Just seen on another site that there is to be Staffy agility on the Sunday at Crufts. If all the Staffy people knew about it I'll just slither back into my hole :)

Hey don't slither...stay awhile :)

I DID NOT know and I am a Staffy person. Thanks for the info

Karen :)

Hope they show it on the telly as I'm not going this year.

Sarah.

Well I didnt know  but would like to watch -
I Really would like Gus to have a go at this sometime so it would be good to watch me thinks
Thanks for the info :)

Hi ,
I'm glad this subject has come up, as I was planning on writing something similar.
I had just found out today about the Staffs agility at Crufts on Sunday. I think it is the E.A.SBT Club which is doing it.
I had the same thoughts as you Lel, I'd love to get Toesy into something like that, And some sort of obedience too. Whats this bronze, silver and gold thing that people talk about their dogs passing.
Thats how I found out about the agility at crufts, by looking into agility classes. I must admit I didn't think Staffs would be very good at that sort of thing, I always think of Border Collies and German Sheperds when I think of agility.
Do you think your dog has to have quite a high level of obedience before attempting agility.

Hi Mitch,

I started agility with Sal about 5 months ago in the pre-beginners class and she loves it, you just need basic obedience and reasonable recall it seems. They don't let them start till they are 1, but some classes have pre-beginners where you go and start the basics like Sal and I have. There is a site called agility.com (I think) which lists the clubs.

Bronze silver and gold are KC good citizen classes they do basic obedience and you get assed to pass each level have a look on the KC site, it explains it all. Sal has her puppy foundation, bronze and silver the gold looks unobtainable to me. But maybe in time.

Karen

  

Agility is a sport involving dog and handler negotiating an obstacle course in a set order hopefully without incurring any faults. The equipment includes jumps, tyres, floppy & rigid tunnels, 'A' frame, dogwalk, weaving poles and a see-saw.
Dogs are split into 3 categories:
Mini Dogs up to 15" at shoulder, hurdles 15" in height
Midi Dogs between 15"-17" at shoulder, hurdles 20" in height
Standard Dogs over 17" at shoulder, hurdles 24" in height
Most Stafford's will fit into the Mini or Midi heights, the mini's have very large classes normally between 100 - 250,  whilst the Midi's classes average only 20 or so dogs.
There are a quite a few Stafford's competing in Agility, mostly in the Mini classes, Stafford's tend to do very well and certainly seem to enjoy themselves!
Dogs should not begin Agility training until a minimum of 1 year old and perhaps with the Stafford it would be sensible to wait until older- Dogs cannot compete in Agility shows until a minimum off 18 months, so use the time you have to socialise your dog and ensure your dog has good off-lead obedience skills.
Competetive agility is not for every Staffy but they do seem to enjoy it.
You can find classes on AgilityNet or Clever staffords :)