Would my dog enjoy agility?

How to get into agility with your dog

Have you ever settled down on the sofa only to find your dog’s eyes staring at you as if to say, “what’s next?” If even a good, long walk seems to leave your dog ready-for-action, a great activity to explore together might be… agility. 

I started agility with my black Labrador. I remember looking at her and thinking she needed some more fun in her life! We popped along to a small, local training centre one evening and had a go. There were treats involved, which she’s of course a sucker for so that already went down well. It was really fun working so closely together, as I learned how to teach her new skills. When we came home from our first evening of agility, she was tired in a way she just wasn’t from our daily walks. 

What is dog agility?

Agility is an activity in which dog and handler complete a number of obstacles in a sequence, with the aim of doing it cleanly in as fast a time as possible. Don’t worry, it’s only the dog doing the obstacles! The handler’s job is to act like a sat nav, directing the dog on where to go next, since each sequence has a unique arrangement. The dog, meanwhile, is tasked with jumping over jumps, racing through tunnels, bending his way through the weaves and speeding over the off-the-ground equipment such as the A-frame and see-saw. 

During agility training, your dog will get to learn all sorts of new skills – engaging both his brain and his body. Plus, he’ll be hanging out with other dogs and you’ll get a chance to meet like-minded dog-lovers. 

There’s loads to learn in agility. For example, did you know that when the dog goes through the weave poles he always has to start with the first pole on his left side? Or that a competition sequence can be anywhere from 16 to 20 obstacles long? 

There are exciting handling manoeuvres to learn too, such as a front or blind cross, which are both ways of getting your dog from one side of you to the other, or a ketschker, which is a move you can do on a jump to encourage your dog to turn tightly around the jump wing.  

Gradually, my Labrador and I got more and more hooked on agility. She would get excited on the drive there and when she figured out where we were headed I’d hear her letting out tiny little whines in the car! We started to make friends at the club and eventually, I was talked into doing a competition.  

Competitions sound serious, but are actually a whole lot of fun. At a competition, you get set a sequence by the judge. The first time you see that sequence will be when you “walk the course”. You do this with the other handlers, without your dogs and are figuring out how to navigate your dog around the course as efficiently as possible. There is often a bit of strategy involved, for example there might be a few different route variations to choose from.