Would anyone try to train a young pup to do agility, cani x ? Agility

the best advise I was ever given about my N.I boys came from Luz, who informed me that one of her N.I's got a back injury quite young while being off lead running around jumping ditches ect, I had been told to increase the boys excersise at around 9 months, Luz told me to wait till a year at least, because of the legnth of back on them, which we did !
Would it be a good idea to train a young pup to do cani x , agility ect and know that said dog was exceling in these fields at 18 months old...
Imo NO...it is not a good idea to train a young pup to do such work, but if some are saying 18 month old saarloo x 's can then surely said dog will suffer if not now then later in life because of over excersise...
I know Louise and Mick, to name only a couple on here will know age wise for Mals and huskies to start training and would love to hear what they think, and when training would begin for they're chosen breed, also opinions from them about my chosen breed and other wolfy types, bearing in mind mine are very long on the back compared to Mals / huskies...

Sibes are a slow maturing breed so training for pulling rigs and scooters normally starts around 12 months. You dont want to ruin a good dog early in its life by over exercising you need to give them time to grow into their bones.
I suspect that the NI/Sarloos/CWD are slow maturing aswell?? You wouldnt know a dogs potential at 18 months anyway its still a baby!

Gemmsie

Thanks Gemmsie...

Whats the point?? If you have a goal in mind like agility for your pup when it is older then there is so much foundation work you can teach while its body is developing

I dont believe in treating a pup with kid gloves and let it do what it will naturaly - but dont make it jump and things till its body is mature

there is the mind to consider too
while the dog is still immature it can go through a 2nd fear stage and if that is at the point when you are introducing obsticles or something then it could be set back a bit getting over the fear (trust me Ben started with a fear of different floor surfaces when he was almost a year old - got over it in about a month and was fine again)

If you are thinking about agility I would train working on both sides of you, directions, going out to targets, back end awareness games, running with you games, solid stays
ontop of (more importantly) learning that working with you is fun and rewarding and how to use its brain
along with socalising how to get on with all types of dogs and situations

For caniX sloooowly building up stamina and again teaching that time with you is great fun - dont know much about it so I know there is lots of other things - like in harness is when you work games

well i can only say what i know from gsds. Both of mine started agility training at about 8 months BUT it was all made great fun and was by no means 'conditioning' them and they didnt jump- all poles were on the floor and the contact equipmenmt was flat so there was no high impact on their joints- they just learned the basics and started doing small jumps at 13 months and progressed to full height when 17 months.
I would of thought it would be ok to teach your dog to run in fron as cani-x requires but i wouldnt say any fitness training etc.

I wouldnt do it with a rottie, never mind an NI,
Many NI dogs are large with long backs and loins,

anyone doing agility or cani x with a young dog, would be very irresponsible, Any agility trainer allowing dogs of this type to do agility at a very young age, should not be training dogs.

I would agree with everybody else.

Our NI's love agility but we have taken it very slowly.

Sacha aged 3 is now consistantly doing the full course now and quickly, although we do have work to do on the weaves I would hope to start competing her for fun this year.

Liadan just 2 is loving agility but we have yet to do full height jumps.

Torin aged 9 months is watching and has done the tunnel and a frame flat on the floor.

But to be fair to you, you dont own large breed dogs,

I think this is really about someone saying a very young bitch of 18 months excelled at agility, giving the impression this bitch was doing the full thing, now take on board this bitch has just had a litter, it would indicate the bitch was doing full agility and had excelled, all of this would have had to have been done at a very young age assuming the bitch would have been rested during a most of her pregnacy.

Our agility class said no jumps until 18 months for large breed dogs.

so it would be fair to say, It wouldnt be poss to class a bitch who has had a litter by 18 months old, as a dog that excelled in agility?

Id be very worried about a large bred excelling at agility at 18months, training yes, showing promise yes, excelling no.

As a breed they do seem very long in the back, & this may cause a problem in the dog sports, esp in agilty with weaving & turning ,

Thanks for your replys everyone...
abbie how the heck did you get Torin through a tunnel ?...
Inka is feert of the tunnels xx

We just started off with the tunnel as short as it would go and tempted him through for his ball. Once he had been through once it was no problem at all to get him to go through and gradually lengthen the tunnel

Heres the woose

awe bless him, he would need to crawl through that on his belly, hes so tall.

he needs a bigger tunnel!!!!!

We do puppy agility classes at dog training but it is more about socialization, with dogs, people and new experiences such as walking over new objects.

They do go over jumps....poles on the ground, or crossed over poles! Nothing too taxing or dangerous.

The dogs don't start going over jumps until they are a year old and then they are only on the lowest level. It's not competition obedience and we go for fun and precision rather than speed.

Oh yup totaly
But what I ment was I let them zoom about and do what they wanted to do - but anything that I asked them to do I was careful and built up to slowly, like running with the bike - I waited till Ben was almost a year and started with 5 mins then built it up gradualy 5 min at a time

With agility it isnt recommended that you do much with a dog before its growth plates are closed - which in a big dog would be between 18 months and 2 years - so totaly agree no way a large dog should be anything like excelling at agility at that age

- shouldnt have had a litter yet either - but taking that into account that dog should not even be on full height contacts or jumps yet - really she should just be starting out on the actual equipment

I agree, the dog shouldn't be jumping at her age, never mind having pups! Why rush? It's just creating problems later in life. I'm planning to start Rio on weave poles etc. this summer. She can already use a tunnel, but she won't be jumping until at least 18 months, and not full heights before two years. What's the point? OH is planning to do canix with her when she is two. Defo not before then, we don't want a crippled dog!

well if the owners are irresponsible enough to let the dog have a litter before 18months then they are irresponsible enough to let the dog jump full height.