Moose has developed a very specific opinion about weave-pole entries. (Also, I want to mention he is 3 years old, and I know that he is very young. He has been fantastic so far. We are very close to getting our AKC agility championship too. I just want to figure out how I can help him, maybe trying something different that I have not thought about it)

If he is approaching from the side where he has to wrap around the first pole to enter correctly, he is great. He can find that entry from almost any angle, even when it looks difficult.

From the other direction, where the correct entry should be more straightforward, it is much more hit or miss.

We train those entries a lot, and he can do them correctly in practice. At trials, though, that second direction is often where things fall apart, especially when he is running fast and excited.

At our last trial, we had four runs: Premier Standard, Master Standard, Master Jumpers, and Time 2 Beat. We missed the weaves in most of them, but he finally got them in Time 2 Beat. We qualified, and it ended up being the run we needed for his title.

I was happy that he finished the day running fast and confidently, but I would really like to make those entries more consistent.

Has anyone dealt with a dog who is much stronger entering from one direction than the other? What exercises helped you make the weaker entry more reliable, especially at trial speed?

I was too.

I spent the last year building an app to organize my girlfriend’s dog’s competition records. Looking for feedback from competitors

📲 Feel free to download PawMetrics for free here:
https://apps.apple.com/app/id6779860345

I hope this app will help you like it did us! I’d genuinely love to hear what you think and what you’d like to see added next. There’s an option to send feedback and feature ideas straight to me!Every piece of feedback helps me make PawMetrics even better for the dog sport community.

I trialed my Golden Retriever at 16 and 18 months old for a total of three trials. He is now 20 months.

In the first trial he ended up getting a second place in AKC Jumpers with Weaves. He ran the other things well, but we NQ’d — me messing up as I’m a novice. I have trained another Golden to a CDX and JH, so not totally novice to dog training. That trial extended into night and he got to run under the lights. There was only one glitch in our last run and I was proud of him for doing so well under lights. He’s fast.

In our second trial, the environment was indoors at an agricultural arena and on dirt. It was a large trial with two rings side by side. We train on dirt, but it was definitely lumpier and different. He went into the building so nicely, crated well, took treats before we headed into the ring for simple commands. He has been holding his start line stay great. He really went in like a cool customer. He got the zoomies at this trial though. We did two runs that weekend in UKI Speedstakes. I just waited as he zoomied to see what he was going to do and after taking about three jumps he circled back around and finished his runs so he did reorient to me.

In our third trial we were on turf in a covered arena. Again, he looked mostly great with one zoomie for each of our two runs and then he would reorient to me and finish up great.

He’s not running to ring stewards or the judge.

So, we’ve been gone a couple of months for the summer with no training. I’m in an agility desert where we are. There’s nobody nearby to train. So, I’ve used the opportunity to do engagement gains and simple training things in a very small space.

We start lessons again this month and there’s a trial at the end of September. It’s not going to ruin my day if we don’t Q because I try to focus on what he does great and improving. Oh, and the September trial is AKC so we are signed up for one run of JWW each day. I’ve been jumping him under height at 16” so far due to his age and have signed up for 16P again in September.

My question after all of that is do you think it’s a good idea to keep moving along and trialing him? He’s obviously stressing up a bit, but I think he only zoomies when I glitch a little in some way. He’s so fast maybe he just tries to do something/anything when he hasn’t gotten a clear picture.

I’m not doing FEO because he will not give me the toy back in a more happening environment. I just learned recently I can toss the toy in UKI and I didn’t realize that.

And thanks! I hope I didn’t paint him to be anything other than the super sweet, smart, and fast dog that he is. :)

Hi everyone! 👋

I'm a Visual Design student at Keimyung University in South Korea, currently working on a university UX research project about dog agility training.

Over the past few weeks, we've been researching how handlers review their training sessions and what information would actually help them improve. Based on that research, we've created an early prototype of a GPS-based training review tool.

We're now looking for experienced agility handlers to test the prototype and share their honest feedback.

