Dog agility is by far, one of my favorite activities because it makes you feel good as a dog owner, it keeps you fit, and it allows you to nab a few trophies when competitions end.

Compared to other options in dog training, dog agility is significantly harder but it can also be quite fun. First, if you’ve never heard of dog agility training, this is a sport that’s specifically for dogs and their owners.

It is incredibly popular in the UK, but there are also reports of dog agility gaining steam in both Australia and America. It is comprised of a main event that includes a variety of courses that your dog must run.

There’s a specific number of obstacles in each course. Usually, this number is 26. Your dog will need to complete this course, without fault, and within the fastest speed as possible.

Do you think this sounds easy? Well, it’s not. There are some obstacles included in these courses that require a significant amount of training for mastery.

Agility Training Courses

There are several course types like agility courses and jumping courses. Jumping courses mean exactly what the name suggests – these courses contain a number of obstacles that dogs have to jump over like jumps (two parallel stands holding a pole that’s set approximately four feet above the ground) that your dog needs to clear without knocking them over, weaves (straight lines of poles that can range between six and 12 poles that dogs have to weave through) and your dog must not come out of the weaves until the very end of the course.

There are also contact points on different obstacles within courses and dogs cannot touch these points with their paws. It takes a lot of dog training in agility to master all of these tasks successfully.

Join A Club

You have to register your dog with the SKC or the Scottish Kennel Club (or the American Kennel Club if you happen to be from the United States) if you want to run your pet in a show, and you’ll additionally need to join an agility club.

Agility club members hold meetings one to two times each week where they train together, set up and run special practice courses, or just focus on specific obstacles that they want their dogs to practice on.

Dogs are not allowed to participate in agility training in clubs before they reach one year of age.

A lot of agility enthusiasts have their own equipment at home for practicing so that their animals can begin training as early as six weeks of age, but the poles for dog jumps are obviously placed on the ground, and these pet owners never make their animals do anything dangerous.

There are a number of companies like Jax that manufacturer training obstacles for practice.

Before entering your dog in his first show, you will have to put him through a lot of dog training for agility. Your dog should have the ability to run a complete course.

I apologize for having made it seem like dog agility training is a grueling job rather than the enjoyable process it really is. This is amazing! The atmosphere and the people are incredibly fun.

Dog agility training is merely the challenge that you’ll have to face before getting there.

In case you didn’t see it:  Here’s an online dog training program that can STOP your dog unwanted behaviors!

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