# What age to start agility and dock diving?



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

How many obedience classes have you or your son completed with Duke? A decent obedience skill set is the best foundation to begin anything fun with your dog. In addition to sit and down, stay and wait and recall are good things to have. Plus the activities you've mentioned will be very exciting for your puppy and having some control over him will go a long way to making this fun for you all and getting your money's worth out of your classtime. It's no fun to have a dog in agility class that won't listen. I would contact those clubs again and ask about foundation classes (they will usually have an intro or 'puppy' class that gets dogs used to things without a lot of jumping etc.) You can also build your own wobble board, buy a tunnel to play around with at home etc.

Dock diving is more for fun and the best thing you can do for that is to build his love of retrieving and water. Again, contacting the clubs in your area to find out how they recommend starting would probably be the easiest thing. They should be very encouraging and helpful in getting started.

Have you all had Duke in handling classes for conformation? It is a more skilled past time than it first appears and going to class for the handler and the dog would be worth your time if you don't have a mentor who has been working with you.


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## Arnispinay (Oct 26, 2016)

nolefan said:


> How many obedience classes have you or your son completed with Duke? A decent obedience skill set is the best foundation to begin anything fun with your dog. In addition to sit and down, stay and wait and recall are good things to have. Plus the activities you've mentioned will be very exciting for your puppy and having some control over him will go a long way to making this fun for you all and getting your money's worth out of your classtime. It's no fun to have a dog in agility class that won't listen. I would contact those clubs again and ask about foundation classes (they will usually have an intro or 'puppy' class that gets dogs used to things without a lot of jumping etc.) You can also build your own wobble board, buy a tunnel to play around with at home etc.
> 
> Dock diving is more for fun and the best thing you can do for that is to build his love of retrieving and water. Again, contacting the clubs in your area to find out how they recommend starting would probably be the easiest thing. They should be very encouraging and helpful in getting started.
> 
> Have you all had Duke in handling classes for conformation? It is a more skilled past time than it first appears and going to class for the handler and the dog would be worth your time if you don't have a mentor who has been working with you.


Niko and Duke have been going to handling class since December. They have leaps and bounds in improvement but still have a long way to go. They did really well in the beginner 4 to 6 month puppy class. Next month Duke will be 6 months so Niko will show him in the juniors class.

Duke has had puppy classes and next week he will start basic obedience.


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## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

Oriole Dog Training Club has a Foundations for Agility class geared for pups as young as 5.5 months. The instructor is phenomenal, the skills taught build on obedience & start teaching body awareness, teach you about physical conditioning like stretching & building core strength. There is nothing high impact, no weave poles, everything age appropriate. 

As for Dock Diving, Hog Dog productions has the standard competition pool as well as baby pool w/ ramp. Like Nolefan, I consider Dock Diving to be more for fun, squeeze it in w/ showing & obedience, several of the larger shows offer Dock Diving.

And don't forget to check out PVGRC.org, we start up our field training days again next month.


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## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

6 months is a fine age to start both. In fact, we start our puppies with the foundations at 8 weeks or even younger. However, NO JUMPING in agility until about 20-24 mos., depending on closure of growth plates.

Dock diving is more fun? Hm. I think it depends on the dog. I have one dog (Gibbs) who loves dock diving as much as life itself (and just a little less than hunt/field work, which he loves more than life). As for agility, he likes it when he's doing it, but isn't nuts over it. I have another dog (Ziva) who is agility crazy. Found her by herself up on the dog walk at about 5 months old (eek!), and she took to all the "hard" objects immediately. Fast, courageous, boundless enthusiasm for agility, but couldn't care less about dock diving. So I think it depends on the dog.

We are training our 8-week old puppy (Khaleesi) on the teeter, wobble board and the A-frame, and she's taking to those very well, like her mother (Ziva). She likes the kiddy pool, too, though, so we'll see what she takes to. We started Khaleesi with bird wings at 6 weeks. It's never to young to start giving them foundations and developing courage.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

I don't know about dock diving, but you can start agility when the dog is about 6 months old. The first couple of months is usually spent on foundation stuff: crosses, directional commands, wobble boards, contact boxes, jump wings with bars on the ground. Then low contact obstacles and 6" jumps. No weaving until after 12 months. There's lots to work on! For agility to be fun (for the handler!), you need a good base in obedience: the dog needs to follow the handler, and needs a decent recall.

With my current pup, 15 months old, he's been in obedience training all his life (is now doing rally classes), and in agility classes since he was about 6 months old. It's a lot of fun.


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## Kim1607 (Aug 6, 2015)

*Starting Agility*

We're planning on starting Agility with George at the end of April. He'll be 15 months old. We're in small town Illinois so we don't have a lot of options for training etc. He's had 6 obedience classes and only failed his AKC one because he would not go to down with no treat. 

Should we just not let him do any jumps if they try to have him do them?


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Kim1607 said:


> We're planning on starting Agility with George at the end of April. He'll be 15 months old. We're in small town Illinois so we don't have a lot of options for training etc. He's had 6 obedience classes and only failed his AKC one because he would not go to down with no treat.
> 
> Should we just not let him do any jumps if they try to have him do them?


Beginner agility class, and for puppies under 2 years, should only have foundation skills, you wouldn't be introduced to jumps until the dogs is old enough, and has had foundation agility.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

Kim1607 said:


> We're planning on starting Agility with George at the end of April. He'll be 15 months old. We're in small town Illinois so we don't have a lot of options for training etc. He's had 6 obedience classes and only failed his AKC one because he would not go to down with no treat.
> 
> Should we just not let him do any jumps if they try to have him do them?


In the foundation classes he won't be doing jumps, only bars on the ground or 6" jumps at most. If the trainer suggests putting him over full-height jumps right away, leave the class. You have to work up to it. My dog has been doing agility training for a year and is still nowhere near his full height jumps.


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## Kim1607 (Aug 6, 2015)

Well, that's what I'm worried about- it's not a Foundation class, it's very informal. Can he do tires?


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

As someone who does dock diving, I can't think of any reason not to start now. Definitely take a session of classes if you can. Shala was a great swimmer and loved to leap off docks, and had a solid sit (to wait at the end of the dock) but doing the classes was tons of fun and great to get a good foundation. I consider dock diving pure fun. There are some people who are VERY competitive about it, but to me it's just fun. If we get ribbons, it's just a bonus.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

Kim1607 said:


> Well, that's what I'm worried about- it's not a Foundation class, it's very informal. Can he do tires?


Yes, he can do the tire! Just lower it down to the ground.

Have fun!


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