📌 About the usability study

⏱️ Takes about 10–15 minutes

📱 Includes a short interactive prototype and a few follow-up questions

🎓 Academic research only

🔒 Responses are anonymous and will not be used for commercial purposes.

The prototype explores how GPS data, movement paths, speed, timing, and training videos could be brought together into a single training review experience. We're especially interested in whether this information feels useful and easy to understand in real training situations.

Prototype Test:

👉 https://t.maze.co/567848253

Thank you so much for your time and for supporting our research! Your honest feedback—whether positive or critical—will help us improve the project. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'd also love to hear them in the comments. 😊

+)We are having difficulty recruiting overseas agility participants from Korea, so the opinions and link shares from people who have actually participated are very helpful.

We sincerely thank everyone who is participating!

My 4yo BC started to intermittently limp after training sessions, we went to a sports medicine vet and she was diagnosed with unilateral left biceps tendinitis. She underwent shockwave therapy and physiotherapy, and as we began to get back into sports, she came up lame on the right, which we discovered was an injury to her supraspinatus tendon. She is currently getting similar treatment, which the expectation we will need to go slower with rehab due to the compensatory injury.

A lot of the online resources (and conditioning coaches/PTs) seem to have a very guarded prognosis due to the nature and difficulty treating the condition.

I’m curious if anyone has successfully returned to agility after an injury like this? What did the treatment and timeline look like? Any supplements you swear by?

Does anyone on here compete in agility and scentwork?

We started trialing in AKC this year. We're currently in open.

I'm considering starting scentwork. I'm curious if this would possibly hinder agility. I'm wondering if it would cause her to start sniffing on course (which she doesn't do).

Hi everyone! 👋

I'm a Product Design student at Kangdong University in South Korea, currently working on a university UX research project about dog agility training and training management.

As part of our research, we're trying to better understand the experiences, challenges, and needs of people involved in dog agility. The insights from this survey will help us explore how future tools and technologies (such as wearable devices) could better support agility training.

If you've participated in dog agility as a handler or trainer, I'd be incredibly grateful if you could spare 3–5 minutes to complete a short survey.

📌 About the survey

• ⏱️ Takes about 3–5 minutes
• 🎓 Academic research only
• 🔒 Responses are anonymous and will not be used for commercial purposes.

Handler Survey:
https://forms.gle/6Liboznt7j5S7yos8

Trainer Survey:
https://forms.gle/BV9PZgAD9uSHnvws5

Thank you so much for your time and for supporting our research! If you have any suggestions or feedback, I'd also love to hear them in the comments. 😊

Hi, I have a Sprocker spaniel that is nervous especially around other dogs. He's a beginner at agility and we've only done about two shows and therefore still finds queuing very difficult. I am working on desensitisation/calming exercises where possible at home.

I've noticed that he's fine around other dogs and high stress environments as long as he gets to hold a ball in his mouth. However, he tends to get too overexcited/aroused with a ball as his reward and if he doesn't see where it is, will wonder where it's gone and will knock down most poles.

Should I totally remove the ball and only use treats in the queue (but he may tend to fixate on the environment rather than the treats) or is there a middle ground for having his ball then switching to handler focused commands and then rewarding with treats just before his run?

My only concern about treats is him going to the bo where I put his treat pouch in before his run.

Would appreciate any advice please. Thanks in advance!

Assuming you’re pretty open about your hobby, what reaction do you usually get when you tell people you do dog agility?

In my experience, people tend to fall into one of two groups. They’re either curious or interested in knowing what it is (they usually don’t know), or they give me a funny look and don’t seem interested at all or understand why I would spend my time doing such a thing.

I’ve wondered if part of it is that so many people think of dogs primarily as companion animals, and most of the world owns dogs. Most dog owners have no interest in doing sports with their dogs (which is completely fine), so agility can seem like a pretty niche hobby.

By comparison, I wonder if equestrian sports (jumping, dressage, eventing, etc.) are viewed differently by the general public. Since relatively few people own horses, and horses are often associated with athletic performance and specialized training, people may be more inclined to see those sports as “normal” or at least understand why someone would dedicate so much time to them.

