An Introduction To Dog Sports: Agility

Many people live believing that dogs are only to be kept as family pets or to guard the house. While this is usual and completely accepted, lots of owners choose to have them as partners in one of the many dog sports. 

(Image credit to @seila.csak on Instagram)

Basics

Perhaps one of the most recognized one of these sports is dog agility, which this article will set up a great introduction to. Agility is a very complex sport, which requires a deep knowledge of the rules, good coordination and of course a dog. 

For starters, the basic concept: in agility, a course is set up that the handler has to learn and think about how they would navigate their dog over it. In different categories this can vary from 100 to 220 meters long, or about 15 to 22 obstacles. 

Obstacles

The base obstacles are the jumps which are similar to the ones used in horse riding, but smaller, and the tunnels which are like the ones made for children to climb in, but with a diameter of approximately 60cm. There are more complicated ones: the weaves, where the dog has to go through a 12-pole slalom set, the viaduct, which is essentially a jump built to resemble a wall with the top that can be knocked down so that it is more safe. There is also the tire which is a round jump that looks like a bike tire which the dog has to jump through. Besides these the last type of jump obstacle is the broad jump: it is made up of 3 to 5 flat panels that the dog has to clear without knocking any of them over. The final obstacle category includes the contacts: A-frame, dog walk, seesaw and sometimes the table. The point of these is that the dog has to touch the end of the obstacle (which is a different color, so that the judge can tell whether the dog stepped in it or not). 

Categorising

There are size categories based on the height of the dog and grades based on the level the competing pair are in the sport. These may vary depending on the region/country, it's useful to research them if someone is looking to get into agility. 

For Who? 

This sport is for everyone and every breed, even mixes can perform very well, although for some it is too much physically so it's important to pay attention to any sign of pain, but once it's certain that it's safe for the dog, this sport will bring one of the best activities to bond with one's dog. 

Article written by Gréta Szabó