I am still figuring freestyle out but the basic response for both sports is you don't have to be coordinated or graceful at all!
I would say the most coordination-heavy parts are memorizing the routine for freestyle and doing the obstacles in order for agility (there are cones with numbers but it's best to know the course). When I did agility I was the only person who regularly forgot the course and had to stop to find the next number. And in freestyle, I regularly do the routine wrong. But I promise it doesn't matter as long as you let it roll off your back and have fun!
This one time I did the routine perfectly but the instructor was not pleased because it was too "handler focused" and not "dog focused." I guess I was trying too hard to get each step right and not letting things flow. Really, it's all about building your relationship with your dog! You can do it!!

 

Not that I've done either sport, but I don't think your coordination is that important - that's something that will improve with practice anyway.

Unless your hope is to get to the top levels of the sport, and I don't get the impression that's your goal, then you just need to show up and have fun with your dog. I'm sure you'll do fine!

You also never know until you try. I have a friend who is the biggest clutz on earth, yet she's also a great dancer. She can't manage to be graceful in her normal life, but when she's doing something focused she's really graceful. You might just need the practice of focusing on your body movements and having someone instruct you to get the hang of it.

 

I don't do freestyle so I can't really comment on what the needs of the handler brings to the table. I do agility though.

I see all sorts of shapes, sizes, and physical abilities on the agility field. Some of those shapes, sizes, and physical abilities you wouldn't think would do well in an active dog sport are big gun handlers. Some of them have handling skills that don't rely on them being able to run well. It does take some time for handling maneuvers to feel second nature and smooth...but that comes with practice and mileage. I say try it...what do you have to lose?? I wouldn't consider myself to be athletic...I never did sports in high school or took dance lessons as a kid. I was a nerd. LOL But, I am hopelessly addicted to running agility with my dogs. You never know...you might be bitten by the freestyle or agility bug and couldn't imagine it not being in your life.

 

Thanks! Once Katie has more of the basics mastered, we'll try more advanced classes. We don't have any plans to compete, but Katie is smart and enthusiastic and I'm sure she'd love more active classes.

 

If you're not looking to compete, it doesn't matter.

We have an older lady (mid 60s?) in our advanced agility classes with a cock-a-poo... She has no idea what a cross is, reaches with her far arm at least once per class, trips over obstacles, and her glasses fall off a lot. She's never hurt, she takes it in stride and we all laugh together after we make sure she's ok. She knows she isn't the best handler every and knows there's nothing wrong with that. Her dog has a great time and that's all that matters.

 

there was an awesome, awesome team running this weekend at nationals. I do not know who the handler was, but the lady only had one leg and was doing the entire course on crutches. Her sheltie was beautifully trained to work at a distance. I saw two of their runs and both were clean and beautiful.

I've taken jumps before with my dog. You lose track of yourself doing a cross and BAM the jump is right in front of you. It happens.

I saw several handlers at nationals bite the dirt.

 

I do freestyle with Pixie, and I have absolutely no talent with music or dancing, but they keep reassuring me that it doesn't matter at all, because it's not really about dancing. It's about showing off your dog, and the dog does all the hard work. You do have to learn some basic things about music though. We have a former dance teacher in our class, and she has done a couple of sessions where she's explained beats and counting and rhythm and whatnot. And she's a dancer, and she says freestyle isn't really like dancing at all.

And unless you're planning to compete, it doesn't matter. I still can't move to music, but I have fun teaching the tricks and watching Pixie have fun

 

That's so interesting, because my freestyle teacher, who was also a professional dancer and I think has something to do with the creation of the freestyle sport, does things completely differently. In fact, it seems like the more 'tricks' I throw in (sideways walking, spinning, etc) the worse my performance is. At least according to everyone else in the class; I can't see what I'm doing But if I just walk around the room and switch sides a few times, they all think it's beautiful. Part of me gets it; rhythm, flow, and teamwork are more important than flashy nonsense. But honestly I don't get 80% of what comes out of my teacher's mouth. I ADORE her and the class, to be clear! It's just so theory heavy.

 

Since this was commented on again, I'll share my most recent experience. Over the weekend, I volunteered at an agility trial hosted by the dog training club I joined. It was very encouraging to see that not all the dogs were perfect (they skipped equipment, ran the wrong way, ran out of the ring, got to the top of the A-frame and barked at the audience) and the handlers seemed like normal people (not endowed with super-handler abilities ) One gentleman was using a cane and had limited to no use of one arm; he had two dogs there who were excellent! I left feeling very hopeful that Katie and I could at least do classes Oh, and I was cold, so very cold...but that's another story.

 

Even at nationals I saw dogs just stop mid course, stop on the a frame and howling, take wrong equipment, refuse, pop out of the weaves, etc. gotta remember they're still animals and if hey don't wanna that day... Then there's not much you can do except laugh and try it next time.

 

I have probably done everything in the Agility ring, gone over a jump with my dog twice because I was so busy watching Remmy and all of a sudden it was either jump or fall, fell over the wing of a jump and Remmy still Q'd as he stopped dead till I got up and continued on. I went back to taking some handling classes as I always forget I have a left arm and did all my directing with my right arm regardless of where I wanted Remmy to go (which was really getting him confused). I just use the excuse "I am old" but we sure have fun.

 

Looks like Remmy' first class, first Agility trial for this year. He started off great, then he was off, racing around the ring, would come back and do the next couple of obstacles, then off again. You just had to laugh as he was having so much fun. The crowd just loves it and after all that is what Agility is all about, the dog having fun.

You just hope he does not do it every class!