[YouMeandPupMakes3]

I looked at the recent thread on this subject, but with nearly 300 replies, I thought it would be eaiser to just ask. LOL Sorry if this is a repeat.

At what age should a dog/pup begin agility training? I heard somewhere that a dog should be one year old or above. Is this an accurate age?
Thanks!

 

[Squeeker]

If the agility school in question has puppy levels (which usually include very low jumps, teeters, a-frames, and dog walks) then start whenever you like! Otherwise, you should probably wait until the dog's growth plates are closed which, depending on the breed, will be between 1 and 2 years of age.

Basic obedience (sit, down, stay, recall, and leave it) are a must as a pre-requisite, IMO.

 

[agility collie mom]

Basic obedience and focus skills are a must before beginning agility. Depending on the breed of the dog as Squeeker stated 1-2 years. Puppies are not allowed to do any jumping before the age of 1 where I take lessons with my dogs. Growth plates can be damaged if jumping begins too early in life. Tunnels can be a fun start for a puppy. Buy a kids play tunnel (you have a little girl have her crawl through the tunnel and encourage the puppy to follow.)

 

[Lonewolfblue]

A lot of places will have classes, such as the Agility Foundations class here, which can be taken by younger dogs because there's no real jumping. It's a class that works more on the dogs focus, and when we did some of the obsticles, the jumps were all at the lowest setting, which the dogs could easily walk over. But for the actual Agility classes, usually you don't want to start til around 18 months to 2yrs. I started Nell in Rally at first, but because of her energy levels, we went to Agility Foundations. She was about 16 months when we first started. We took the class a couple times. Nell then started Agility 1&2 at 22 months, she's now 2yrs and 4 months.