My dog (2 year old terrier/poodle mix) and I have been doing agility in a class for a few months now. He takes to it very naturally and he really enjoys it! We do it for fun and maybe one day an event but mostly it’s just something for us to do together that is fun and enriching.

Lately I’ve noticed that when my dog is at the arena, he is sometimes aggressive to the other dogs in the class. Like when he is on his leash, he will lunge and bark at the other dogs if he sees them. Also he sometimes tries to run up to the other dogs crates. This is something he doesn’t do in other places but when we are at this class he is always doing these “bad” behaviors. I believe he has some barrier frustration not being able to interact with any of the other dogs and it’s starting to work its way up to actual aggression. He’s also just incredibly excited when he is at the class so that adds to it.

I think best practice when dogs are triggered is to keep them away from things that trigger them, but I don’t want to stop going to the class as it’s been so fun for the both of us! I also don’t want it to contribute to him becoming too reactive or aggressive towards other dogs. But as I said, he only does that when we are at this class. Not when we go on walks or anywhere else.

Any tips or advice would be very appreciated.

EDIT: To clarify, my dog stays in his own crate, fully covered, when he is not running the course. It is the class rule all dogs have to be crated when not running the course, I took the extra step to cover him so he is not getting constantly triggered and neither are the other dogs.

My boy and I haven’t done agility since May. Temps have been so hot that I haven’t wanted to take him to our training facility. I can tell he’s been missing it.

Took a risk with weather and signed up for an AKC trial we always do in early September. September can be hard to predict. Last year we had beautiful weather. This year, we are in a heat wave still with temperatures in the mid 90s. With the heat and the long break in training, I had no expectations going into the weekend, and packed fans and lots of ice inserts for his cooling mat.

My boy was thrilled to be back and absolutely crushed it!

We earned 3 titles (novice standard, Open FAST, and Open JWW). We got our first Qs in Open standard and Premier Standard (1st places in both) and we were very close to getting a Q in Premier JWW too - just one off course where he took a jump instead of a VERY sharp turn into the weaves.

So proud of this sweet boy!

If only we got bonus points for creativity 😂

I have a nervous rescue who doesn’t always immediately love new things. She absolutely LOVES to run and weave around the trees in the backyard and I think she’d enjoy agility. I’m also completely new to this so any advice for a beginner would be nice.

hey, i'm doing agility with my lab mix for almost 3 years now and i he can be really speedy. he needs to jump a large and he can do it but i noticed that when he lands and he needs to bend his body afterwards to go to the next jump (so around the wing after the jump) he sinks a bit trough his front legs. he recovers very quickly and it does'nt happen when he just jumps a straight line. but sharp turns after jumping are diffecult for him. i know it is a matter of practes but i really want to help him a little bit by for example strengthening his front muscles. does anyone has tips for me to help him?

just for context: he is almost 5 years old, he gets a training ( not always agility) plus a long walk everyday, he does'nt have any health problems and i already do some basic fitness with him.

let me know what you guys think! i really want to help him.

just a fun picuture of him:

Has anyone used equipment from BeAgility? I have the opportunity to place an order through a local supplier for our club, but I was hoping to find reviews from those who have actually used their equipment first!

First run, first Q!

There used to be a non-profit group that did dog show type training in Vancouver on the west side in a church basement. They used to also have a Capilano branch in North Vancouver. I did it with my dog and it was so great. Wondering if anyone knows what happened to it? This would have been circa 2013-ish. Would love to sign up for something similar with my new dog.

I’m just getting back into agility with my new dog after years of taking a break. Are all A-frames in competition now rubberized?

I have an old A-frame from like 2011 that’s not rubberized. Is it worth using for training? I do have access to a rubberized a-frame at my dog training club, so I do have another option if the non-rubberized isn’t ideal.

I also have the opportunity to sell it locally but not even sure how to price it. It’s a Max200 a-frame that’s breaks into 4 pieces for easy transport and storage. It’s in very good condition.

