Quick Question.

[Stack]

i'm hopefully getting a corgi pup at the beginning of next year, and I was thinking I would like to do flyball or agility with him/her how would I go about getting started with this?

[RuralPug]

Hi Stack, he won't be able to start in either while he is a puppy.

The best thing to do would be to join Ballarat Dog Obedience Club - as a puppy he can still do obedience training classes - he will need those to learn the basics before he can do much offleash work anyway. Plus you can watch the agility and flyball members doing their thing and learn from them. They have demonstration days now and then - keep an eye on their website for dates.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

If you want to do agility - there are heaps of foundation training things you can do while the dog is sitll a puppy. Ie a good retrieve and game of tug are very handy for training agility. As are body awareness and balance skills which a puppy can learn. And basic trick training or "shaping" ie teaching the puppy to try new things to get a reward, and not to give up trying new things if the reward doesn't come. Ie keep trying, don't give up is best taught to a puppy. You also need a great stay in sit or stand, and a fast release (go) and reliable recall to you. And shadow handling - teaching the dog to follow your direction signals.

http://www.clickerdogs.com/articles.htm

[Stack]

Thank you for your replies! I was looking at the Ballarat Dog Obedience website earlier and it looks great. I'll def sign up for puppy school and see where that leads us.

[Agility Dogs]

Thank you for your replies! I was looking at the Ballarat Dog Obedience website earlier and it looks great. I'll def sign up for puppy school and see where that leads us.

Obedience is a great foundation for agility, personally I don't go through obedience classes with my pups (first one did, latest two haven't), but they could all trial at CD or CDX level if ever I could find enough time/motivation to do it.

The BIG thing you need to be mindful of if you do decide to go down the obedience path before starting agility is that your dog should work on both sides from the outset. No point in having a dog that will only work on one side - there are physical and psychological/training reasons for this if you really want to do agility.

Also - as Mrs RB said, there are plenty of foundation exercises you can do before asking your pup to do anything that approaches high impact.

Good luck with your pup - remember to enjoy him/her every step of the way!! Whatever you do it needs to be fun for both of you.

[SezzNJunebug]

I'm currently reading Shaping Success by Susan Garrett (Recommended by a Doler last week :D ) It has a lot of shaping games you can do with your pup to set them up for a future in agility etc. So far I'm finding it a great read and wish I had a copy when my girl was a bub!

Edited July 6, 2011 by Sezz

[Stack]

I'm currently reading Shaping Success by Susan Garrett (Recommended by a Doler last week :D ) It has a lot of shaping games you can do with your pup to set them up for a future in agility etc. So far I'm finding it a great read and wish I had a copy when my girl was a bub!

thanks! I'll track a copy of that down.

[Cleo's Corgwyn]

Hey Stack, I trial in obedience with Shandy, my Cardigan Corgi, and have just entered our first Dances with Dogs trial. We've also dabbled in agility, and might go back at some point. We keep getting head hunted for Flyball, as a height dog, especially since she's a good retriever, but she isn't much into barking dogs, so we've never focused much on that. The first thing you need for a lot of dog sports is a degree of control, especially a good recall, so there's lots you can get from obedience.

Corgi's were bred to be an amazingly versatile farm dog and herder, and people are often surprised at just how good they can be at these things. There's lots of corgis trialling in various performance sports in the US.