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Agility
I was thinking of taking our almost 4y/o border collie/lab/mystery mutt to a local agility arena for some lessons. He is a ball dog, and would spend all day playing catch if he could.
I am not doing it so much for excercise, he gets walks daily and lots of running in the yard, but think it might be a fun activity and something new.
Does anyone have experience with this? How much of a time commitment should I expect to make? I also was thinking of bringing my toddler and wearing him on my back. Is that a crazy idea? They get along well, I was thinking he might get a kick out of watching it.
Thanks!
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Re: Agility
I would not babywear doing agility. You will be running as well, and my back cried just thinking abound my 23 pound peanut bouncing around on my back.
The time commitment to dog sports depends on how serious you want to be. Lots of people only spend an hour or two a week. If you want to get serious, they're all big time sucks, especially agility.
Flyball and dock diving are other dog sports you might want to look into, that I think would be more conducive to bringing a toddler around to. I like doing rally obedience, which is much calmer, and if you're doing it for fun, an instructor might let you babywear while doing it.
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Thanks. I thought that might ba a crazy idea. I think I will take him to check it out this week and see how he likes it before we sign up. I can always have DH bring my son to watch from the sidelines sometime.
Flyball looks really fun, I will see if I can find a place near by. I think he would love dock diving too, so I will start searching.
Thanks for the advice!
I think it depends on your child, but I had to stop bringing my DS to training classes with me after about 18 months because he was too active, and didn't want to be worn or held for very long and he's too young yet to stand quietly and observe. Most of the classes in my area are about an hour long, and that's at least 30 min. too long for my DS' attention span. So for now, my DH watches him when my dog and I have class. Something like dock diving, where you're not working the whole time, might be a little easier, if the instructor/group is kid-friendly.
We just started doing obedience classes (for competitive obedience) a few months ago. It's only one hour class per week, but you really need to practice daily in order to make progress. We've been on break for the past month, and I'm still on the fence about whether I'm going to stick with it because the group I train with is pretty serious and I'm not sure if I have the time to commit.
I think a lot depends on the training facility or club you work with. Some are more serious and expect you to put more time in than others. Before doing the obedience club, we were taking our dog to tricks training classes, which were very informal and fun-oriented and very family-friendly. If you don't end up finding a sport that you want to do, you might look for something like this. It was fun, no pressure and still great mental exercise for the dog.
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Thanks for the replies! The near by place seems to be pretty laid back, so I think I will try him out there and see if he likes it. They offer competitive classes as well, but I think the intro should be a lot of fun. It might help him relax a little more at home and not constantly bring us things to throw.
There is also a farm about an hour and a half away where you can rent pasture/animals and let your dog herd. Different rates for chickens, sheep and cows lol. I am really interested to see what he would do there. He loved herding at the park before he discovered fetch, maybe his herding instincts would come back
love love agility!!!! My jack russell loves it and want to do it with my golden soon.
No to having your toddler and wearing him on your back, no way can you do that, you are an active part with your dog.
Agility is a great thing to do with your dog, you can put as much time as you want in it, I used to go to weekly classes and then started getting some equipment for home to practice at home.
If you do not think you would ever compete you can do it at your own lesure but I would leave your litte one at home, just you and your dog time. You will not be able to have your toddler there and be able to do what you need to do.