How would you feel if your dog was injured?   How would you feel if your dog became ill?  

How would you feel if you could have prevented the above from happening and you did'nt?      Sounds a bit harsh,  but it makes you think! 

....... attending the wrong agility school/ club could have ill effects on your dogs health.  Below is a list of questions you need to ask yourself before enrolling in an agility training class.

The training class may sound good fun, but is it really?

Q. HOW CAN MY DOG RECEIVE AN AGILITY RELATED INJURY?  Muscle, bone  & joint  injuries can occur from incorrect training of the obstacles.  One of the most comman  being Ligament damage, which can take months of healing and may require your dog to be operated on!

Q. HOW CAN AGILITY MAKE MY DOG ILL?  Stress in agility dogs can occur, if you receive inappropriate training advice. prolonged stress can at the least lead to behavioural problems and can even give your dog a stomach ulcer? Which can lead to a very ill and uncomfortable dog, eating problems and  annemia.  

NOW YOU KNOW WHAT CAN HAPPEN... consider the following before enrolling in any old agility training class.

STEER CLEAR OF...

• Agility training classes held on a solid surface, such as concrete, wooden or laminate floors, such as you find in community or school halls, sports centres or industrial units. Training indoors should be only be carried out on specially designed matting, which defuses joint stress on impact and reduces the risk of dogs slipping, alternatively an indoor horse riding arena.  The ideal training surface is grass or soft surface such as sand, wood chip mostly found in horse riding arena's
• Puppy agility classes. These classes are definate no, no.  An experienced agility trainer will offer young dogs, agility foundation training, with little or no use of equipment.  The utmost care should be taken of your young dogs growing bones and developing muscles, irreversable damage can be done if you don't. Mental maturity of a young dog must also be considered. Putting a young dog into a situation it feels unable to deal with means stress, this can in some dogs lead to uncontrolable excitement, pulling and barking,  others, such as nervous dogs may withdraw in fear.  For further advice on young dogs and agility click here
• Anyone offering incorrect advice, usually under the disguise of "Fun agility classes". How will you know? Any dog trainer/ handler can inaffect pass themselves off as an agility instuctor.  Before attending the class ask what experience the instructor has? A good instructor will no doubt have trained their own dog to an  "advanced" level and will also compete at this level at competitions. Beware of instructors who don't compete with their dog or don't have a dog that is trained in agility.  The training advice you receive should be specific to you and your  dog,  general advice can be inappropriate for your agility partnership and incorrect advice can be detrimental to the well being of your dog.  This advice applies whether you wish to compete in agility or are attending training classes for a social day out with your dog.  Incorrect training can lead to behaviour and stress related problems in your dog.

              SAFE TRAINING  with CORRECT ADVICE IS THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE "FUN AGILITY"

                                             for more help and advice click here