Video Transcript

I am going to be talking about beginner agility. So as far as breed and size, this is Scout, Scoutie sit, Good girl! She is a mixed breed adopted from a shelter and she weighs about 38 pounds, but I have had dogs of all sizes¡­ Scoutie down¡­ and all breeds and mixes. Unlike breed shows, agility welcomes all dogs whether they are mixed breeds, whether they are big, small; everything from a Yorkie to a Great Dane can play agility. So one another thing you should think about is ¡°does my dog listen to me a little bit?¡± Does the dog know how to sit? Does the dog stay? And mostly does the dog enjoy doing stuff with me? In agility, responsiveness to the handler is really more important than their athletic abilities. That being said, I have seen a lot of dogs become in better shape, lose weight and also become more attentive to their handler as a result of doing agility, so basically I welcome any dog into my class. One thing that you might think about is ¡°has my dog been to new places?¡± ¡°Have they interacted with other dogs?¡± But we do start beginner agility all on leash and so mostly the dogs are near their handlers and not are not going to be interacting with each other, but if you take the prerequisite obedience class, it will certainly help, Scout is exhausted already, okay, Scout, a couple of little things that would be good for the dog to know are sit!, a sit command, Stay! and I am going to reward her with a little treat for stay, also¡­ Scoutie ready? Okay come. Having the dog come to you is good. They don¡¯t need to know a heel but being able to have them sit next to you is always helpful. Okay, another little plus is Scoutie down!, Good girl¡­ I also like to teach my dogs a lot of tricks but you don¡¯t need to know too many tricks to start agility. So one other thing you might think about is finding a good training program in your area. You can check out the Internet and often you can call local vet¡¯s offices and find out if somebody is teaching agility, Sit! Call them and ask them what their experience is, how long they have been teaching agility and also go visit a class, watch a class, see if it is something you would be comfortable with because you want to go into a program where you and your dog are going to get the most out of it.