Hello everyone!

I would love to do agility with my dog, Chester, but I don't know how to start and if my dog is not too old to start with agility. Chester is almost 6 years old but he is very active and goes on 4 mile runs with me every day (plus 1 hour in the park twice a day, where he is very active retrieving tennis balls). Sometimes on the weekends he runs 10 miles and more with me and when we get back home he still wants to play - that's how active he is! I was always thinking of doing agility with him but I never really knew where to go and how to start. I live in South London/Surrey and have no idea if there are any agility training facilities where I could go. I would appreaciate any help and feedback I can get!

Thank you.

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I don't know about clubs in Surrey, but I remembered this thread:

Beginners agility in Surrey?

You might find some on there.

You might also find this site useful - lots of info about agility and how to get started (keep scrolling down the page and there's a pdf file to dowload called the Agility Beginners Guide:

Dog Agility | The Kennel Club

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Bergies and borders - what more could anyone want? Siamese and maine coons, of course!

From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on, nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
(But you can always edit your post, of course )

Hi If you google "agility clubs" in the area you live in , there will proberly be some showing on there, Also there is a web site"Agility Net" you will get lots of info on there,
Good luck in your search

Thank you guys for your suggestions! But what about his age? Is he too old to start agility?

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Now that I don't know! I guess it would depend upon your dog and his health, and how sound his joints are. I think I've seen dogs at that age (and more!) competing at Crufts. However, if you contact some of the clubs or training clubs you find, I'm sure someone there will be able to help you.

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Bergies and borders - what more could anyone want? Siamese and maine coons, of course!

From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on, nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
(But you can always edit your post, of course )

Well, he is a very active dog! He runs 4 miles with me daily and on the weekend he sometimes goes on 8-10 mile runs with me. And he gets two walks off leash in the park for one hour per day where he meets other dogs (we have doggy dates in the afternoon) and runs after and retrieves tennis balls constantly. But I will definitely ask at a training facility as I don't want to hurt his joints.

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There are dogs at the Agility club i go to over the age of 6 yrs , your dog sounds very fit so i would think will be ok,

Thank you... I agree, he is very fit and most people think he is only 2 years old when they see him run for hours without stopping.

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6 years old is usually when a BC peaks at agility. I compete with mine until they are 9 years old, then they go in allsorts/veterans, which is over lower jumps. I've seen dogs of 12 years old competing at Crufts, it depends on the dog.

He should be fine, my patterdale is 5 years old and has only recently started doing agility

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R.I.P Buster - Causing mischief over the bridge, sleep tight soldier