Xasha passed her CGC!!

[Ayoka]

Originally Posted by nlavett

Ayoka,
No my breeder does not do agility. She does Schutzund, therapy, carting, herding and some sort of tracking. Thank you for the information. I am going to call our facility we have been taking classes at. They also offer training for sheep herding and agility. Thanks again! She is such a daddy's girl and he will be so excited if he can start this with her now.

Well if you find one of the non-jumping classes it might be worth asking her about it, and herding can be done young too I think you will all have loads of fun I am sure!!

[lengel]

Originally Posted by nlavett

I'm curious as to others opinions on this. As I stated, my husband is really looking forward to agility. Our breeder is ADAMANT (sp?) that we do not start it until 2 years of age. According to her it's too much stress on the hips before they are full grown.

Are there ways to start training for this without the stresses on joints that she is addressing?

ABSOLUTELY!! Technique and direction. You can teach cueing (following the hand), front crosses, rear crosses, passing through stanchions (the posts without the actual jump pole), driving ahead, wobbly board (very important so that she's not nervous about unstable footing, two on two off for hitting her contacts and/or downs on a mat for leaving an obstacle altogether. She can step through tires, walk across very low elevated boards, go through tunnels and have weave poles nailed before you even consider any activity that would challenge her joints. Learning to step over poles or ladder rungs is a really good idea too - she will learn foot placement or, as someone once put it to me, where her feet are. By the time you get to actual jumping, A-frames at full height, dog walks and seesaws, you could be at a point that they're a breeze.

[nlavett]

I can't thank all of you enough for this advice! We are thrilled we can start working on some of this now. I know Xasha is going to just love it (as are we). Thanks again! I'll post when we get started.

[GypsysMom]

Also on Amazon they have a small beginer agilty equipment set for $45 I think, with tunnels and small things to get your dog started.. Gypsy liked the agilty class we went to but she would freak out hearing the nails on the equipment, Now Cash doesnt like to jump like Gypsy he is more of a lover that wants to learn obedience, I start rally next Sunday and Im so excited..

[nlavett]

Thanks GypsysMom, we're going to look that up. It would be nice to have something here at home in addition to the training facility.