# puppy agility



## Collie1 (May 29, 2012)

Hi 

My bc pup is nearly 7 months and we started puppy agility a few wks ago he loves it - now he does the tunnels , the table , the weaves ( not properly though) 
And poles on the floor as jumps

Our usual place closed down so this evening I took him to another 'just for fun' class 

He was doing the tyre,tunnels, a frame , seasaw dog walk table. Small jumps and the well 
I'm not sure he should be doing all that equipment just yet I mean he enjoyed himself but am I right in thinking he shouldn't be doing all that?


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## hazel pritchard (Jun 28, 2009)

Your puppy is much to young to be doing all this at agility, his bones/etc are still growing, i am amazed a agility club will allow such a young puppy to do all this, pups should not be doing this untill they are over 12 months old.


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## Milliepoochie (Feb 13, 2011)

Even the fun clubs here (Or certainly the ones I have phoned) wouldnt touch a dog under 12 months. 

Certainly where we go now the dog needs a good 'wait' recall and be good around others - Ie able to sit and wait and not being pulling / to excited when watching others / in a group environment. 

Which I initially thought was harsh but as the trainer rightly points out we are here to learn agility not obidience / general training 

I would concentrate on general training these elements first before getting your dog doing some of the activities which are hard on their joints.


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## DogTrainer01 (Apr 13, 2011)

As others have said would really avoid equipment at your puppies age, far too young. Have you done any foundation work with him? For instance, blind cross drills, acceleration and deceleration work, circle work. 
You could also do some body awareness tricks - walking backwards, elephant trick etc. 

My BC is now 11 months. Been jumping small height for around a month now and before that jump bumps for a couple of months. We don't do massive courses, our exercises mostly consist of 1 or 2 jumps unless we're doing grid work.


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## Oenoke (Oct 17, 2009)

As I said on another forum, I wouldn't do anything with a pup of your boy's age, but poles on the floor between wings, tunnel and plank on the floor for contacts. Weaves are the worst piece of equipment for a growing dog because of the bending and shouldn't be done until a year old (unless it is open channel weaves and then these shouldn't be closed at all until the dog is a year old). My girls started doing low jumps at 10 months old and started to learn v-weaves at 12 months old. I don't see the rush, your dog has years ahead of him, there's lots of things to teach without the equipment for puppies.


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Your dog is way too young to be doing all that. He shouldn't be jumping at all, or bending in the weaves.

You can train contacts (plank on the ground or with one end slightly raised - say something the height of a brick or two under the high end - make sure it's safe and steady). You can do tunnels too, but dogs trained on them too young can become 'tunnel happy' -later they will bog off and take tunnels on the course when they feel like it.

Things you can work on now:
wait
directions - left, right, towards handler, away from handler
circle work - raise your arm and the dog moves farther from you, drop your arm for the dog to move closer in the circle
calling in between jump wings
pushing back between jump wings
send on - dog runs between jump wings with poles on the ground, work up to a line of 3 or more jumps but do it gradually

I also started Kite on wide-open channel weaves when she was 10 months, and had her confidently getting the entry from all angles and moving fast through them before starting to close the gap when she was a year old.
She's been competing 18 months now, and is in G6.


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## Jannet (Oct 23, 2012)

Every god have to train after 12 months otherwise it can be a problem for the borne. Because borne are become strong after year that means dogs teenage age.


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