Agility Brittany's

We are by no means experts in agility, hunting, breeding, grooming, or many of the other dog related subcategories. But we do enjoy sharing as we learn. This month's highlight is the class that has recently joined our busy schedule, Agility!

(Double jump, Malley and Maddy)

Agility has been a great way to build communication and learn with our dogs. Malley is smart, Holden is learning quickly and won't be far behind her.

One of my favorite things about agility is the competitive aspect of it. Not competitive as in competing against another team. But competing against your best run, time, or obstacle proficiency.

(Table, Holden and Sam)

One of the hardest obstacles for Malley to learn has been the weaves, but just last class things really started to click for her. She is still reliant on using hand signals for 'weave' and 'go', but her movements look much cleaner since we last ran back in December of 21'.

(Weave poles, Malley and Maddy)

For Holden the hardest part is slowing down. He is a very fast paced dog that works well with his nose and independence. It has been a challenge getting him to adapt to looking to me for more guidance than he is used to in the bird field.

(Tunnels and single jump, Holden and Sam)

I enjoy how each agility course is different, each time we get comfortable with a course, we change it up so were always improving. We're always learning together and striving to become better handlers and teams. For Malley, she knows she's got to watch me for the signal on where to go next, because it's not an individual sport. She knows it's a game for US. She doesn't run agility for herself. She knows it happens with me.

Malley started her agility career at Family Dog Obedience, back when we lived in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. She loved going to class and then sticking around to watch the more advanced dogs in the later classes. Another Brittany (Clancy) and his owners pushed us to want to continue not only agility but doing more with her than the average owner.

(A frame tunnel and triple jump, Malley and Maddy)

This will be Holden's true first agility class. Everything else has just been playing around in our backyard with a mini agility kit off of amazon. He enjoyed zooming around the yard in and out of tunnels, and over the jumps. I knew then that he would enjoy having an outlet that wasn't as high stress as hunting tests or field trials.

(Tire jump, Holden and Sam)

We haven't tried our hand at anything competitive (stay tuned, though) but I've found agility classes to be therapeutic for myself and Malley. She gets her outlet for her energy for the day, and I get to stop thinking about work/chores/everything I should be doing. I don't have a choice but to be in the moment with Malley.

When it comes to competition agility there are two kinds that we are familiar with: AKC and CPE. AKC is stricter on missing jumps(faults), measuring jump heights, and times. Whereas CPE is structured as a game and is very friendly for beginners. We intend to try out both venues and see what each dog prefers.

(CPE Pitstop, Malley and Sam)