What age to start agility?

[ShellyBelly]

Our Mandie just had her first birthday. She had done some basic agility training a few times at the end of her obedience classes just as a treat (small jumps, a little tunnel). She seemed to really like it. I found a great agility trainer in my area who has an intro course starting in a month. My question is can Mandie start full obedience traning at 13 months? I had read in some of the rottweiler books that you shouldn't do agility training/jumping till your rottie is 2 years old. This seems like an awfully long time to wait, especially since Mandie is pretty much full grown. She jumps in/out of the car and on/off the bed - so I can't see much difference in that to doing agility training.

She's also much better behaved when she is in some sort of training (physical and mental stimulation). So, it would help my sanity as well.

I would really love to start her in agility, but I don't want to hurt her.

Any opinions or experience here would be helpful.

Thanks.

[DNeff]

It is a great idea to start some low impact agility training at this age. Just be aware that jump heights should be below elbow height and all contact obstacles should be about half of their normal height.
I would wait until about 18 months to start weave pole training, full height contact equipment and higher jumps. We actually start dogs out on tunnels and ground poles at about 6 months. We use mini a-frames, teeter boards, and mini wide board dog walks specificly to build puppy coordination and confidence.
Be sure to keep sessions, short and positive.
Make sure to have your dogs hips and elbows checked by the vet. The vet can see how things are going and warn you of any potential problems that might develop.
Keep your dog's weight on the light side.
The sport is highly addictive, be warned!
Enjoy!
Dawn
U-CD Cammcastle's Mystic Riven NA NAC NGC TT CGC