How much and how often you train is dependent upon your individual dog.  The only way you can keep from "burning your dog out" is by keeping it fun and reading your dog.  If you keep your training fun and varied and your dog is still wanting more when you quit training, then you will not burn him/her out. My BC is happiest when we get to train every day.  I mix up agility, obedience and playing with her ball.  My All American (who mostly does obedience) is best when I train for about 20 minutes, 3 or 4 days a week. 

I understand what Alice is talking about in the benefits of "getting your feet wet" at trials, but I have a different perspective.  I started showing my BC in agility when she was 2 1/2  (a long way from being a baby, but she was very immature).  We were going to class once a week and practicing almost daily at home.  She was very consistent in training, including contacts.  She was very fast, but well under control as far as recalls and such.  At our first trial we got our NGC and Gambler's was the only class of the 3 where she consistently *hit* the down contacts!  The nice thing about that trial, was that it was back when you could do 6 runs in a day in NADAC.  After about 3 or 4 runs, my dog was settled down (but not too tired) and working nicely and I was no longer nervous. 

The best thing about trials for me is walking the course with other more experienced handlers from your club/school and seeing how they are going to run the course.  (Not meaning pestering them, but asking questions once they are done, as it doesn't take an experienced handler too long to figure out a Novice course.)  After that trial, I went home and worked on revving up my dog and then teaching her to hit contacts in a more excited state.  I didn't show again for about 6 months (when she was 3) and we were a lot better. 

I understand that people starting to show in Novice want know when they are ready... when their dog knows "enough".  At the club I was training with all the time, I didn't understand why we always had to do parts of Open or Excellent courses and not just a Novice course.  The explanation I got was that "if you can do this course, then a novice course will be easy".  But I didn't know what a Novice course was!!  :)  The explanation that I give to people now, is that running Novice courses teaches your dog to do a Novice course.  If you want to do Novice and then quit, that is fine.  Novice courses teach the dog to take the obstacle in front of him/her.  If you need to get the dog's attention, you can always scream (not that you *should*).  But taking the next obstacle w/o instruction from you, is a very bad habit to get into.

My dog has always been good at working away from me and being able to be sent ahead.  However, in tight sequences we were sunk.  I could not pull her in tight when I needed to.  To use Hatfield/Mah terms, we had no "City".  (Highway was beautiful!  <VBG>)  We did fine in Novice and also in NADAC (though jumpers was tough) since there is more space between obstacles.  AKC Open was a big problem though.  After taking a year off to show in obedience, we went to CR Camp this year.  That and doing more Backyard Dogs sequences at home has helped us a lot.  Now, I am actually looking forward to those twisty courses to prove we can do it!!

My plan with my next dog, is to train her further before I start showing her.  I want her to be able to at least do short sequences of more twisty courses and switch her focus from Highway to City and back again before we take it in the ring. Tracy Sengupta

Regarding when to start - I think that really varies on you and your dog, but I'd like to add another slant.

When I first started in agility, somewhere around the end of Prohibition :) -- all there was was USDAA.  If you wanted to do agility, you did USDAA (NCDA - now UKC - was around, but not here).  So we did USDAA and we entered *everything*.  All classes, all games.  Believe me, you learn a *lot* about running your dog when you are running six times a weekend in different classes and games. 

When I started Tonka, I started in AKC (I think it was because at the time USDAA trials were on the downswing around here and kind of hard to find).  At that time, there was no JWW, so you had one run a day.  She breezed through Novice and Open and all of a sudden I had this fast little dog that I had *NO IDEA* how to run!  It was tough! 

So, regardless of what your favorite "flavor" of agility is, I'd like to encourage everyone to try all of them - if they have a dog that can handle the jump heights, etc.  The more you can get in the ring with your dog the more you will learn about how you and your dog handle competition.  Think if it as an expensive fun match, if nothing else. Jo Ann Mather

I think the question is not when is your dog ready to trial, but when is the human ready to trial.

If the dog goes out and misses contacts, pops out of weave poles, visits the judge... these kinds of things happen every time you work your  green dog on agility equipment.  It just takes time and consistent training to solve.  Even human errors like being in the wrong spot, giving the wrong command will improve over time.

I believe the more serious problem that can be long term and career threatening, is the dog that shuts down or runs out of the ring or any other stress induced behavior.  AND (IMO) that is caused by the handler who is not ready to trial-believe me I learned the hard way.  Its important to stress to students to keep things upbeat, have a great attitude and don't worry in the beginning about qualifying. Julie Bellar

Personally, I'm a big believer in jumping in sooner rather than later, as long as your dog knows all the obstacles and is under control, i.e., he's not going to run out of the ring on you, and he'll keep working the obstacles more or less with you.  I took classes for over a year before entering my first show, and in retrospect that was a mistake. I also have a
fast dog, and I'm slow too (in more ways than one, sometimes!). Class is fun, but my dog really gets bored fast when he has to stand around waiting for another dog to take their turn. I found that both of us learned A LOT once we started showing.  All of the "theory" we learned in class suddenly made sense once we had to put it into practice at a show, and under time pressure. My skills and my speed started to improve dramatically, and my dog benefited.

Some people think that unless you're perfect or nearly so you shouldn't "waste your time or money" entering a real trial.  Well, its my time and my money, and if I choose to spend my time in the ring as an expensive run-through then its my choice. I see enough advanced teams having really horrible runs (aka "wasting time and money") that I just don't worry about it.

Besides, in going to a trial you get to watch lots of other teams, and believe me THAT is a very worthwhile learning experience. There's nothing like doing and seeing the real deal to sharpen up your own act. Alice Simpson

© Katie Greer Agility Ability and the noted authors of some of the posts.