What age do you start training contacts in dog agility? When do you do full courses and

what foundations do the puppies need to have? Easy answer for foundation is all the great skills to be

an amazing family pet. That should be the number one foundation. Beyond that,

yes, there's a lot of handling skills that we need to teach our dogs on the flat. My dogs don't

see any real agility obstacles, you know, maybe a jump bump for their grids. They do some grids

when they're puppies, but nothing serious until they're closer to a year old. My contact, I just do the targeting on a flat

mat or a raised mat when they're puppies or adolescent puppies. And I don't really start growing

that contact behavior until they're close to a year old or older, really. It really depends

on the dog. So a dog like this, we really didn't progress

very fast at all. 18 months, she had pretty much none of it. So, let the dog be the guide.

What would you identify as three to five natural abilities or qualities of any agility dog?

So of any agility dog or of the great ones. I personally think any dog you love that is physically

sound can be a great agility dog. Like you don't have to go through dog after dog to find the perfect

one. I think all dogs because of the nature of the sport of dog agility, it's just chasing

your handler, your mum or your dad, chasing them around and doing jumps and hoops, right?

Like, it's a fun game.

All dogs trained properly can be taught to really enjoy it.

So, if you're thinking of dogs that really excel, it would be dogs that have equal balance for food and toys,

dogs that are playful in their nature.

So those dogs trained properly, they're going to love the game. They're going to love to play a game. Obviously,

if they have really nice structure, that helps with the longevity in the sport. And I think

you want a dog that has a lot of drive, but that they stay thoughtful and drive. So there's

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