how can i get my border collie started in agility and or flyball.?

Question

i want to be able to do something with her thats local, but doesnt cost that much money. im only 14 and i live in san antonio,tx. i need suggestions.

Answer 1

Okay, we have a 5 month old Border Collie puppy and we were looking to do the same thing. Problem we had was that no trainers in our area advertising offered agility at all.

Here's what I did, and some things I learned:

First of all, a puppy should never jump higher than it's elbows until at least a year old and preferably 15 months. The reason is that if they are made to jump higher, they can damage the joints and ligaments in a growing body. They're just too little for it yet.

I searched for and emailed our local Agility Club and asked for trainer references from them. They were great with the referrals and so very helpful. The advantage to doing this is that these folks take the sport seriously and they will refer you to people/trainers they have used and trust and know to be good.

Our local club has referred us to a trainer who works on the obedience with some introduction to agility equipment to get the pups accustomed to it.

In order to do agility, you really need to have your puppy solid trained in obedience. Obedience is really important and is your first step. Your dog must listen to you and follow commands and hand signals in order to go on to agility. But if you can do as we did and find a trainer who will steer you in an agility direction while training in obedience, then you've found a wonderful trainer!

So find a local Agility Club in your area and make contact with them. They'll also be able to tell you when a competition is going on in your area so that you can check one out in person! They're so fun to watch and Border Collies excel in Agility!

It's a fun sport and have fun with it! It's great for you and your dog! Good Luck!

Edit: For something that isn't too costly to participate in, you might consider looking into doing frisbee. I hear it's very inexpensive to participate in local competitions and it's lots of fun, too! My husband will be doing this with our Border Collie. Frisbee will be his sport and Agility will be mine to persue with our BC.

Answer 2

You can start flyball training right now! The beginning is teaching a touch and recall and then turning off the board (you can make a very easy practice one or even use the wall). The jumping doesnt have to come until after he is old enough. As for agility, you can also do this, everything but the jumps and higher obstacles. Obedience, start now. Keep it fun though. It should feel like a game for him. For showing, you will need to have him registered with the akc. If not he can not do conformation. But really, a border collie is meant to work, so the rest will be fine. They also excel at disc dog.

Answer 3

I started training my dogs in agility and boedience when I was 14 too! Both are great outlets for high-energy dogs like Border Collies.

If you have any kind of yard at all, I'd suggest buying or making one or two lightweight, adjustable jumps. You can buy them online at stores such as http://www.drsfostersmith.com . You can even just prop a lightweight PVC pole on top of a couple of buckets for an easy jump. Try getting your dog to hop over low (up to her knees) jumps for a treat. If she seems to be enjoying herself, try more difficult exercises, such as waiting in front of a jump until you call her.

If you and she are still having fun, you should try to find a local dog-training school or club. Often, obedience schools also have introductory sport classes once weekly. They usually cost about $100-$150, but are a great way to get involved in a dog sport. Before you enroll, give your dog a quick refresher course in obedience commands, especially come and stay, which are very important in agility.

If there are no local agility classes, you might want to strt with flyball, which is much cheaper and space-efficient. You can mke or improvise jumps very easily, sicne they are of a fixed height. The only hard part is the flybox. If you are handy with tools, you can make one yourself, but this can be frustrating. I would recommend buying a beginner's model for $40 or so. One good thing about flyball is that you don't need a ton of space or time to teach your dog the necessary skills, and once she has them, you can join or start a flyball team. Check out http://www.flyball.com/fbi/teach.htm for flyball training tips.

Answer 4

I would look up the local border collie club or even a local border collie rescue and they will be able to give you a list of local classes for agility. If you go right to google you'll be able to find their websites! I use goodsearch.com because they donate a penny to my rescue (north east rottweiler rescue) every time I use them :) Good luck, here are a few websites to get you started!

http://www.bcrescuetexas.org/
http://www.bordercollie.org/
http://home.swbell.net/texasbc/

Answer 5

You can make your own agility equipment MUCH cheaper than you could ever buy it. You may need a little help from an adult, but some of the obstacles are fairly easy.

Join the yahoo group agility equipment, there are lots of good plans there as well as people to give advice.

I made a complete AKC regulation course, and it is better than some of the stuff you can buy.

Answer 6

I bet you could find someone there to help. It's really important to get started on the right foot! Your dog will love you even more for doing agility....it's great fun for the dogs, too. E-mail this list and post your question there.
[e-mail]

Have fun and let us know how it goes.

Answer 7

Join a club that does that sort of stuff.