Above: Kane-Ein "Cassie" of Noonmark CD, NA, AXJ, AD, NAC, EJC, OGC, CGC, TDInc
Agility
~Jennifer Kavanaugh w/ Elsa Rose and Maggie Mae
At the end of 1998, I started thinking about getting a new dog. Since I loved doing agility with my then current dog, a 6 year old yellow Lab, I knew I would be looking for a new dog with some kind of agility in it's future. Border Collies rule in agility, but I didn't think I was quite ready for such a potential high-energy dog to add to my life. An Australian Shepherd looked like a good possibility. But for some reason I was always attracted by the German Shepherds I saw at agility trials. It seemed like a GSD would have the good work ethic of herding dogs like Border Collies, but a little lower energy level. I spoke to many of the other handlers with GSD's and ended up discouraged by all the warnings about the potential health and temperament problems existing with the breed. I also wasn't sure I could afford the expense of getting a dog from a breeder. Add to that I knew I wanted a GSD on the physically small side, to help with the 'agile' side of agility. So I kind of put the whole thing on the back burner to think about in the vague future.
In June 1999 I got a call from an agility friend who also breeds GSD's. She said she had a female GSD for me if I wanted it, and at a price I could afford. I asked what the catch was, and she told me they had just returned from the vet's after testing a litter of 7 week old puppies for mega-esophagus. They suspected one of the males had the condition (it's genetic) but testing had shown 2 males and 1 female testing positive. She had called me first to ask if I wanted the female! The good news was the condition seemed to be minor for all 3 of the pups, so it would be something I'd have to watch, but it would probably not be a serious problem for them. Condition of taking any of the 3 pups was, of course, that they had to be neutered/spayed. After just a 10-minute phone conversation, I picked up my new female GSD 3 days later! (BTW, the mega-esophagus thing has NOT been an issue, re-tested at about 1 year and almost entirely grown out of it)
I just love agility because it is 100% positive training, all about having fun with you and your dog, and almost all the other people involved in the sport are doing it for the same reason. I just kind of fumbled into it with my Lab because it seemed like another fun thing to do with her. But after trialing for a few years with her I knew I wanted my next dog to be trained for agility from the very beginning!
SOCIALIZATION:
The best thing you can do for your dog in it's life, and it's a huge help in agility also, is to get it well socialized from the first day it enters your house. I mean used to anything and everything you can think of. Noises/sights/strange dogs/new people/the car/crates/small children EVERYTHING!
You never know what can happen at a trial. Whether it's a Novice dog jumping out of it's ring and over into the one you are in with your dog, or it's someone's car alarm going off right next to the ring you are running in, or the high winds blow a tent over and it's flying across near your ring, or spectators eating food at the edge of the ring, or deer poop all over the trial ring, WHATEVER! If all that is a 'normal' part of your dog's life, they won't freak out at or get totally distracted when you are at the trial site. You have enough to worry about in the ring with the obstacles, the course and your handling. You can't also be worried about all the unexpected things that may come up. Add to that how much calmer your dog will be if nothing fazes them because you did such a good job for the years leading up to it to make sure that you have a confident and happy dog. I have found that my ability to control other people, their dogs, the environment, or any other conditions at a trial (or in life) is pretty minimal. BUT my ability to fully prepare my dog to take anything in stride, THAT I have a lot of control over and that is the end I work on.
OBEDIENCE TRAINING:
You and your dog do not need high levels of obedience before starting agility. Eventually you will need to have the dog be able to 'sit', 'down', 'stay or wait', and a good off leash 'come'. None of these need to be 'perfect' like in an obedience ring. You'll work to get them FAST, but if they lay on one hip, or sit crooked, it doesn't matter a bit. The fact I did so much obedience work with my first dog ended up hurting us in the Excellent levels. I had unintentionally taught her to be a very careful dog that wanted to make sure (absolutely sure) she was doing what I wanted her to do on the course. This did not make for a dog that was running FAST and for FUN and going around the course with joy. It made for a dog that did a great job at running clean (no mistakes) and we went up to the advance levels in record time. Problem was that the advanced levels have a shorter course time, and that's where 'careful' is not always enough. It's so discouraging to run the course clean and come up a mere 1-second over time.
Agility also has the dog working equally off of your right and left sides where Obedience pretty much always has the dog in 'heel' off your left. Once again, in the beginning levels a clever handler can figure out a way to work out a course so they can have the dog in it's comfortable spot on the left, but when you move up to the advance levels, you are in trouble. Your dog needs to be comfortable working equally well on a handler's right side as well as working a distance away.
