, not being fearful of anything including noises, etc. A sit/down/stay, later for the table and start line. Attention, come when called, learning to play with you in all different places, being quiet while crated when other dogs are working, all these things will be important later. So for right now, just raising your puppy to be well adjusted with be a great foundation to whatever you want to do.