Agility
       
GETTING STARTED IN AGILITY
  

So you have decided that you want to try agility! You have a lovely bouncy Papillon that would love to rush around and do all the jumps etc., so what comes next? First of all you will need to find a good agility club (the Kennel Club has a country wide dictionary of Clubs) especially one that takes mini or small dogs, some clubs don't.  Always remember that agility should be fun, enjoy your training and enjoy your dog, Paps are very easy to train and normally love to throw themselves into all sorts of energetic things, especially jumping. Always be aware that there are other dogs about especially large dogs so make sure before you place your Papillon on the ground to start training that all is safe.

agility

Once you have found your club and your dog is a year old or more, then its all systems go.  You will need to have basic obedience so that your dog will sit and wait when told, so you can get yourself into the right position, also your dog must be fit. You will be asking your pap to do things that it has not done before and use muscles that it has not necessarily used before. You cannot ask a dog that is carrying a lot of weight to jump, it is not fair and will only cause damage.   Depending on your trainer you will normally be encouraged to run with your dog over the jumps, which should be very low in the beginning to give the dog a chance to adjust itself to jumping.  Then you have the contact equipment, again this should be low to help build on the dogs confidence.
The contact equipment consists of an A frame, See-saw and Dogwalk. There will be an area marked at each side of the equipment that the dog must touch when going onto and when leaving the equipment or this will be marked down as a fault.
Next is the tyre, which is a hoop or buoy on a frame and the dog has to jump through it. Most dogs find this very easy,also the long jump which dogs seem to fly over with very little problems.
Always remember no matter what piece of equipment you and your dog are learning everything must be started low and built up over the weeks. Praise and reward are everything; never scold your dog for not doing it right as nine times out of ten it is the handler that is wrong.

Tunnels tend to be most dogs favourite piece of equipment and Papillons are no exception. There is a pipe tunnel which is rigid and the collapsible tunnel, which has a cloth pipe which the dogs have to push through.  Some competitions have a table which the dog has to jump onto and either stand still for a count of five or lay down until the judge lets it go.
The weaving poles come next which can consist of 6 or 12 poles, it has been said that this piece of equipment is the most difficult to master. Some dogs take to it easily, others struggle and most trainers have their own way of getting dogs through the poles. Again this should be done with the help of treats and toys keeping your dog happy all the times.
The secret of a successful dog is not only its speed and ability to go on over the next jump but to keep very tight on turns. Here Harlie is brushing the weave poles with her shoulder to keep as tight as possible saving time.
Under Kennel Club rules, your dog must be 18 months old before it can compete in agility competition. You can enter an Elementary class, Starters class or an Open class, both in agility and jumping, a jumping class does not have any contact equipment.Try and go to competitions and watch and see how other handlers work their dogs, especially Papillon handlers. Watch the senior handlers and see how they direct their dogs, where they place themselves to make it as easy as possible for the dog to master the course in the fastest time.
I find it fascinating that such small dogs can go so fast and be so accurate, their times across an agility course can be faster than some border collies.

There are many agility competitions or Tests held all over the country and abroad and now there are at least 150 to 200 mini dogs in a class.  This country has some very good mini dogs, some of them are Papillons. America also have good Paps in agility and they also represent their country in the World Championships as do ours.
Papillons are capable of lots of things agility being just one, they excel at most things from flyball to obedience to working trials so do have a go; you never know unless you try you might just surprise yourself.

"The Harlie The Magnificant Trophy"

Denise and Alec Welsh have very kindly donated a shield to the South of England Papillon Club, to be known as: "The Harlie the Magnificent Trophy". The trophy which is on offer to members is not to be won outright, it is to be presented at the club AGM each year to the owner of the Papillon who gains the highest number of points soley in agility from 1st Jan - 31st Dec each year. Click here to download a points claim form.

Due to the increasing interest in Agility, along with the success Papillons have been having in this discipline, we have decided to hold our own Limited Agility Show next year in conjunction with our Fun-day on the 21st July 2007. As the name suggests the Limited show will be limited to Papillons, but being an official KC licensed show, you will need to have pre-trained your dogs at least to the basic requirements.

This show we believe, will be a first for any Toy Dog Club and hope with experience, we may be able to expand and hold a show open to all Mini dogs. In October this year Denise Welsh will be presenting "Agility for Beginners" at our Papillon Education Day. Denise will give a talk and video presentation explaining everything we need to know which will be aimed not only at complete beginners but also at those of you that have an interest in agility. The idea being you then have six months to get some training organised at your local agility club so you can take part in the show. Everyone is welcome to take part and we particularly encourage our younger members to take up this very exciting sport which Papillons seem to love so much. Do come along to our Education day armed with your questions and Denise will do her best to answer them and give any help with regards to training clubs etc.