I have big plans for my Jack Russell, Nugget. He is only a little over 3mths old now, but i eventually plan on doing Agility with him. I would love to hear from others who do agility with their dogs, as i have some questions.

- Does it take a lot of training prior to moving up to Agility?

- Do most dogs pick it up easily? I know this will vary a lot depending on the dog.

-Those weave poles make me nervous. I imagine getting a dog to perfect those would require a lot of practice.

Do your dogs love it, do you enjoy it? I guess I'm just asking for personal experience and stories of you and your dogs experiences.

Tried and failed several times now - I have absurdly bad luck medically with my dogs!  Lifetime injury to a shoulder, slipped disc, that sort of thing.  And the disc dog would have been a serious competitor.

Of the dogs I've tried it with, I find that they do pick it up quickly with a good trainer - but those are not always easy to find.  Many are too focused on competing instead of having fun.

Weave poles - don't be nervous!  Various ways to train them and one of the most effective is 2x2, which you can find on youtube.   Easy, you can build a home pole kit to practice with, and effective.

The first dog I tried it with (shoulder dog) was my first dobe, and it did take a while for him to get into the swing of it but it wasn't the learning itself - it was the distraction.  Many agility places are set up in distracting areas like fields where other dogs walk, or equestrian buildings where the smell of horse poo (or indeed poo that's been missed) are intensely tempting for some dogs.  The poo was his big downfall but in the end he was getting really good, until he whacked his shoulder.  Poor help from the vets at the time meant he never recovered from it.

A tip - get your basic obedience sorted first.  You want an excellent recall (tempting smells, other dogs, some of whom may not be sociable) and a decent 'wait' at a minimum.  A cue to slow the dog down can be very useful too sometimes!

Thank you so much for sharing your story Nikita

I have never owned an athletic or terrier breed before. This is a new and exciting adventure for me!

Even at his tender age, he loves jumping from rock to rock at the beach, he balances on the back of my couch like a pro, and he's already done the see saw at a playground lol He gave me the fright of my life yesterday when he climbed a tree, he was like watching a cat scaling up a branch. Luckily i was able to grab him before he was at the point of no return...

Oh Lordy, what have i got myself in to with this little guy. He's a full on Pocket rocket

My terrier has been doing foundation agility classes since he was 8 months old. He's now a year.

Verbally, he's learnt:
"Wait" (though he did also learn this for KC classes!)
"Left" / "Right" (turn 90 degrees)
"Loop" / "Wrap" (run round a fencepost to the left or right, fast!)
"Target" (for touching the markers)
"Gogogo" (run as fast as you can in a straight line)

He's also learn to look over each shoulder without moving to see what I am doing when I'm behind him, on and off lead direction changes, etc.

More importantly, he's been introduced visually to all the equipment, even if he doesn't use most of it yet. He knows the names for most of it - tunnel, dog walk, tyre, seesaw ...

He is an anxious soul and it has been wonderful for him to be in this environment, learning to focus on me, learning to ignore other dogs and to concentrate on his own work. Also wonderful for me as I am terrified of other dogs and so our poor trainer has to train ME as much as the pup.

Go For It!