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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes! Agility paps are awesome. I have a papillon cross (half papillon) to get something a bit sturdier, but she has been the most fun dog I’ve ever trained. Agility, flyball, disc—she’s down for it all.

Plenty of papillons do great in agility. They are barky (nicknamed “yapillons”), but super fun little dogs. The tricky part will be finding one that is fully health tested and available. Their litters are tiny and their waitlists are long.

Are you local? Are you willing to travel to get the dog? Where do you intend to train? There is a local-ish guy in PA who teaches agility classes in Frederick who runs papillons.[/quote]

We are local.  I imagine we will wait for our current dog to pass before we get a new puppy, so at this point we are just thinking.  But maybe we could get on a waiting list?

What is your dog crossed with?  Are there other breeds you would look at for a small agility dog?

[/quote]

She’s crossed with a border collie, but is only 15 lbs.

Any dog can do agility. Truly, I’ve seen chihuahuas and Danes and everything in between run. There is a 4” height class. The only issue is the teeter takes a bit longer to drop when you’re tiny! I’ve had Classmates run shelties, bostons, min pins, Jack russels, bichons, norwhich terriers, Lhasa apso…find the dog you want to live with and then train it to love agility. It’s just a game! It doesn’t require any natural instincts like some dog sports. Unless your child wants to make the US junior nationals team, the dog will spend more time as a pet than an agility star, so find the best pet for your household. Also important is to find a breeder who does structural testing on parents so that you stack the deck in terms of physical ability.

The hardest part will be finding a class in the area though. There are only a handful of programs and they’re all pretty far outside the city (leesburg, Frederick, Severna park). There are a couple “intro to agility” things at various pet training places or Fairfax parks and rec closer in, but if she’s serious about getting to competition level you’ll have to commit to a commute.[/quote]

What age makes one a junior?

How often do you go to classes?  [/quote]

Depends on the venue. There are multiple agility organizations, each has their own rules. In akc, it’s under 18.

Classes are usually an hour a week, at some point between 5 and 10 pm.[/quote]

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