Should I take her to agility class?

[pafla]

I allways wanted to do agility with my dogs but I didnt have conditions to do so.Rea is now 5.5 years old.She passed basic obedience classes and for last 8 months I train rally obedience and competative obedience with her and my other girl.She likes obedience exercies but goes nuts when we do obstacles.Rally in Slovenia-we work by theire program - it includes jump,table,open tunel,distance jump-on third level,see saw and weaves.She knows jumps,panel jump,open tunel and table.We are working on see saw and she is good.We have problem with weaves.She also knows A frame on normal height.She can do dog walk if I walk slowly by her side-normal height.And we did tyre but on ground level.We also had done couple of times combinations of jumps and she didnt have problem with that.The biggest concern to me is that she will get seriously hurt-but then again she never did till know and she already knows most of obstacles to certain point.I think she is buildt ok for agility,she is the bigger dog on picture.

So should I take her to classes or just continue doing rally-o and competative obedience?

 

[adojrts]

There are a few ways to look at agility........yes your dog can get hurt BUT dog that does get hurt are often trained incorrectly, over faced or pushed to perform an obstacle that they are not ready for etc. Training on unsafe equipment or poor surfaces.
Now having said that, dogs that have been trained correctly on safe equipment and on awesome surfaces, can sometimes get hurt but it doesn't happen very often. (never had dog hurt on my agility field).
One of the main reasons for dogs being injured is because they are over weight and out of condition, even dogs that are competing, this is a common problem.

So if you ensure, that your dog is in excellent condition (physically fit), trained correctly and on safe equipment then you will certainly minimize the risks. The upside is dogs that are fit and active, are happier and live longer.
Plus agility is so addicting and its a blast!!

 

[pafla]

I know it is addictive.But I am a bit of a worrier.I sort of imagine the worst possible outcome and usually that is actually a plus-because the worst possible outcome is often worth a risk.But when it comes to this I am not so sure.She isnt overweight but just a right weight.I bought a book about agility Introduction to Dog Agility by Margaret H. Bonham and it is quiet good.They even have a picture of the dog who is buildt perfectly for agility and Rea is buildt like that.She is in good shape because we spent a lot of time outside in woods where both dogs run of leash.

In this book it is advised to do hips and elbows radiographs-our club ask only for hips.So I am going to do this and see whether everything is ok.Should I look for something else? I will also talk to the vet and see what they think.Classes start in spring.I already put deposit but I still have second thoughts.Did I overlooked anything?I am certain she is a dog better suited for agility then obedience-she gets bored easily,she often needs a lot more time to figure out something then my other girl and she is very soft dog even moddy sometimes.

 

[Dekka]

There are many many dogs that don't have the 'ideal' structure for agility, and they do fine. When you start classes the jumps should be lower, and the contact equip quite low, so really there is little to worry about. You just have to know your dog. I have had dogs injured, but never from agility. Even with crazy dogs like Dekka (who has jumped from the apex of the A frame at a trial once, even though she 'knows' a 20/20!) and Zo (who ran head first into the side of a tunnel cause she was so wound) I haven't had any. So really if your dog has a more normal drive, and the classes are properly strutured, I would argue that there are less injuries than a dog doing a lot of obed/rally type jumping on thin mats over cement.

 

[vilsajone]

Dogs get injured when they have over weight and not in good condition.They may be also If they practice on bad surfaces and bad equipment.If you ensure that your dog is in good condition then you can proceed with agility training.

 

[pafla]

Our agility class started two weeks ago.We are really having fun in classes.It is twice a week and lasts for three months.We also had luck with time of training it is imediately after obedience training with Tea so I just change dogs.This way I am still only two days a week in club. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to go.And yes there is actually a dog who is older then Rea-he is seven and he is really good.I must admit that now that I see how much fun it is I am tempted to take Tea to classes to.Next classes start after summer vacations.