Where are Classes Held? Our indoor and outdoor facility (spring summer only) is located on Central Saanich Road off of Mt Newton Cross Rd. Depending on your goals, you may also choose to do private introduction classes with France.
How Much are the Classes? All classes are priced in the shopping cart with 5% GST. Pre-Pay for your session in the shopping cart. You can also e-transfer France at france@avidagility.com. Special instant club discounts for joining the AVID DOGS alumni pricing group for Members. AVID also offers private instruction to jump start your fun if you prefer to not be in a group class. This option offers one-on-one instruction! There is an emphasis on only you and your dog! This option will be more flexible for your schedule and time and great for busy people who need a flexible schedule.
What to Bring?
Dress in layers according to the weather and boots or shoes that you can run in. Bring lots of treats or a toy if your dog likes toys, a flat collar, a leash, a poop bag and most importantly, bring an open mind to have some fun and learn some cool stuff!
Health of your dog? Your dog’s physical condition is also important to us We are dedicated to the overall conditioning of your dog. Your dog must be healthy enough to do agility. The athletic challenge keeps a dog fit, helps prevent obesity, increases endurance and strengthens bones and joints. Agility courses exercises a dog's mind giving them opportunities to learn and solve problems. Agility training will also help you keep in shape! The must have current vaccinations or titers. Puppies must have first set of full vaccinations.
Keeping your dog safe!
Many of us get involved with dog agility as a form of fun bonding between us and our dog. In fact, many dogs starting in agility are older dogs so we can get right into the fun stuff like jumps and contact obstacles. Then when we get bit by the “dog agility bug” we want to start with a puppy. This is where you need to be very careful because a puppy under the age of one can permanently damage it’s joints on agility equipment and some dogs need even longer. Puppies have soft bones, and if the plates in the joints are damaged (jumping or falling can do this easily) the puppies’ bone may not grow properly, potentially resulting in a stunted limb. And even though most organizations will allow you to compete with a dog one year of age, some large breeds such as a German Shepherd dog or Rottweilers should not be jumping full height until 16 – 18 months. You need to talk to your vet about your individual dog’s growth and development patterns to ensure your individual dog is ready to start dog agility training. AVID has the knowledge of the proper exercises, equipment height and lesson durations. We will start with all kinds of flat work such as shadow handling, hand targeting, tricks as well as the introduction of obstacles on the ground. It is at this age you want to focus on teamwork so you never want to rush or drill your puppy. Everything should be light, up beat and full of playtime for your puppy.We also introduce impulse control games and how to play with toys. You can also use this time to get your puppy use to things that happen in their life, focus during distraction, strange surfaces, new people, crate training, noise and other dogs working around them. Do keep in mind that most dogs go through to fear phases while in puppy-hood, we take things slow and we will even avoid those fearful obstacles until your dog grows out of that phase. You can introduce your puppy to lessons that teach body awareness, raised surfaces like a table on the ground paws up on small step stool, walking over low cavalettis, wobble boards and walking on planks. You can slowly introduce obstacles such as a short tunnel, the tire set to ground level Remember, you can do tons of handling exercises without any height on your jumps like send outs, recalls and appropriate bending for body awareness. Your dog’s safety is our responsibility in classes. We will do everything to make sure your dog is safe and having fun. The objective for Avid classes is to be the start of your long and healthy partnership with you and your dog. At Avid we are building confidence, fun, concentration and a team.