All about agility!
What is Agility?
Agility is a recognized dog sport originating from England and is based on show jumping. Here the owner must lead his dog through an obstacle course as fast as possible and without faults only by body language and verbal commands.
An agility course consists of many different obstacles, including Simple jumps, double jump, long jump, wall, tyre, tunnel, chute tunnel, A-frame, dogwalk, seesaw and weave - these are combined in a different order at each training or show, so that a new path is created each time.
You can decides between the so-called Agility-run and the Jumping.
In the Agility-run you can encounter all obstacles and apart from the performance class A0, all contact zones, i.e. A-frame, seesaw and dogwalk must be part of the course. At competitons, placements from 1-3 are required for qualifcation to the next class.
A Jumping is always without contact zone, in Germany the placings in these runs only serve as qualifications for bigger championships in the highest class A3.
Height Classes
In Agility there are three official jumping heights which are divided into the following size classes:
Small: shoulder height up to 34,99cm; jumping height 30cm
Medium: shoulder height 35-42,99; jumping height 40cm
Large: shoulder height from 43; jumping height 60cm
In training, the jumping height of the jumps should be adjusted individually according to the age and training level of the dog.
Classes
In Germany Agility is divided into four performance classes:
A0 - this class is the starting point for every dog-human team, it is the easiest class, the emphasis here is on easy running paths and the course not include weave or seesaws.
A1 - the course is a bit more demanding and also seesaw and weave are obligatory in this course
A2 - now even difficult sequences find their way into the courses and the dogs have to take jumps from the other side, for example.
A3 - the so-called king's class, here difficult sequences, tricky weave entrances, misguidance for the dog and much more have to be mastered. In this class you can qualify for bigger championships such as National/German Championship or for Agility World Championship tryouts.
Apart from these four "main classes", there is also the senior class for older dogs or the para class for people with physical disabilities.
No matter if you want to do agility just for fun or on competitons level with your four-legged friend, one thing is for sure, agility is fun for dog and human! By doing agility together, you not only take your dog's physical and mental load, but also strengthen your common bond, because only as a team you can master the course without mistakes.