When, what, why, who, how or
Agility is good for dogs part II

It’s interesting, some people responded by “exactly the way I’m thinking” to my Agility is good for dogs article, while others commented that “you might be right, but I prefer to err on the side of caution and don’t work at all until 1 year of age” – seems like somebody didn’t understand my point… My point is exactly that I prefer to err on the side  of caution too… Only that *I* think that starting early is BETTER and SAFER for the dog as starting later in life because when bones&joints are still developing, you can make them develop into stronger bones&joints, while limiting puppy’s activity will result in weaker bones&joints.

I do know that majority's opinion is that starting young is not good. BUT - just because it's majority's opinion, it doesn't mean it's true, does it? When in a history was majority right anyway??? Hm... Never? How many leaders were elected by majority that did lots of bad for mankind? How many people were convicted for opinions that majority found wrong and dangerous while we all know today they’re simple facts? Didn’t every thought that was not majority’s thought got attacked by majority? Even if time had shown that it was truth and nothing but the truth?

Yeah, I’m philosopher by education. The dangers of tyranny of majority was one of my favourite topics. I have long history of fighting against opinions that are understood as truth just because majority thinks so. I guess I was personally never so affected by majority because I was never too interested in what other people thought. I was always interested in dogs only. I didn’t listen when majority thought Aiken would never be able to run a course. I didn’t listen when majority told me that Lo would never be able to do agility because of her fear of heights. I didn’t listen when majority told me that I couldn’t succeed with La because she wouldn’t stay on the start line. I didn’t listen when majority told me that Bu would never be any good since she showed no drive as a puppy. And I didn’t listen when majority told me that even though I got running contacts on La, I would never get them with a BC.

Of course, you have every right to have your opinion, I don't care if you start after 12th month if you think it's in the best interest of your dog. I understand that everything you do, you do it because you believe that it's best for your dog and I don't want you to do anything different. I just want you to understand that even though I'm doing the opposite of what you're doing, I'm doing it because I believe it's in best interest of my dogs too. My opinion is based on researches with jumping horses, on facts that my boyfriend who is a doctor is telling me about development of human's musculoskeletal system, on my vet's opinion and on what she sees after she takes an x-ray of my 10-year-old dog (that had her first agility training at 7 weeks!) and on my own observation of mine and my students' dogs.

Yes, while you might think that making a young dog go through 5 low jumps two times a week is a trauma that might cause problems, *I* think that it's a preparation for long and healthy life, free of injuries. I think that if you keep your puppy away from activity, their muscle&tendons will in fact be so weak that a puppy jumping off the couch might end up with problems.  I also think that if you don't jump a dog at all until 12th month and then heave jumps to full height in a couple of months, you're ruining your dog's joints which are not ready for the job and even more, since there is no muscle, needed for jumping, built in a dog like that (even if he is otherwise well fit and regularly on walks), stress on joints is really huge and this is something *I* would never do to my dog.

It’s like limiting running&jumping to a kid until he is 25 or so (that’s the time that famous growth plates that some agility handlers are x-raying to see if they’re closed before they start any kind of jumping with the dog, close in humans) and then all of the sudden make them play soccer two times a week… How good could that be for their knees??? In that game that kids play with jumping over elastic band (Gummitwist or Elastics), I did more jumping as a little girl as my dogs ever will and my joints are all fine, thank you for your concernJ.

Of course, I'm also not advocating to drill puppies over jumps, but I do think that starting early and then going really, really slowly prepares a body and you're risking LESS as you do if you start jumping adult dog all of the sudden. Researches in horses showed the same and you can also read what research on people showed on my website with “Agility is good for dogs” article.

 
All this data is telling me the same thing: starting early, certainly BEFORE the development is finished, helps building muscle&bone and will make your dog stay fit LONGER as if you don't do it. That's also my answer to a question how I keep them fit for so long: early agility, walking them for at least 2 hours every day and at least 6 hours in the mountains every week - but it's not a real program, I do it because I love hiking in the mountains and it's my major reason to have dogs. Agility is really not so important to me. I certainly wouldn't climb mountains for that!

But one thing is sure: anything I do, I don’t do it for the sake of results. The reason why I start early is because I think it’s better for the dogs. The reason why I train running contacts is because I love all running aspects of agility and none of static aspects of agility (that’s also the answer to a question why I don’t have start line stays or stopped contacts or why I hate table – I just find all this very very boring, I’m in agility to play with my dogs and staying still is just not our idea of fun, sorry, wrong person, wrong dogs). The reason why I try to make my turns as tight as it gets is because I believe that the beauty of the sport is in the details, because it’s in the details that things get interesting. For example, I only got to love obedience when I figured out it’s all about the details. Sure, if heel, sit and down are just heel, sit and down to you, things are really boring, but when you go into the details, things get interesting: how to train that or another detail, that’s where all the challenge, all the fun and all the passion starts.

