agility
You may have seen agility at Crufts, or heard about it through social media. For those who haven’t, it is a fast paced sport in which dog & handler work together to tackle a sequence of obstacles – in the correct order – and as quickly as possible. Despite the speed involved, handlers don’t need to run; we teach your dog to do the work, so you don’t have to!
We teach agility from foundations through to the highest levels of competition. All of our training is taught with competition in mind, to ensure your dog completely understands how to navigate all obstacles and can do so safely and independently – but this doesn’t mean you have to compete! We have a number of students who have been coming to us now for several years who have no desire to compete at all; they just love coming each week to spend that time working together with their best friend.
Agility isn’t just for ultra rapid border collies; here at Nutter Dogs Agility Club we have a huge variety of breeds and crossbreeds taking part, all with their own speed. Some dogs prefer the more leisurely approach, and some are absolute speed demons. We cater to everyone!
We regularly host guest trainers and hold additional training workshops, which can be booked via our bookings page.
equipment and venues
We use competition standard equipment from First Contact and Doggyjumps. We have a mix of First Contact and Agiflex non-slip tunnels.
Over summer we primarily teach outdoors at the Nutter Dogs Field in Burnley, and we use indoor arenas around the Burnley & surrounding area over winter.
eligibility
Our agility classes are open to dogs from 4 months of age. Please note that dogs will not be working with equipment until appropriate for them, and will not be jumping higher than their elbows or navigating the ‘big’ equipment until after 12 months of age. There’s no rush to do agility!
Before you can attend our agility classes, your dog must:
- Be able to take food from you outdoors, around other dogs and people
- Be able to play with you outdoors, around other dogs and people
- Have good recall and basic training skills – at minimum they must be able to look at you and to wait/stay around distractions
- Be physically and medically sound; with any pre-existing conditions being treated appropriately. Agility is a fast-paced and demanding sport!
- Be of an appropriate weight – overweight dogs can easily injure themselves
Please note: while we can and do cater toward reactive dogs in our agility classes, they must be under control and not pose a threat to other dogs or handlers in the class.
If you need help with any of these first, please contact us to see what would be the best option for you!
prices and booking
Agility classes cost £15 per session, payable in blocks of up to 6 weeks, with 4 per group at our outdoor venue and 5 per group at our indoor venues over winter. Classes may be sold via the members group or via the open Nutter Dogs Agility Club Events group on Facebook if you are unable to attend one or more weeks.
You can view our class timetable here. Please also familiarise yourself with our class rules.
Get in touch via agility@nutterdogs.co.uk to join our waiting list.