When to start dog agility with your puppy

Puppy Agility Training

When should your new puppy start agility training? The answer is 4 to 5 months a puppy can start to learn dog agility! Even if you are not interested in competing you can still participate in dog agility with your new puppy.
Its recommended to see a vet and make sure your puppy is healthy enough before you start agility training. Breeds prone to hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, or vision problems should be carefully evaluated by your vet.

Safety
No collars that would choke or otherwise injure your puppy while doing agility.
Remember that a puppy’s body is still growing and not ready for the demands and stress some agility obstacles put on their little bodies until 17-20 months. Try to avoid high impact situations when training to lessen the stress on your puppy. Weaves have such an unnatural motion of the spine its recommended not to use the weaves until your puppy reaches at least 1 year of age. Jumps are another obstacle to start small, use a single jump and keep the jump bar only an inch or two off the ground, or leave the bar off at first.

Confidence
Dog agility training can be a great way to teach your puppy confidence. Puppies are learning sponges when they are young, so every agility obstacle learned builds puppy confidence. Using wobble boards is a popular method to teach confidence by getting the dog to slowly place more trust and weight on the obstacle. Adjustable dog agility equipment is another method for training new or timid dogs. An adjustable teeter that can be set flat to start the timid dog walking across then slowly moved up in height to the agility organization standard. Mini A-Frames are another great adjustable agility obstacle that can start flat and move up in height as the dog gets more confident. Just getting use to different surfaces will help build not only agility skills but self confidence in your puppy.

Bonding
Dog agility training with your puppy does more for bonding than basic “sit-stay” command training does. The two of you as a team will develop an understanding of each other that builds trust and develops confidence in both you and your puppy.

Vocabulary
This is a good time to start building agility vocabulary for you and your puppy. Dog agility has many different commands to start learning like “out”, “table”, “teeter”, “jump” and slowly working up to directional commands like “left” and “right”. Agility training continues what you start with basic obedience training. Make sure to use the same command for the same outcome; if you mean jump call “jump” not “tunnel”, this will help keep consistency in your agility training.

Tips

Have a good “sit” “down” and “stay” before agility training
Join a local dog agility class
Toys, food and encouragement are great puppy motivators
Keep it short and fun
You have to be more fun than any distraction around
Never force your puppy to do an obstacle