That’s what I like about agility: training for details, discovering new way of training details. I don’t like competing too much, but it’s too easy to be perfect in training, so I need to compete to get new challenges. What I’m looking for in competition is nice, fluid, fast and happy run. About the placement: I couldn’t care less. I have had enough placements that I don’t need any more. And when people ask “gosh, how does it feel to stand on a podium on WC?”, all I can say is: boring. I would very much prefer to spend that time running my dogs as to stand there and smile. It’s a thrill to run on WC, that’s true, but to stand on a podium… How could something like that be anything else but boring??? And when people ask “gosh, how many cups do you have at home?”, I have to admit I have none. Not even one single cup, not even those from WC. Why would I have them? I’m really not proud of my results. I’m only proud of my dogs, I think they’re the smartest, cutest and funniest dogs in the world and I make sure they know that, I make sure they know I’m their biggest fan from their first to their last day, no matter what happens.

Yeah, all I care about is to have happy, healthy dogs that like to play with me. And everything I do, I do it because I believe it's in their best interest.

You might not agree with me, you certainly don't have to, I'm actually very interested to hear on what data you made your conclusion that agility before 12th month is bad, I might learn something from it. But I would appreciate if you did the same: instead of accusing me that I'm torturing my puppy for the sake of results, you could read my "Agility is good for the dogs" where I explain what I'm doing and why. I'm not saying I'm right and you're wrong in whether it's good to start early or not. What I'm saying is that you're completely and absolutely wrong if you think that what I’m doing is for the sake of results and you can check with anybody that knows me to tell you that it's not true.

Now to an answer to a question when to start with agility:

There is no one general answer to this question. I actually never ask how old the dog is, but instead look at the dog. He might be 2 years old, but if he is fat or unfit, I will send a handler home and ask him to get a dog in a proper condition before I let them do anything. Agility is not a good place to try to make a dog lose weight or get fit.

 
Now, if we're talking about healthy, fit dog, I look at how coordinated he is, how much awareness he has of his body. At what age a dog realizes where all his feet are depends on breed, individual characteristic and also all the work that was done before. If a dog spent his entire life in a crate, he will never get very coordinated. If you play a lot with a puppy, let him run loose in the woods and teach him tricks that make him more aware of his body (backward walking, backward weaving between legs, backward climbing stairs, hind feet targeting, sitting pretty, cavaletti work etc.), he will be able to use his body much better. Still, I did even more of those things with Bu as I did with La, but La mentally&physically developed way faster than Bu for example. Bu was really slow, much slower as most other BCs, partly because of her long legs, partly because of her strange mind.

 
With La, I started agility related work (left&right, go on etc.) at 7 weeks, and with tunnels&jumps with bars on the floor and with plank work (running up and down the plank on the ground) at 2,5 months. At 5 months, she looked like an adult dog. Still, I didn't get to her final jump height (45cm) until she was 15 months.

 
With Bu, I had enough other problems that I only had time to start with agility related work (cik&cap, left&right, plank on the ground) at 3,5 months. I only did what I can do in my living room since she was still not interested in anything outside. At about 4,5 months, I was able to start working on our agility field, I did just cik&caps (wrapping) around jump wings & tunnels for at least a month, with no bars at all. Those that know my cik&cap turns, knows that you need to introduce and then heave a bar really slowly. I don't remember at what height I was at particular age, I know I put bars on 55cm for the first time when she was 11 months and I think I'll heave them to 65cm after she is 15 months, she still doesn't even look as an adult, despite she is pretty coordinated by now. I think she ran full-size dog-walk for the first time when she was 6 months, but started to regularly work it when she was 8 months and I started with A-frame when she was about 10 months. With weave-poles, I normally start around 6th month, but I use channel method, so a dog is just running straight for weeks. Bu, however, is natural-born-talent for weaves, I think she could learn them in like 5 days if I wanted. Of course, I didn't want it, so I stopped a training for several months as soon as she would need to do any weaving and only started again at 10 months. She learned in no time. Now, I do weave-poles maximum 2 times per training (I train 2 to 3 times a week) with her.

Anyway: none of this is totally exact, I don't keep any records, I just watch a dog and make sure she is comfortable with everything she does. General rule could be that you should watch a dog and if you see that he needs to put any kind of effort into anything he does, then you should stop right away. All jumping, running, climbing and weaving should be done completely effortless, with ease and with complete awareness & control of all legs.

Also, you should be aware that you can do 95% of work without any agility equipment involved. I could run any jumping course with no weaves on Bu's THIRD (and La's FIRST) training on agility field. Why? Because she can read my body language since she is with me 24 hours a day, because she knows cik&cap that you can teach by circling any object you want, like a tree, because she knew left&right&go on. What else does one need for course work? Nothing. That's all. Agility is really easy when you have good relationship with your dog. The only one that needs training here is the handler. My other dogs trained me well enough that Bu doesn't need to train me to a degree she would have to if she had a novice handler. And if it looks to you there are hours of agility training in that course that you can see on a video, you're wrong: there are 14 years of my handling work in that video, months of my bonding work with Bu, hours of my general training and minutes of real agility training.