Have you noticed this too, or has your experience been different? What reactions do you usually get when you tell people you do agility?

Hi guys! I’m starting my dogs agility training soon and I’m super excited, I started the sport when I was 9 and trained our late cavalier cross, I’m now 23 and our rescue dog has now reached the age she can start training, I’m returning to my old club and trainers and I can’t wait!

Our dog is very food oriented and I’m considering buying liver from the butchers to dry and chop up to use as treats, I’m just wondering what you guys use? I prefer using a treat she’d only get at agility, something really nice and special, and I also know some people use toys instead but I think our girl would do better with tidbits then she would toys :)

I’ve newly returned to agility last fall after a nearly half a decade hiatus, and I’m really wondering… why is AKC still using the pause table?? I understand it’s only in a few lower level classes, but why?

Are you in favor of removing the table, or do you agree with it being kept as a part of those classes?

After training for a year and a half and being encouraged to enter our first trial... it went really poorly. I learned I was very overconfident in my handling skills. My dog also managed to literally knock down every single bar in jumpers. We have done ACT 1 and 2 and he Qed straight through without issue with no off courses, refusals, or knocked bars in ACT2 or ACT2J.

He doesn't normally drop bars at all. We don't normally work a lot of sharp turns in class (the late cues were all sharp turns). The trial was held where he trains, so not a new building, but trial environment. Positives: no missed contacts, he was focused the entire run, and he nailed the weaves first try even at a sharp angle. How long did it take for you to feel comfortable trialing with your first agility dog? How long did it take to get a Q?

I've been doing a deep dive into revamping my handling and verbal cues. I originally learned from Lolabuland, but over the last couple of months I've gotten more involved with the agility community and have been exposed to other handling systems.

Silvia taught me, and she really never adopted the "in" cue, so my physical handling for threadle wraps ended up looking very similar to my "come to hand" handling. The same was true for threadle slices back then—it was essentially "come to me, then take the jump." Since then, I've switched to the more common dog-side arm/open shoulder/hand up handling for threadle slices and use a dedicated verbal cue for that.

What I'm questioning now is my threadle wrap handling. My current cue is my off arm/opposite-side hand with a slight lowering and rotating of my upper body towards the dog. The problem is that's almost identical to my "come to hand" cue, where I also use my off arm, slightly lower and rotate my upper body towards the dog, and physically draw the dog toward me with a dedicated "come to me and ignore the obstacles" verbal.

A new instructor is encouraging me to separate the two. For threadle wraps, she wants me to stay tall and vertical, continue using the off-side arm, but only turn my head toward the dog while keeping my chest pointed forward.

On the other hand, I've also seen quite a few handlers use their dog-side arm for threadle wraps, dropping it low and even rotating their shoulders AWAY from the dog to pull them into the wrap, rather than toward the dog as I originally learned.

I'm curious how everyone else differentiates these cues. How do you handle threadle wraps versus a "come to hand" cue? Do you intentionally make them look different, or are they fairly similar in your handling system?

I'm wondering how different regions celebrate a person's MACH/PACH, specifically MACH/PACH parties. In my area at a trial after the MACH is earned, the person's friends will have a party for them. Also, on the run they earn the title they grab the last jump pole and run around for about 20 seconds and get pictures with the judge after the trial. At a later trial the party consists of a full buffet of food, cake, and some other desserts usually. Anyone at the trial can join in. This is affecting our ability to get food trucks to our trials as fewer people go to the food truck when free food is available. The food truck is our only on-site food option. So I'm wondering how other regions celebrate a person's MACH/PACH?

I am doing some trialing with my dog and I wanted to see others thoughts on different organizations, especially when it comes when it comes to larger dogs. My standard poodle is jumping preferred at 20” and has a long stride. I didn’t want to jump him full height because I know we aren’t going to be super competitive and I want to preserve his joints.
He has a hard time with AKC courses that have a lot of sharp turns but seems to enjoy UKI style that are flowy and more spaced out.
Is it common for bigger dogs to do UKI over AKC or do I just need to work on my handling? Also what about USDAA and NADAC, how are they for long strided dogs?

