Agility Training
All Four Paws ATG train privately, from 7:30 - 10:00pm on a Tuesday evening throughout the year. We accomodate dogs of all experiences, ages, breeds, including young dogs and veterans. We do require that all new dogs, regardless of age, have a good level of basic obedience and are well-socialised around other dogs before they begin training with us. A good recall is essential!
We always advocate positive training methods and encourage play in all our sessions. Handlers may bring any treats and/or toys, although we do ask that toys are silent to minimise distraction to other dogs. We keep our sessions limited to a small number of dogs (a maximum of 6) to ensure everyone gets the time they need.
The group has a full set of agility equipment, which conforms to the competitive standard equipment of the Kennel Club and British Agility Association. Any profits from our training fees go to maintaining and updating this equipment, paying for our insurance and the arena hire. Our trainers are volunteers.
We are fortunate to use the facilities at Dowry Barn Livery Yard in Slaithwaite, where we have access to an indoor arena and on-site equipment storage. The arena is fully enclosed and has a hard-packed sand and fibre surface.
Agility Health and Fitness
We take your dog's short- and long-term health very seriously. Agility is a fantastic activity for dog and handler, but like any energetic sport it carries a risk of injury. The continued high-speed running and jumping can be particularly hard on young, undeveloped joints and bones. For this reason, puppies from 6 months old are welcome to work with us on foundation agility exercises, but will not be allowed on the equipment.
Dogs should also be a suitable weight for agility. Dogs carrying excess weight will struggle with some of the required obstacles, and will be at increased risk from joint-stress injuries at a younger age. Click here to view a helpful chart; agility dogs should ideally be a 4 on this scale.
If you have any concerns about your dog's health at agility, you should initially speak to your vet, but we are always happy to discuss ways of increasing and managing your dog's fitness levels, as well as warm-up and cool-down exercises for agility.