Agility Class

[hollyb713]

So as I mentioned in another post Tucker has a lot of energy. Too most it seems at times. We have taken an obedience class through PetSmart and had really great results behaviour wise. Our instructor was amazing! Now I am trying to find something to do with him to help burn up his loose energy. The walks just don't seem to be enough. I talked to a trainer in our area and she mentioned that she had an agility class that might help him. It would be $70 for 7 weeks. Anyone have any feed back on this. If this would be a good idea for him? Thanks

[Salinasfam]

Seems like a good deal...Atleast you'll have something to tire the pug out with..Plus you never know until you try it. $70 seems like a lot but might be worth it.Make sure to let us know how it goes!

[hollyb713]

Well the obediance class we took was 108 for 8 weeks so this is a heck of a lot cheaper.

[Salinasfam]

Yea i was just thinking about it and its ten dollars a week! not much to spend on training...rather that than to spoil them with more treats and toys

[bugs]

I am not sure how old your little guy is but agility classes should not be done before a they turn a year old. All of the running and jumping causes to much stress on there grow plates. I know our agility school will not let you enroll before a year.

As for the price that is exactly what we pay $10 a week only our classes are 15 weeks long.

[hollyb713]

I am not sure how old your little guy is but agility classes should not be done before a they turn a year old. All of the running and jumping causes to much stress on there grow plates. I know our agility school will not let you enroll before a year.

As for the price that is exactly what we pay $10 a week only our classes are 15 weeks long.

He just turned 8 months. So I guess I should wait?

[Snifter]

I would wait until he is at least 10 months and even then don't start him on much that will stress his joints until he hits a year old. Is the trainer you spoke to aware of his age? If so, I might steer clear of that one and try to find another class because they should not be taking them in too young.

Any kind of training will burn up his energy so your best bet in my view until he reaches a year old is just to continue with obedience classes.

[jwestoverpug]

There are some agility classes specifically for puppies, and many parts of a typical agility class can be modified for puppies, just be sure the intructor knows your dog's age.

You can work on all the basic handling skills, contacts, tunnels and the table. At 10 months, you can even start a bit of juming and weaving, but just not many repetitions....although I'd wait until about a year for that.

Teaching all sorts of tricks is really good for them at this age, it gets them really into learning and focusing on you, and teaches them body awareness, which is vital for agility.

The price for the class sounds like a bargain to me!

[Three D's]

Daphne is high energy too. She turned a year old this past April and I just signed her up for an agility class that cost $95 for 6 week - so it sounds like the class you mentioned is a good price!

Up to now, in order to help get her energy out, I took Bella's (Snifter's) advice and worked on other training we learned through obedience classes and such. This was especially helpful on cold days when I didn't want to take her on too long of a walk. We also go to pug meetups (check out meetup.com if you haven't already) and she now goes to doggy day care one day a week - it's not cheap, but she really loves playing with the other dogs all day and we have a quiet and relaxing evening that day!

Hope you find just the right activities for Tucker!

[eclecticmk]

That is a great price! I had my puppy in agility class at 6 months. No jumping of course but plenty of tunnels, jump exercises without bars, self control work, contacts, handling. If your instructor knows agility, she will be able to handle a puppy in the class. I was super lucky, my particular class had several puppies with age/joint limitations and my instructor is the best so there was never any problems.