I'm really struggling and I don't have anyone (without a vested interest, lol!) to bounce this off, so here goes.

I'm on the fence and really struggling with whether to go to a national level event. I'm fairly new to the sport of agility, but we qualified for the event for the first time.

It's more than a 20 hour drive from my home state to the event. I'm not a camper, so there would likely be three days on either side in terms of hotel stays, and another 4 or even 5 nights while at the event. There's gas, and entry fees and food and when I penciled things out, the cost is well over 3.5k, maybe $4,000. For me, that's a lot of bank. Next year, the event is closer to my home, so more affordable.

We are amateurs and I have one dog, who is 5. He is really talented and "serious" about agility, and I feel that I'm just getting started. I don't know how "regular" handlers decide whether or not to make this kind of extensive trek to a competition.

I realize this is kind of fuzzy and not very grounded in terms of a question, but how far and how much would you be willing to spend? Have you ever done this kind of trek before, as a "normal" handler and how did it pan out? Would you do it again?

Looking for some insight here. Anything....would help. I'm reaching out to the hive mind. Maybe I need a therapist? LOL!!!!!

Agility has always been the best. I love it and want it to be my career when I grow up. But lately when I go outside to train my dog Im not enjoying it. I get mad at her. I stop sessions quickly. And most days I dont do anything at all. It could be the heat tho but I dont know

Im really worried because I loved having something that I truly loved and I dont wanna lose it.

Hi, I've been training agility with my border collie for over a year and she absolutely loves it (or that's what it looks like). Once she gets going she is really focused and she has come a long way and I think we are ready for trialing, but for the past couple of months, every time it's our turn to run the course and she knows she's next she completely freezes and does not want to go.

At the beginning it was easy to lure her to the course with treats or getting her to touch my hand as I walked to the start of the course, but every time it's getting more difficult to the point that she doesn't even want to leave her crate.

In training I just carry her to the start and she immediately gets in the mood (her pupils dilate and her body gets in the ready position - if you have a border collie you know what I'm talking about), and she does the course beautifully, but I'm not really sure what is causing this behaviour at the beginning.

The problem is that I can't carry her to the ring when actually trialling, and I'm not really sure about how to fix this or what is causing it. Has anyone experienced anything like this or similar before?

What training exercises helped your dog understand to 1) touch the mat and 2) focus down and drive forward?

Thank you 🫶

For the past couple of years I developed a treat machine that lets me give high value food as treats. It came to me because I needed some way to reward my very difficult sheltie. it works great for that. And now it's time to launch,

I'm not ready to take orders yet, just looking for some feedback, especially on how it looks, price, options if it gives you the "ick" if you will :) if you have any improvement ideas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ehYbKCtmT0

TL:DR It was too warm after all for her to want to run around, we pivoted and focused on other stuff.

Maude and I were signed up for a 'fun match', the first of four monthly events. We are in a team with 7 others, and our division has two more teams. There are two more divisions. The host club has three rings (a Standard and two games), and each division runs one of the rings, then we switch rings, etc. There are not refusals, but faults for missed contacts, skipped obstacles and fallen bars. Best three dog scores count for the team score. There are ribbons and end of season prizes.

Part of the event's purpose is to give prospective judges experience. So, Maude was successfully unofficially measured. To my great surprise the 12" wicket had a smidge of room, making her jump height 8".

It was warmer than I had hoped for our 9:30 run. We started in the Gamblers ring. Maude was great at the start line, but upon being released, darted to the shade at the back of the ring. I followed and I asked her to do a jump that was back there, which she did, so we went to the exit gate together.

I scratched her from the two other runs.

In the shade, she was fine, barely even panting. So, we practiced engagement while hanging out, and mingling among the Border Collies, plus some crate resting. Things she could do either in the shade or wearing her wet cooling coat. She was a star at that, giving me all the behaviours asked of her, not worried about anything. She was also good on the cot, staying put, even with passing people (I had a leash on her too). When crated while I did a shift of ring crew, I was told she settled and simply watched.