Understanding your dog, building good foundations along with a fantastic relationship and having lots of FUN is what will stop your training from becoming average and ensuring it is successful from the start!
Katrina Bayliss
If you are looking to start agility with your dog, please read all of the information below to see if my training is for you. If it is, great! Simply fill out the form at the bottom of this page and I will be in touch with what is available.
If you are new to agility it can be confusing knowing where to start. A lot of people think instantly of Crufts when they think of agility, but they do not realise that there is so much training that is involved in training agility dogs before they even see the equipment!
My Pre-Agility Training is a 4 week block of one to one sessions, which typically start at the beginning of each calendar month. You are welcome to book a singular, one off session as a taster of how I train before booking the block of 4 sessions.
My Pre-Agility training is taught in one to one sessions at a seperate venue to the one I use for more advanced agility training.
My pre-agility training is done at the venue pictured below, a large secure dog field, with the view to moving your dog to my other venue (where my agility equipment is) when your dog is ready for that stage and able to work around the distractions at my main venue (horses nearby). If your dog already has agility training experience and can work around distractions please click here.
There are lots of skills a dog needs to be able to do before starting their agility training journey. These skills are covered in my Pre-Agility training:
- Focus
- Confidence
- Disengagement
- Working around distractions
- Recall
- Body awareness skills
- Relationship skills.
- Groundwork games
- And more!
Although many want to see their dogs jumping the kit and running through tunnels straight away, it is really not worth risking your dog getting injured or damaging the relationship you have with them by asking them to do something they aren’t ready for.
My training is knowledgeable, kind, and most importantly fun for both the dog and the handler! The more fun you have the quicker your training progresses! I know how to tailor the training to enable your dog to grow in confidence, succeed and have fun!
If dogs are rushed onto kit too soon they can make mistakes. These mistakes will only need to be undone later down the line! It is a lot easier and far quicker to teach a dog how to do a skill correctly from the start, than it is teaching them to re-learn an already embedded skill! (It can be done, it just takes a little longer)
I learnt from my dog Milo, that if you don’t train things properly from the start, you only have to revisit the training later on!! This can be frustrating for the handler and confusing for the dog! (You can read all about that in my book)
To achieve success in your dog training you need to truly understand the individual needs of your dog, build fantastic foundations and keep everything fun!
When learning agility with me that is exactly what I do! I will not rush your dogs onto kit. I will help you to build their foundation skills, arm you with a number of fun training games and give you the knowledge to understand your dog in a way you’ve probably never looked at them before!
Build good foundations and your training will never fall down!
I designed my Pre-Agility Programmes as I realised there is a huge need for foundation skills to be utilised more in agility training! Each dog will follow a slightly different programme, depending on their individual needs. I hate to see dogs who are rushed onto kit often lacking in confidence, not able to work around distractions, not happy and not enjoying their training!!
I believe that every dog progresses at their own pace and I nurture that in my training. If your dog is a super quick learner I will adapt my training to suit – I never hold a dog back! If they need a bit more help then that is fine too!
My Pre-Agility Programmes will give you everything you need to start off your agility training correctly. So often I see people who have rushed to get onto the kit but it’s their foundation training that is letting them down! Just as we would not embark on a new sport without learning the correct way, it is exactly the same for our dogs. The better your foundations the faster you progress!
I have trained both of my current competing dogs using these methods and games. BOTH of my dogs have climbed up the grades very quickly and within their first year competing!
If you are interested in my Pre-Agility Training please fill out the form below:
KB Agility 