Hi
I have a 9 month old collie - would like to also get him in agility or flyball - but there is nothing near me - Im in Southport
he pulls on the lead - thats his only training fault

most of the replies have focussed on getting her used to the equipment, but I think there are more basic things it is important to get in first. The prime thing is the dog should be responding to you at all times. Its recall should be bang on. It should be able to be happy on either side of you - most people walk their dogs on their left because obedience training does it like that - for agility it needs to be equally happy on your right and switching sides. If you have a 'heel' command for walk on the left, get a different command for walk on the right and practise it. You should be able to switch instantly between running with the dog alongside you and stopping dead. Teaching the dog commands for different directions also helps, left, right, come, go on (carry on in a straight line), back (jump away from me). You can practise all this in the park or garden without any equipment - make it fun.

Agility is now so popular that a lot of classes are either closed to new members or have waiting lists that can be quite long. The club that I'm in has a waiting list of a year! If you want to start quite soon, get your name down now.

I have no advice to offer but I hope she has fun. I'm definitley wanting Oscar to do agility because he's a very bouncy pup. You would not believe how high the little so and so can jump! p