I was determined to do better with my GSD puppy. I worked all the commands in my house, in the kitchen with lots of food treats from day one. We entered a group obedience class at 6 months, traditional training with no treats. I prefer group classes because of the continued socialization aspect with all the other dogs and people. I think it gets your dog used to listening to you with all the distractions in the room. We only did 12 weeks of Obedience, followed by 6 weeks of an 'Attention' type class (getting to use food and treats for this).
AGILITY TRAINING:
You do not want to start stressing your puppies bones before the growth plates stop growing, which differs from dog to dog and for different breeds. So you do not want your puppy jumping very high, or performing the weave poles, or slamming down the a-frame at full height. That said there is still tons of agility training you can do with a young dog. The most important thing is to always keep anything having to do with agility or the equipment fun for you and your dog. Always end the session with the dog wanting to do more.
Clicker training: Clickers are a very useful tool for training our dogs. A clicker is a small plastic box that has a metal tab in it that makes a 'click' noise when you press it. You press the clicker the exact second your dog does something right and the sound becomes the 'bridge' between the behavior you want and the reward the dog is going to now get (usually food but can be praise or play with a toy).
Clickers do work and are another amazing tool we can use to get the message to our dogs about what we want. Done properly the dog learns to really think for itself and offer behaviors to try to earn that wonderful click sound. I started my Elsa learning about a clicker very early on.
Group Classes: I recommend group agility classes. So much fun and they have all the equipment, some of which is quite expensive, available to learn. Class atmosphere is very like that of a trial (modified chaos!) After the first 6 months or so, your dog knows how to do the individual pieces of equipment. The problem for the YEARS to come is all about you, as the handler, getting the message to your beloved dog about the proper sequences of the equipment. A good place to learn about clubs or schools in your area is at:
I have been going to classes for years and will probably continue to do so. The sport is always developing and changing with new handler skills coming up to learn and try with your dog. A good instructor will be going to seminars to continue to learn, and bring these new skills back to help teach in class.
BACKYARD EQUIPMENT:
If you decide to continue in agility (and who wouldn't), you will eventually start making or purchasing equipment for your yard. PVC is a miracle material for making jumps, cheap and easy to work with. 4 jumps are usually enough to start with. PVC Jump Plans shows some plans for making jumps, but those clever crafters out there may come up with their own plans. The other most important equipment that you need to get some form of is the weave poles. I can't stress enough that the earlier you get your dog started on these, the more likely you will get your dog to LOVE them, running thru fun and fast. I vastly prefer the 'channel method' of learning weaves because by placing 2 rows of weaves side by side allowing the dog to run thru, no bending around the poles at all in the beginning, there is no stress on a young dogs spine and no stress on any age dogs mind! Tossing a toy as they tear out the end is all the incentive most dogs need to start off loving the weaves. Gradually (and I mean GRADUALLY) pushing the 2 rows together so your dog starts to bend around each pole while still tearing thru to the end, continues with the 'joy' of the weaves for both of you. An example of a type of channel weaves can be found at:
Real agility tunnels are quite expensive, but that's because they are made of really tough materials and can actually be left outside. For my yard I bought a more reasonably priced tunnel and have been very pleased. If you have a choice of colors, I'd go for which ever is the darkest (blue?) because it seems some dogs have problems when they practice on a light colored tunnel, and later have to use the darker ones.
GENERAL INFORMATION:
A great site to look at with general information on agility can be found here. Good explanations of the different agility organizations. You do NOT have to have an AKC purebred dog to trial. If you have a GSD without papers, you can go to the AKC site, follow the directions and get an ILP # (Indefinite Listing Privilege) that will allow you to enter the AKC trials. There are other agility organizations that are as much (if not more fun) to enter and you can have a purebred or mixed GSD. The other organizations actually give you more opportunities to run your dog during the day, more games (more challenges) and are really a lot of fun. I have run Elsa in both AKC, and USDAA trials, and we are members of NADAC but just haven't had an opportunity to go to their trials yet. All the 'flavors' of agility are fun and just different enough to keep things challenging!
Need to get more German Shepherds into agility to start really giving those Border Collies a run for their money! Hope everyone is now considering agility with their dogs, for fun even if you don't trial. Run fast, run clean and have fun!
