An Introduction to Agility Training

You may have seen TV programmes featuring agility trials. Have you ever wondered whether your dog, too, could learn the skills required for this amazing canine sport?

Actually, it is possible for your dog to undergo agility training, especially if he or she is a breed of collie. Collies are natural workers –owners of this breed of dogs will know that they are not the kind of dogs who are happy lazing around or dozing on a rug all day. Any dog, though, can learn the skills required for agility tests. All that is needed is time, patience and the right training. All kinds of dogs can compete in agility tests.

English dog owners were the first to put their dogs through agility training and hold agility trials so that their dogs could prove their worth against other canine sports champions.

Today agility trials are held all over the world. Canadian canine agility teams do quite well in trials held as global competitions.

What exactly is involved in an agility trial? The course is full of obstacles like seesaws, hurdles, weave poles, tunnels and A frames. The dog runs through the course, dealing with the obstacles along the way. The dog’s handler moves with the dog, guiding and urging the competitor on. Speed and smooth clearance of obstacles are what determine the points that a particular canine competitor gets during an agility trial.

Everyone has a great time at an agility trial – the handlers of the dogs, the watching people, an, of course, the dogs themselves.

Agility training is a wonderful way to draw pet and owner together. A good performance in an agility trial requires hard work from both the dogs and the owners.

A dog does not have to have a pedigree to attend agility training lessons and mixed breed dogs and purebreds are equally welcome in competitions at various levels, including global agility trials.

There is a website belonging to the AAC (Agility Association of Canada) where you can find out how to become a member and also get details of upcoming competitions. You can even get a list of places where you can take your dog to be trained in agility.

Agility training has become very widely appreciated so there are plenty of chances for dogs and their handlers to gain the skills required for agility trials. Many agility training outfits customize their lessons to the needs of children, or of dogs with some particular requirement, or of older dogs.

Competition is not the only goal of agility training; this activity is so much fun that agility training is an end in itself. It can be undertaken for the sheer joy of it.

One important prerequisite for agility training is that the dog should be physically fit and in good health. It is a good idea to have your vet give your dog the go ahead as far as fitness for agility training is concerned. And since the handler will have to run with the dog, he or she will have to be physically fit, too.

Generally, before agility training begins, you and your dog will have to learn some fundamental obedience lessons. It will be impossible for a dog to run through a course if it is not trained to obey basic commands given by the handler.

The best part about agility training is the experience of working in tandem with your dog during agility training and trials. You will be hurdling obstacles together and the mutual sense of achievement will be very satisfying.