Hi, for anyone who is a regular on the dog chat pages Im Tarnus' OH, but this is the first time Im posting on here. Izzy, our black labrador, is currently 7 months old and once she is old enough (probably early Summer next year when she will be ~15months) I would like to try doing some agility with her. I have been looking at agility clubs in the South Manchester area and wondered if anyone on here had any experience with any of the clubs and could recommend them? This is obviously premature as she is not old enough yet but I wasnt sure if there would be waiting lists so wanted to get a head-start .

Any other advice of things I could be doing with her now to start preparing her would be great!

Thanks !

Bump bump!

High Peak train a bit south of Cheadle Hulme, near the A555. I haven't trained with them, but know some of them from competition and they seem like as lovely a bunch of people as you could hope to come across.

If you look back over this forum (go back to page 1) there are several threads covering this, and if you can get Greg Derrett's DVD, Agility Foundation Training, that would set you up well.

Thanks for your replys Burrowzig. Ive been in touch with the High Peak club and also wilmslow dog training club who both seem pretty good. Have you come across anyone from the wilmslow club?

The wilmslow club have a competition at Myerscough college on the 19th which Im going to go along and watch some of and get more a feel for what goes on.

Thanks again for all your advice.

Wilmslow are quite a competitive club, I think more 'driven', less laid back than High Peak. There are some good handlers in it though, and you can learn a lot from them. I'll be at the Myerscough competition, running both my dogs.

I will have to keep an eye out for you. Good luck to you and your 2 dogs!

Maybe I would be better going with High Peak, as a beginner Im just looking to do it for a bit of fun and would maybe feel out of my depth in such a competitive group like Wilmslow.

there's Newton Heath as well in that area.... they started the ABC (Any Breed But Collie) which is now a national competition with the final at Olympia ... all clubs contact details can be found on agilitynet.com

Don't be put off by some people being 'competitive' in clubs - sometimes you get the best training that way, but I'd recommend all three clubs mentioned to have a look at. I don't make the journey across the pennines in the winter anymore (mostly because we now have shows on the East!) but it's not my favourite venue as it's very noisy, so don't be put off by it (prefer the older side to the really noisy newer side!)

Even clubs having competitive members also have newbies who think they're just doing it for a bit of fun (most of us started with that view!)

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Penny
Funfastquick Agility Dogs