Agility Training for Boerboels

I started training Azaan in Agility about 9 months ago. I never intended to compete her in Agility, but who knows? I never thought I would train her beyond the Beginners Agility course, and now we are in Handlers classes. Azaan has fun with it, and seems to enjoy it.

The main reason I wanted to start her in Agility was to give her additional time to mature, while teaching focus, off leash work, send-aways and advanced commands. All of the trainers that we have worked with have told me that Azaan is the most athletic large dog they have ever seen. Most trainers do not recommend Agility for dogs over 100 pounds -- until they saw Azaan!

During Fall, Winter and Spring, Agility classes are held in an indoor soccer arena. There are lots of distractions -- about 8 - 10 other dogs, and about 12 - 14 people are in the room, along with lots of soccer balls! Often children will come up to the second floor to watch the training sessions. On the first floor of the soccer arena are lots of people playing soccer -- so there is a lot of noise as soccer balls are hitting the walls. It is a noisy environment, but the artificial surface is soft and forgiving on the dogs feet and legs. In the Summer, we train outside.

The following photo shows Azaan on the Table, focused on my eyes (I am out of the picture, but I am standing there). In Beginner's Agility, all dogs are worked on leash. When you get into the more advanced classes, work is performed off leash.



Bear with some of these photos, as they are a little bit fuzzy. We had very low lighting conditions in the arena. I should have turned the flash on my camera, but I thought the lighting was sufficient. Live and learn! You can see a little bit of my arm as Azaan goes over the oxer jump.



I included the following photo (even though it is blurry) because it shows Azaan's enthusiasm as she exits the Agility Chute.



Azaan headed towards a jump. Notice my hand in the far left of the photo.




I don't always jump Azaan at full height, mostly to save wear and tear on her legs. Most of Agility work is not about the obstacles, but more about focus and control.





We are taking a break from Aglity for about 2 months. Butler Dog Training Association, where I train, had a 6-week session that started on January 18th. I was planning to go to Florida for a few weeks, so I did not sign up for the class. We will start training again in early March.