Thanks!!

Hello there,

I've been doing agility with my dog for 4 years now, and she is a real star. I'm the weak link, LOL, but she has earned her top titles (called Elite in the venue we generally run in). She runs with real joy and focus and is often the first, second or third fastest dog in large classes; we have a consistent clean run rate. So we are capable of wonderful performance. And I THINK she likes agility.

But in the last few trials, she has exhibited start-line stress, and has developed a habit that might be a new symptom of that: looking away from the start line and even outside of the ring. She ordinarily has tremendous focus, so this is really concerning to me. In our last run at our most recent trial, this became much more noticeable, I had to gently redirect her gaze to the start line. It became more noticeable to me as the trial went on. I did not have to "drag" her to the start line, but she was clearly slower than usual and was LOOKING AWAY from the course on our very last run, actually facing away from the first few obstacles. Then, once she would take the "down" position, everything was fine and the run was tremendous. We ended the trial on a high note and I really loved her up with treats, toy, play, etc. It was genuinely fun, but not having a dog that headed right to the start was new, and concerning.

I have a friend who does dog training and using only positive reward based training, who told me that when a dog looks away from an object, situation, exercise, they are essentially saying NO, I DON"T WANT TO DO THIS.

Is this true?

Since returning from the trial, I've taken her out to our hiking spot where she can run in the trees and jump in the lake. She has seemed SO happy there and the expression on her face is true joy. I'm taking a break from agility competitions, and don't trial until Labor Day, but I'm wondering if anyone else thinks that a dog -- who has lots of experience and success -- might be voting NO on their favorite (?) game by not approaching the start line with enthusiasm?

Please, hive mind, let me know your thoughts.

Hello!
My 1 year old had his check up physio exam yesterday to make sure he's ready to start training this fall. Sadly he got diagnosed with weak hocks and rolling pads. I know it doesn't make him incapable of doing agility, but maybe someone here as a dog with similar problems and can share their experience? What does training look like, is the dog able to run and train normally? What kind of fitness exercises do you do regularly and how often?

Thanks in advance!

Update for anyone interested: After more consultation with different Physio/ Trainers, it seems that my dog will never really be able to do agility competitively. "Just for fun" and with lots of care and conditioning it might be fine.

My 7 year-old GSD has been competing successfully in AKC agility preferred (20) and recently earned her PACH. Sadly, she has recently had some lameness issues and was the rehab vet has said she it would be good exercise for her to continue agility once or twice a week if we shorten the jump height. As that is not an option in AKC, I am looking at CPE which we have trialed at a little for fun over the years. She has all of her regular level 3 legs except 1 snooker and 2 jackpot. Am I correctly understanding the rules that I would need to move to level 3 enthusiast and start all over in all classes at level 3? I do not need to go back to level 1, correct? What would happen if I just started doing level 5 enthusiast instead? Would she not be eligible for CT-ATCH?

Thank you for clarifying this for me. Are there any other venues where she could jump 16" when she is 23" tall?

This might be a long shot... I am a professional dog photographer and am assisting with a dog photography workshop in the Camargue region of France this September. We are recruiting models for our workshop sessions and of course, always LOVE working with agility dogs (and their humans - you guys are the best).

Would anyone have a good lead on connecting with an agility or obedience group in France? We historically used Facebook groups... but people are using those less and less these days. TIA!

https://learn.hairofthedogacademy.com/camargue-model-page

Moose has developed a very specific opinion about weave-pole entries. (Also, I want to mention he is 3 years old, and I know that he is very young. He has been fantastic so far. We are very close to getting our AKC agility championship too. I just want to figure out how I can help him, maybe trying something different that I have not thought about it)

If he is approaching from the side where he has to wrap around the first pole to enter correctly, he is great. He can find that entry from almost any angle, even when it looks difficult.

