What's a good age to start ...

Mikos_Mom said:
Ah ha!!... This is exactly what I was wondering. Thanks!
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it is general concern not to start training your pup too early in agility, but what do they mean? To me you do not want to start competitive training too early. Another story if you have fast athletic pup who already jumps 2 feet high to begin with... put piece of PVC on the floor, guard by 2 waste baskets- here is your jump grid, lift it 1" off the floor- here is your jump, put your pup back feet on the stair and front on the floor- here is your 2 on 2 off, get a shelf board on the can of soup- here is your teeter, get a shelf board on 2 books- here is your dog walk. Such can be done as early as you want.
You are looking for beginner classes where they let you play and learn, not train for next available sign up trial. There is many of them that are starting to incorporate basic agility equipment and flatwork into fun game like classes.
Good basic obedience/ not competitive obedience/ class will be very helpful- in ours we were taught basic massage, mat work, heeling, shadow handling, various commands sit, stay, leave it etc, clicker training, turns. And as always no pressure- when Che got restless after 25 minutes of class then we just chill out for the rest of it...
 
Trax started at 4 months old in a puppy agility class. They only did jumps at 4" and straight tunnels and introduced them to walking down a disassembled dog walk plank and a teeter on the floor. Nothing hard on the joints.
 
Miko is a bit of wild jumper all on his own... I try not to allow him to jump off of furniture (although he's suprised me and done it a couple of times)... but when he's playing, he's jumping 2ft into the air all on his own.

My ideal for a class would be where the pups can be introduced to the equipement that is appropriate for them... where they can run around and burn some energy and where they can socialize with each other. He's in puppy kindergarten at the moment (I think we have 2 classes left) and I will definitely be continuing with obedience training... I just think agility would be a lot of fun for both of us :wink2:
 
I'm sure someone else could expand on this, but getting him used to "agility" noises is good too. Like the banging of a teeter. We used to do that a lot at home, just bang things so Koji would get used to it (he was freaked out by noises like that). Now, he wont' even look at banging noises. however, open up a ziploc baggie and he's there in your face! LOL.

You got a lot of great suggestions. Definitely only do what is good for their growing bodies. And you can start on a lot of things even w/o equipment. ;) Trust me, I plan to start training when I pick up my next dog (whenever that will be - no plans for another right now).
 
Welllll... it looks like we might out of luck on this one. I've contacted 3 agility places in my area and none of them offer anything "puppy specific". In fact, they're all trying to teach me the lesson that Miko is too young, etc. etc... :rolleyes2: I've explained what I'm looking for... but I might as well be speaking Martian to them!
 
Mikos_Mom said:
Welllll... it looks like we might out of luck on this one. I've contacted 3 agility places in my area and none of them offer anything "puppy specific". In fact, they're all trying to teach me the lesson that Miko is too young, etc. etc... :rolleyes2: I've explained what I'm looking for... but I might as well be speaking Martian to them!
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Of course. lol. Well, you could always start the little things like touch, recalls, those types of "obedience" things that'll help a LOT later. I wish I had taught them earlier to my pup.
 
Can you perhaps order a few books from Clean Run? There is plenty in them that you can teach now and not really need any equipment, or really a class to teach. I'd recommend Flatwork and Agility Right From The Start. You can also get a cheap kids tunnel from ebay or toys r us, and can easily make a booja board to start getting him used to movement and noise. A wood board can be used to teach a 2o2o and to drive across a board. You can also teach targeting.
Really if you want to start now on the basics, there is more than enough you can teach on your own, and don't need an actual class to do.
I really don't get where the instructors don't seem to understand why you'd want to be in a class now when there really is so much safe stuff you can be teaching now that will help you down the road. Agility isn't all about the equipment after all. More time is spent on coursedoing what goes on between the obstacles than actually on them.
 
k9kreationz said:
I'm sure someone else could expand on this, but getting him used to "agility" noises is good too. Like the banging of a teeter. We used to do that a lot at home, just bang things so Koji would get used to it (he was freaked out by noises like that). Now, he wont' even look at banging noises. however, open up a ziploc baggie and he's there in your face! LOL.

You got a lot of great suggestions. Definitely only do what is good for their growing bodies. And you can start on a lot of things even w/o equipment. ;) Trust me, I plan to start training when I pick up my next dog (whenever that will be - no plans for another right now).
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I would agree with this. Ember took forever to get use to the teeter as she didn't like the noise. I began have Diva bang things around when she was small and making all kinds of noise. She doesn't even blink at noise now and loves contacts(more than tunnels). My new pups are the same-noise tapes-since their ears opened, moving wobble broads, metal dishes and garbage can lids. One of the pups, we thought was deaf for a short time(she is not) but she was so unaffected by noise from an early age. One day I stood up on the landing above where they were all playing and banged 2 metal pans together 4x. Not one pups looked in my direction and no one stopped playing! All deaf.:lol: My goal -no reaction.

I am start hand touches, target training, more wobble broads, introducing playing with toys,tunnels, following my hands, recalls, clicker training go outs and running between things. Anything that gets the puppies learning and enjoying being with people. My pups are 9 wks old. One is really good at hand touches, following me and recalls already.
 
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HopeShelties said:
Can you perhaps order a few books from Clean Run? There is plenty in them that you can teach now and not really need any equipment, or really a class to teach. I'd recommend Flatwork and Agility Right From The Start. You can also get a cheap kids tunnel from ebay or toys r us, and can easily make a booja board to start getting him used to movement and noise. A wood board can be used to teach a 2o2o and to drive across a board. You can also teach targeting.
Really if you want to start now on the basics, there is more than enough you can teach on your own, and don't need an actual class to do.
I really don't get where the instructors don't seem to understand why you'd want to be in a class now when there really is so much safe stuff you can be teaching now that will help you down the road. Agility isn't all about the equipment after all. More time is spent on coursedoing what goes on between the obstacles than actually on them.
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Agility Right from the start is a great book. I am using alot of it with my pups. Also flatwork is really good too.
 
Thanks for the book suggestions. My desire to get him into a class was mostly for the socialization aspect... but I have no problem working on stuff at home too. Our condo is tiny, though... so I think tunnels will have to wait until Spring, when we can play outside.
 
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