Preferred or Regular AKC class?

Snow Dogz · #1 10th January 2011, 02:24 PM

Hey! I am about to enter my boxer who will be 15 months on the 18th of January in her first AKC agility competion that will be held in Feb. We have gone through puppy, beginner and intermediate agility classes and are definetly ready to compete. What I am wondering about is whether to enter her in the regular novice class or preferred. Preferred would allow her to jump one height division lower than she measures. I'm just wondering if it'd be safer on her body to not have her jump as high? She broke her leg as a puppy and had plates/screws in for months, then they were removed. She has never had another problem with the leg but just not sure... Anyone compete in AKC with their boxer and if so do you do regular or preferred classes? Thanks for the opinions!

**Jan** · #2 11th January 2011, 06:55 AM

Definitely the lower heights. It is not recommend that you do forced exercise, with a boxer, until they are at least 15 months old. Agility is forced exercise. She wouldn't be doing it, if you didn't ask her too. You are risking damage to bones and joints, by doing too much, too soon. Most agility training places won't even let you start until at least a year of age.

DiverDiva · #3 11th January 2011, 07:27 AM

If you have decidied to enter the trial, I'd recommend you run preferred. Have you had your dog measured? If so, what height would she be jumping?

Oscar and I compete in agility and we took classes for two years before entering a trial. I had quite the surprise at our first trial when he was measured taller than what he was measured the first time and we were moved up to the next jump height. I had never trained him to jump that high, and although he never knocked a bar, I was still worried. I got the tie-breaking measurement before entering another trial. That is just one example of the unexpected things that can happen at a trial.

At my training club, most of the instructors would have a student continue to train and mavbe attend some run throughs or mock trials with a dog as young as yours. The AKC used to require that dogs be 18 months to enter agility trials. Many handlers still use that as their dog's minimum age to enter a trial.

DiverDiva · #4 12th January 2011, 10:22 AM

Correction: AKC used to have a minimum age of 12 months for a dog to compete in agility, and it was changed to 15 months. Many of my agility friends and instructors feel that is still pretty young. What are your goals for the upcoming trial?

Snow Dogz · #5 12th January 2011, 02:13 PM

Thank you for your input! I agree that she is still on the young side and I will go ahead and enter preferred. For the record we only jump 4 inches high during majority of the training classes, so I don't feel that I've put her body at risk during that time. I really would like to get her entered at a real trial for the experience. I run agility with my other dog and her first couple trails there was a lot of getting used to the atmosphere and I would like to get my boxer familiar with that ASAP. I'm certainly not going to be pushing her for her fasted time, I'm just going to make the whole day a positive experience

I've taken her to trails with my other dog but its not quite the same as getting out in the ring. What she measures would put her in the 20 inch category, and I agree that is way too high for her being less than 2 years old. We'll probably only have a chance to enter 2-3 trails this spring, and then will take the summer off until the fall when she'll be two. Thanks again!