I have just brought my first Weimaraner he is everything i wanted and more, loving kind and full of fun, he is a beautiful longhaired weim.
He is 4 months, and i was wondering when i could start agility and maybe flyball with him.
any help would be much appreciated.
Sarah-Jane . Saunders

Hi Sarah Jane,  Welcome to the world of weimy ownership.  Your puppy is much too young at the moment. You cant start until they are around 18 months old.  This is because they are growing and their bones and joints arent strong enough to withstand the jumping etc.  Your best bet to start with is to go to obedience classes and stick with it.  To do agility he needs to be obedient (to a certain degree anyway).  Where abouts are you as I know a lady who does agility with her weims?

Obedience classes all vary and I suggest that you go along to visit a few before you join (sign up).  Weims are not a popular dog when it comes to going to training classes and certain trainers wont have them.  Find a class that is friendly and offers what you consider to be good advice.  www.apdt.co.uk is a good starting point.  Finally why dont you join the weim forum where all the members are weim owners?
http://www.smartgroups.com/group/group.cfm?GID=1337074

If you require any further help or info please feel free to contact me direct, I have 6 of the little darlings. lol

Lynn

<<Weims are not a popular dog when it comes to going to training classes and certain trainers wont have them.  >>  just out of curiosity why is this ?

because they BITE :D

ADMIN! Wash your moth out! ;)
I have two people in my class at club at the moment with litter sisters and a wonderful pair of happy puppy's they are too!

Best wishes, John

I didn't realise that weims were considered a problem breed, i know they can be stubborn but aren't most dogs?!

Most breeds seem to be as much of a problem as you let them be ...

without wishing to offend anyone and I am not referring to anyone in particular but....... some people who own weims are not the (how can I put this?) strongest personalities nor the brightest star in the sky. This means that the weim is more intelligent than the owner and he will run rings around them and do exactly as he pleases and not what the owner or the class teacher wants.  Then they dont keep up the training at home so the dog is considered unruly in the class and I know of quite a few that have banned the weim as the owner cant control it, they then see all weims as the same, totally untrainable as 1 person said to me...... what a load of rubbish.  99% of the time it is the owners who need training not the dogs.:)

Lynn ( or should I be anonomous)

I think I sort of agree, to a point, Lynn. My dogs have been regularly attacked by 2 weims over the years. By mum and son. So in this case I think it has been a learnt thing by son :( . To counteract this I regularly meet up with other Weims who are a dream to be with, wanting to play all the time :)  No problem with my youngest, but not good with my older 2 who look at them and growl until told off.

A lot of it does come down to the owners, and whether they are strong enough for the dog, both physically and mentally, but isn't this the same with all breeds? ;)

I think this is the same with all breeds to a certain extent, but there are some breeds who are more challenging than others and require a bit more training and knowledge :)

Hey sarah jane.

A weimie, hey? Theres a Weimaraner agility league http://195.184.239.210/news/weimeranerleague.HTML which basically is run on a points basis of all the dogs. Some are "senior" level, which is a very high level to get to! I've watched Elaine Wilson's two (incidentally the dog top of the league is from one of the best show breeders in the country) dogs running and they are a match for many collies, very fast and graceful. What line is yours?

I'm sure other people will have posted about when to start agility etc etc, just thought I'd write something else which you may not have found out!

Char

Hi Sarah Jane, welcome to the world of Weimaraners, Longhaired in particular :D 

The best thing to do is to get on [link]http://www.agility.net.com{/link] where you will find a club near you.  The best ones have long waiting lists and so it is good to visit without your dog first to see if their methods are kind, fair and effective; you cannot compete prior to 18 months because of possible bone problems.

To compete in agility it is wise to have a good grasp of basic obedience and so you can contact the APDT who will have a list of trainers in your area.

I only dabble in agility, my main interest is in Working Trials; there is a national Weimaraner League and we have some very successful ones.

Never known any reputable trainer refuse to have a Weimaraner in their class; they are no more or no less difficult to train than any other breed IMHO but they can often be smarter than their owners.  Those of us who actually compete at high level in the working disciplines are used to this "saw" being bandied about; generally by those who are not capable of training one :D

regards

Well Allyson. Maybe I speak to more people but I have known (and I never said they were reputable) training classes refuse weims or after they have been a couple of times ban them.

I always suggest that people visit at least a couple of classses before deciding which one is for them and go without their puppy.

I dont compete at "high level" with my weims, I enjoy them but they are wellbehaved when we are out.

Anyway off to enjoy my well earned holiday, so see you guys in 3 weeks time.  Or if anyone is going to Bournemouth Show please come and say hi!

Have a good August.

Lynn