[Lorina]

Beavis is ridiculously energetic, loves to run and jump, and learns very quickly. I think he'd have a blast at agility. How do you start training? Are there classes that teach agility, or do you set up your own obstacle coarse and teach them yourselves?

As a one-eyed, stubby legged Pekingese, I don't have any pipe dreams of him being great at it, but I think it would be fun for both of us.

[Keno's Mom]

Keno is trained in agility (we moved and no close by training facilitys, so we just do it at home for fun). She went to weekly and sometimes twice weekly training sessions at a separate facility. Look up dog agility training in your state/city and see what's close to you.

I'd go to a few of them and watch and see if that's what you are interested in. They usually ask for upfront money for a set period of weeks - 5-8 weeks at at time - in MN its around $10 a week.

Make sure your dog is healthy and has no heart problems as its a lot of running. Start in beginners. Good trainers are better then trying to do it yourself. They teach you the right way.

The basics needed are for your dog to be well trained in come, sit, stay and you'll be on leash for the first few weeks - then off-leash. So be sure your dog is trained in off-leash work in commands.

You'll have a lot of fun and meet new people/dogs. Keno would have continued and gone into some competition but we moved.

[MagicToller]

Yep, there are classes. Look up some local Kennel and Obedience clubs and find out when their next show is or get in contact with their training director. They will start you with light introductions to the obstacles and what not, or you can opt for private lessons at first to really get a feel for it.. I think it's a great choice for you and your Pek to start As mentioned above, health clearences are in order before you begin.

[opokki]

I recommend trying to find a class. In my area there are various levels offered by different trainers. There are some just for fun and others geared toward competition...obstacle fun class, pre-agility, beginner agility, masters agility, ect.

For practice outside of class, my trainer suggested that I take Natalie to the playground and work with the obstacles there. I haven't tried this yet since there have been children playing each time I've made an attempt.

Sebastian is so tiny I can easily practice with him indoors. So far I've only used a cat tunnel and I've set up a low jump using a curtain rod placed between the rungs of 2 chairs. Since your dog is small, I'm sure you could also set up some obstacles in your house or yard outside of classes.