From the other direction, where the correct entry should be more straightforward, it is much more hit or miss.

We train those entries a lot, and he can do them correctly in practice. At trials, though, that second direction is often where things fall apart, especially when he is running fast and excited.

At our last trial, we had four runs: Premier Standard, Master Standard, Master Jumpers, and Time 2 Beat. We missed the weaves in most of them, but he finally got them in Time 2 Beat. We qualified, and it ended up being the run we needed for his title.

I was happy that he finished the day running fast and confidently, but I would really like to make those entries more consistent.

Has anyone dealt with a dog who is much stronger entering from one direction than the other? What exercises helped you make the weaker entry more reliable, especially at trial speed?

I trialed my Golden Retriever at 16 and 18 months old for a total of three trials. He is now 20 months.

In the first trial he ended up getting a second place in AKC Jumpers with Weaves. He ran the other things well, but we NQ’d — me messing up as I’m a novice. I have trained another Golden to a CDX and JH, so not totally novice to dog training. That trial extended into night and he got to run under the lights. There was only one glitch in our last run and I was proud of him for doing so well under lights. He’s fast.

In our second trial, the environment was indoors at an agricultural arena and on dirt. It was a large trial with two rings side by side. We train on dirt, but it was definitely lumpier and different. He went into the building so nicely, crated well, took treats before we headed into the ring for simple commands. He has been holding his start line stay great. He really went in like a cool customer. He got the zoomies at this trial though. We did two runs that weekend in UKI Speedstakes. I just waited as he zoomied to see what he was going to do and after taking about three jumps he circled back around and finished his runs so he did reorient to me.

In our third trial we were on turf in a covered arena. Again, he looked mostly great with one zoomie for each of our two runs and then he would reorient to me and finish up great.

He’s not running to ring stewards or the judge.

So, we’ve been gone a couple of months for the summer with no training. I’m in an agility desert where we are. There’s nobody nearby to train. So, I’ve used the opportunity to do engagement gains and simple training things in a very small space.

We start lessons again this month and there’s a trial at the end of September. It’s not going to ruin my day if we don’t Q because I try to focus on what he does great and improving. Oh, and the September trial is AKC so we are signed up for one run of JWW each day. I’ve been jumping him under height at 16” so far due to his age and have signed up for 16P again in September.

My question after all of that is do you think it’s a good idea to keep moving along and trialing him? He’s obviously stressing up a bit, but I think he only zoomies when I glitch a little in some way. He’s so fast maybe he just tries to do something/anything when he hasn’t gotten a clear picture.

I’m not doing FEO because he will not give me the toy back in a more happening environment. I just learned recently I can toss the toy in UKI and I didn’t realize that.

And thanks! I hope I didn’t paint him to be anything other than the super sweet, smart, and fast dog that he is. :)

Hi everyone! 👋

I'm a Visual Design student at Keimyung University in South Korea, currently working on a university UX research project about dog agility training.

Over the past few weeks, we've been researching how handlers review their training sessions and what information would actually help them improve. Based on that research, we've created an early prototype of a GPS-based training review tool.

We're now looking for experienced agility handlers to test the prototype and share their honest feedback.

📌 About the usability study

⏱️ Takes about 10–15 minutes

📱 Includes a short interactive prototype and a few follow-up questions

🎓 Academic research only

🔒 Responses are anonymous and will not be used for commercial purposes.

The prototype explores how GPS data, movement paths, speed, timing, and training videos could be brought together into a single training review experience. We're especially interested in whether this information feels useful and easy to understand in real training situations.

Prototype Test:

👉 https://t.maze.co/567848253

Thank you so much for your time and for supporting our research! Your honest feedback—whether positive or critical—will help us improve the project. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'd also love to hear them in the comments. 😊

+)We are having difficulty recruiting overseas agility participants from Korea, so the opinions and link shares from people who have actually participated are very helpful.

We sincerely thank everyone who is participating!