Pets win prizes: Welcome to the world of dog agility

Welcome to the world of agility training – one of the fastest growing canine sports in the country.

Classes promise a thorough workout for both pooch and owner as well as the chance to bond and spend quality time together.

It can help with obedience skills which brings other benefits outside of training while it will also fulfil a dog’s natural instincts and improve their health.

But, most of all, agility is said to be a lot of fun which is why every Sunday morning, between March and December, you’ll find up to 90 owners and their furry friends from the Dogs R Us Agility Club being put through their paces.

Training takes place at Ashwood Nurseries, near Kingswinford, and caters for all abilities and ages from beginners to more advanced levels.

From border collies to dachshunds, they all line up to tackle the many obstacles which include hurdles to jump over, weaving poles, hoops and tunnels to navigate and A-frames and see-saws to climb.

Agility was first introduced to the UK at Crufts 1978 after show committee member John Varley was tasked to come up with entertainment for the audience, combining elements of obedience and conformation all in the same ring.

Since then the structure of the agility competition, which sees the pairs race against the clock, has not changed very much over the years.

For safety’s sake, it’s recommended that dogs do not start training on equipment until they are at least 18-months-old so that their bones and joints are fully formed.

Some members of Dogs R Us Agility Club take part in competitions while others just enjoy the weekly training sessions.

It’s said that dogs that don’t like agility are few and far between with many taking to it very quickly. The weaves are the trickiest to learn because they require great accuracy and it can be confusing at first for a pooch to know what to do.

But, like many things in life, practice makes perfect and the more times dog and handler go through the course, the more success they will have.

Tony Sutton and his daughters Nicki and Jo, attend training with their dogs – five-year-old border collie Shep, four-year-old springer spaniel Charlie and three-year-old wippet-border collie cross Sweep.

“Dogs pick it up very easily, it’s the owners that have more difficulty,” says 57-year-old Tony, who lives in Kingswinford.

“People tend to think of border collies when they think of agility training but you get all sorts of dogs. As long as they have some basic obedience skills and can get along with other dogs, they take to it really well.”

Agility has helped the family in many ways. Shep was a rescue dog and having lived on a farm for all of his life, found it hard to adapt to living indoors.

“He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to walk up stairs. We put his food bowl down for him and he didn’t realise it was for him.

“He was so wayward. We would go to the park and he would go off and we would struggle to get him back. He had no recall skills.

“But since doing agility, he’s so much better. We can get him to stay when we need him to and he loves agility now.

“I like agility because we are one big family. We have all sorts of dogs and all sorts of people,” explains 28-year-old Nicki, who lives in West Bromwich.

While there have been health benefits for 24-year-old Jo, who lives in Kingswinford. “I have chronic fatigue syndrome, so I get tired easily.

“But since getting Sweep and doing agility, I’ve really felt better. It’s helped me because it’s good, measured exercise,” she explains.

The club chairman is former engineer Dave Robertson, 61, from Hinksford, who has been training with his 11-year-old border collie Misty for nine years.

“We are a fun club. The dogs are mad for it. They really do love it. You only have to watch them to know they are enjoying themselves. It’s great exercise for the dogs and a great way of socialising them too. We all love spending time with our dogs,” says Dave, who has been a member for nine years.

It’s not just about the training as the club is dedicated to supporting an array of good causes throughout the year.

It is run as a not-for-profit group and each year it donates thousands of pounds to charities nominated by the members.

They raise money by giving agility demonstrations at community events around the region such as Kinver Country Fayre and Stourport Steam Rally.

“We like to support various animal charities and we recently raised £3,500 which we gave to 10 different charities,” says Dave.

There are also plenty of top dogs among the club’s pack. One of these is Gerry Johnson’s nine-year-old border collie Bessie, who now has 34 competition wins under her collar.

“Bessie is a grade seven agility dog which is the highest level awarded by the Kennel Club.

“You have to have a certain number of wins in agility or jumping to progress through the levels. Bessie has done really well. She’s a natural,” says the 72-year-old.

Gerry, who lives in Kingswinford, got in to the sport through his 26-year-old granddaughter Lucy, who is a nurse and used to train with her bearded collie cross.

But once he had tried it, it wasn’t long before both him and Bessie were hooked.

“The beauty of this sport is that you can enter competitions if you want to but really all dogs and owners do this purely for the love of it,” says Gerry.

* The club runs 10-week beginners courses throughout the year. Anyone interesting in finding out more can get information at www.druac.weebly.com or pop along to a session between 10am and 1pm on Sundays.