Certain age to start agility?

[sasvermont]

I wish my dog liked her dog food. I have tried many kinds and eventually she stops gobbling it up and leaves it for later. I have many healthy treats that she just leaves for much, much later. When training her, I had to produce some pretty tasty stuff for her to respond. I don't know if she is spoiled or what. I don't give in to her, and I leave the treats on the floor or in her dish until she eats them.

I think waiting until she is older makes good sense as their joints are getting settled in and you don't want to disrupt the process. I didn't walk Prue on concrete or asphalt until she was older, too. I stuck with dirt and grass for a long time.

I bet she will be good at learning recall etc. Prue was horrible with recall, so she remains on a leash. Having her on a leash also controls what wild animals she may run in to by mistake, or what food/Junk she might find and eat. So, I don't mind keeping her on a leash, for the most part.

Photos of her new tricks would be nice!

[Sowa]

I wish my dog liked her dog food. I have tried many kinds and eventually she stops gobbling it up and leaves it for later. I have many healthy treats that she just leaves for much, much later. When training her, I had to produce some pretty tasty stuff for her to respond. I don't know if she is spoiled or what. I don't give in to her, and I leave the treats on the floor or in her dish until she eats them.

I think waiting until she is older makes good sense as their joints are getting settled in and you don't want to disrupt the process. I didn't walk Prue on concrete or asphalt until she was older, too. I stuck with dirt and grass for a long time.

I bet she will be good at learning recall etc. Prue was horrible with recall, so she remains on a leash. Having her on a leash also controls what wild animals she may run in to by mistake, or what food/Junk she might find and eat. So, I don't mind keeping her on a leash, for the most part.

Photos of her new tricks would be nice!

Sometimes I cut up some hotdog into small pieces into a baggy and mix her kibble in as well. So the kibble smells of hot dog too and she's not eating only hot dogs which aren't that great for her but she LOVES them. It works great when we're outside and she only focuses so long with just kibble.

[MonicanHonda]

Kibble is GREAT for around the house! That's all we use. We don't feed kibble, but I keep the travel size free ones around for inside treats. Outside you may need to step up the game because it isn't as high value, so you may find her attention wandering. That's when you pull out the good stuff. As the distractions go up, so does the value of the treats.

[lolli94]

Hey you are doing a wonderful job with your puppy!!! Not many people are so concerned about training right.

[binka_nugget]

To answer the original question, it's generally recommended to wait until 1 year to start agility classes (and widely recommended to wait even longer for larger breed dogs). That said, if it's an agility foundation class, then she'd be fine doing that now. Kwik is almost 7 months and I'm just starting on foundation training with her. We work on things like tunnels, running through jumps with the bars off, contacts (she stands on a wooden platform about 3 inches high and puts two feet on the floor and two feet on the platform), and ground work (rear crosses, front crosses, blind crosses). Things like that that don't require heavy impact on their bodies are fine, and would actually help a great deal if you ever decide to compete.

I also highly recommend you make sure she has a really good stay. Keeva always had an amazing stay but it slowly got worse and worse as she got more excited about agility.

[Sowa]

To answer the original question, it's generally recommended to wait until 1 year to start agility classes (and widely recommended to wait even longer for larger breed dogs). That said, if it's an agility foundation class, then she'd be fine doing that now. Kwik is almost 7 months and I'm just starting on foundation training with her. We work on things like tunnels, running through jumps with the bars off, contacts (she stands on a wooden platform about 3 inches high and puts two feet on the floor and two feet on the platform), and ground work (rear crosses, front crosses, blind crosses). Things like that that don't require heavy impact on their bodies are fine, and would actually help a great deal if you ever decide to compete.

I also highly recommend you make sure she has a really good stay. Keeva always had an amazing stay but it slowly got worse and worse as she got more excited about agility.

Thanks. I decided to wait til she's older for agility for now. I'm still hoping to do it when she's older. The trainer I'm working with is possibly starting a Rally-O training session which I may try for now since it would be less stress on her body (I don't think they do jumping until much later in training)