About Agility
Dog agility is a sport in which a handler is given a set amount of time in which to direct a dog off-leash through an obstacle course. Originally loosely modeled on equestrian stadium jumpers competitions, the sport has evolved its own additional obstacles, scoring systems and performance ideals. Agility made its debut as an entertainment for spectators at the Crufts Dog Show in 1979; it has since become the most rapidly growing dog sport in England, Western Europe and North America. Spectators continue today to get caught up watching the dog and handler's enthusiasm in their athletic race against the clock.
In Canada, there are several national organizations for agility (the Agility Association of Canada, the Canadian Kennel Club, and the North American Dog Agility Council) which sanction tests or trials held by local dog training clubs. Trials which are based on the original international rules and specifications call for the highest level of agility from the dogs both in terms of speed and the physical ability to perform the obstacles. There are also domestic varieties of the sport that call for less actual agility (by using lower jump heights and smaller obstacles) from the dog and focus more on the handling aspects of the game.
There are several obstacles common to all the different organizations:
- A-Frame
- Dog Walk
- See-Saw
- Pipe Tunnel
- Collapsed Tunnel
- Pause Table
- Weave Poles
- Tire or Hoop Jump
- Various Types of Jumps
The obstacles used in agility have been designed with both safety and spectator appeal in mind. All jumps have easily displaceable bars so that the dog should not experience injury should he misjudge and take down a jump bar. All obstacles that the dog must physically scale have 'contact' zones painted on the equipment; the contact zones enforce safe training techniques since handlers know that dogs will be faulted unless one or more feet are in the contact zones when ascending/descending these contact obstacles. All contact equipment surfaces are roughened for good traction in both dry and wet weather.
Agility Titles can vary from organization to organization, but they all have beginners through to Masters levels, which gives the dog and handler goals to shoot for in their Agility careers. Agility offers levels of competition to meet all tastes or needs. Divisions such as Open, Veterans, Minis, and Specials are designed to make the sport accessible to all sizes, ages, abilities, and breeds of dogs. We hope that you will enjoy the wonderful dogsport of Agility as much as we do.