Where’s a good place to start my puppy with agility training in the Dallas area?
Posted: April 8th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: Common Questions | Tags: Agility, area, dallas, Good, place, Puppy, start, Training, Where's | 2 Comments »I’m wanting to start my puppy, Dixie, with some pre-agility training. I live in Dallas and I’ve seen some facilities online in the Dallas area that I’m considering. But I was wondering if anyone had suggestions about some good (or warnings about some not-so-good) places to do dog agility in the Dallas area.
puppies are still growing and changing you dont do that hard core training you will mess up the growing joints wait tell the dog is fullly grown before starting just work on basis training for now
http://googility.com/map/?startaddress=Dallas+TX&sa=Map+Search
Here are some places in the area, can’t tell you which one to go to. My suggestion is to visit the websites, and talk to the instructors, and go watch some classes. You already mention that you want a pre-agility class, which is great- look for someplace that focuses on foundation skills. Watch both a foundation class, and a higher level class. Look for dogs that are having fun and getting a lot of reinforcement, but aren’t out of control. In the higher level classes, dogs should be moving with a good amount of speed, not just trotting around a course. Talk to the instructors about what flavor of agility they compete in, if they go to seminars of any particular people, etc. Not that you’re ruling them out based on any particular answers, but get a feeling for how connected they are to the different styles of agility, and what they compete in. Flexibility is good, but can be overrated- people who use an eclectic mix of styles often don’t have a depth of knowledge of any one particular style, and have a more superficial knowledge base, not recognizing when a small issue will become a bigger one because they don’t see the relationships. Also ask about what kinds of dogs they have competed with, or what their students compete with. If you’ve got a Plott Hound, and all they’re used to are BCs, it may not be a good fit. While I’ve got a BC now, and so do the instructors I work with, both I and they have worked with a wide variety of dogs,and owned and shown several non-typical breeds.