Terriers and Agility?

Hi! I am soon welcoming into my home (and heart) an Irish Terrier puppy. My daughter is keenly interested in agility and is hoping we could train the puppy for agility (I would be the one doing the training and the running, LOL, as my daughter is only 5).

I'm wondering how easy/hard it is to train a terrier for agility. I've had a Chesapeake Bay Retriever previously, and while he was well obedience trained we didn't do anything fancy with him, LOL.

I've spoken to a veterinarian friend about training the new pup for agility and he just keeps looking at me and laughing when I bring it up, which is making me nervous, LOL! Are terriers and agility incompatible? Am I going to go crazy even attempting it?

Thanks for any advice/reassurances!

Well, Sawyer just had his first ever agility lesson tonight...I did see some sort of a terrier there and he looked like was doing just fine. And I see JRT's on ESPN agility trials a lot as well.

Just from this one lesson I've realized that even though I may know Sawyer has training and usually is very good at listening, watching other dogs run the course seems to exert such a draw on his focus that he forgets everything he's learned. So having a solid base in "come, sit, stay" is KEY. Also, "no bark" is a good one.

Thanks Zoom...

I guess I just keep hearing how tough it can be to train a terrier, and considering the exta training they need for agility it has me worried, LOL!
Ah well, all we can do is try, right?

Terriers in general are very tenacious, head strong, fiesty, persistant, and most of all ACTIVE!!!!! They never stop thinking. I always say that terriers sleep with one eye open!! I have only taken a few agility lessons myself in the past and that was with a JRT who I had failed to properly obedience train first (a vital part of being able to excel in agility LOL!!) Focus on obedience training first and then move to agility once that is masterd. Remember that terriers are very, very smart and they are small vermin hunting dogs that have a high prey drive for fast moving yummies! You can defiantly do it, but people make those remarks about terriers all the time because well...... you'll see why

Hmmm...that would be the response that worries me, LOL! I guess my sense is that our Chesapeake was not the easiest dog either, and was quite willful and stubborn, so I am hoping our new IT will be much the same way - but I am also ready to be surprised! We plan to focus on obedience first, of course, as I know how integral that is to agility, and I guess depending on how that goes then we'll look at agility. Thanks showpug!

Congrats! You picked a WoNdErFuL breed!!

My breeder actually highly recommended that I train my IT for agility. As previously said, they are EXTREMELY smart dogs, and enjoy using their brains (and get very bored and out of controle when they don't) but they are also quite stubborn.

I personally haven't started agility training yet (though I probably should) because right now we are primarily focused on conformation.

Seems to me that the only people that go around preaching that terriers are hard to train and stubborn are the ones that use "traditional" training.

Terriers can be stubborn and willfull, but so long as you use to right training method(ie: positive reinforcement/clicker trainiing) they can make *wonderful* agility dogs! In fact, the best agility competitors in my area right now run terriers!!

MyBestFriend- If you truly want your daughter to succeed in agility, make sure you find a trainer that teaches with either positive reinforcement or clicker training. Terriers NEED something to strive for rather than just a pat on the head for rewards. (If you don't believe me, you can read my story about Dega: http://tessa-s21200.tripod.com/id4.html )

just check out the top ranking breeds in the listings of the different agility organizations. you'll find many terriers on there!

Be sure to socialize your Terrier well. That is the only down side I could see happen...the local agility club in my area has zero tolerance for dog aggression or anti social canines

There are many Terriers in my local agility club, plus Rotties and many border collies (which truly do excel at agility).

Get your pup socialized, join puppy socialization classes and basic obedience etc. As for teaching agility, I have seen dogs hopeless at obedeince excel at agility...it's fun...of course the owner has to keep it fun. A good motivater is the key to success.

How exciting a new terrier owner they are smart whitted but what a wonderful group of dogs and smart too Agility is a great sport to get your pup envolved our local agility club has many many terriers and they are all great at it of course basic obedience is a requirement and a reliable dog who will come when called but other than that enjoy it is alot of fun