Do boxers have to have their ears cropped to show obedience or agility?

[Leeta's Mom]

Well that's good news! I was worried that I'd gone and had Leeta spayed and I wouldn't be able to let her do agility!

 

[Nedra's_momma]

Originally posted by Kysha
I know that we are not allowed to practice/practice at our club when the dog is in heat.

This is the case at our training club as well...

I also wanted to back up the point that being under anesthesia is stressful on your emotions. I have has total spinal fusion with rods done on my back. When I came out of anesthesia, I had terrible mood swings, I cried, I demanded to talk to my mother at three o'clock in the morning (who was 2 hours away). The doctor explained it as hormonal. He said that the anesthesia messes with your hormonal balances and this was the reasoning for the mood swings. That, combined with the disorientation from being in a strange place, missing his owners, etc... were all probably contributors to the pup's distress, not necessarily because the pup was in pain. Considering that I wasn't even cognizant of my surroundings for at least 48 hours after surgery, I would hardly say that I was in pain, and if I was, I certainly didn't feel it.

Hope this helps.

 

[jarheadmike]

Spayed/Neutered Agility Boxers

We actually let our girls practice agility when they are in season on our course. We also run our males on the course after the "in season" girls as an added distraction for the real trials.

You never know when someone will run an in season bitch at a trial or have one on the grounds close enough for the boys to notice. Sometimes the girls may be just coming in season or on the way out and the owner just doesn't realize it. So, we just don't want our boys to be distracted by it at a trial.

But anyway, good for you for spaying her.

Good luck in Agility!! You'll love it!!

 

[Leeta's Mom]

I have a couple questions, I'm sure they're easy to answer so I figure while I've got everyone's attention, I'll ask.

Leeta is now 8 months old.

Since you're not suppossed to do anything impact-wise with a young dog, how does one begin the agility process?

Leeta and I go to several parks and the park next door has a playground. I believe that she was only 3 months old when she first tried to drag me up a slide! Basically she has explored all of the "obstacles" in the playground and just can't get enough of it. She climbs up ladders, down slides, up over and around tires etc etc!

I'm still searching for an agility club under an hour's drive from Toronto. (Still unable to find one)

We've completed a puppy head start class and basic obedience. She responds very well to all of the basic commands. "Come" still only works about 70% of the time. She loves playing fetch with a ball and stick, we're trying a frisbee later today. She's well socialized, isn't possesive or aggressive over toys, food or people. I've read several books and only use positive training methods.

I'm just kind of stumped as to what I should do with her now.

 

[Nedra's_momma]

Again, I can only give my experiences, but our training club has a PreNovice class that will get you started. The main goal of this class is to prepare you and your dog for the more intensive classes that concentrate on training for AKC obedience/agility trials. The only prerequisites for this class is a puppy class, a household class and a pretest to make sure the dog is at the appropriate level for the class. If you have gone through any Basic Obedience class, you should be fine to see if you can test into the PreNovice class.

Again, I'm not sure how other training facilities do it, this has just been my experience.

Good luck!

 

[Brittain]

hi

Brittain is now 10 months old and has been in Agility for about 2 months. She doesnt jump very high but she does run the entire course. You can begin a Novice course with Leeta with no worries because your trainer wont make you do something that is bad for her.
The only problem is that Brittain is so much more interested in the other dogs than she is in the course! I have to keep her on her leash so that she doesnt go running away from me to see somebody else. But she has an amazing ability, which is good. Plus, she isnt allowed to compete until she is 18 months old, so hopefully shell have grown out of her need to socialize so we could actually complete an entire course without physical contact! Good luck finding a school!
Rachel

 

[Renee&Jake]

I started Agility training with Jakob at 4 months. However, we did not even try to jump 20-24 inches unitll 1 year. If you use little jumps, (8-14?) inches off the ground, you won't have such a risk of impact damage to growing puppy bones.

I've seen it recommended at agilityboxer.com that low impact jumps for 6-9 months.

Not only can you compete with a dog in Obedience/Agility if your dog is spayed/neutered, you may also compete with a purebred Boxer with an ILP from the AKC (if you have a purebred rescue without papers. Also, UKC and I think CKC and several other North American Orginizations allow ILP's as well.

Leeta's Mom: if you are still following this post, agilityboxer.com has a clubsearch at

http://www.agilityboxer.com/allaboutagility.htm

for club listings in canada and around the world.

 

[Leeta's Mom]

Thanks for all the great information!

I'm searching through agilityboxer.com as we speak and am hoping to find an agility club nearby to get started with!