Dog Sports
We are a friendly club who pride ourselves on helping you to maximise you and your dogs potential through training.
We strive to keep our class sizes small to maximise the 1 to 1 time you have with your trainer, our five trainers will work closely with you to personalise and maximise your learning experience.
We offer classes in:
Dog Agility, just for fun or working towards competition, our two agility trainers both compete regularly to ensure their skill set and teaching is relevant to the latest courses.
Dog Agility
Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through a course of agility obstacles in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off lead with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles. The handler's controls are limited to voice, movement, and various body signals only.
In its simplest form, an agility course consists of a set of standard obstacles laid out by a judge in a design of his or her own choosing in an area of a specified size. The surface may be of grass, dirt, rubber, or special matting.
In competition, the handler must assess the course, decide on handling strategies, and direct the dog through the course, with precision and speed equally important.
Because each course is different, handlers are allowed a course walking period before the competition starts. During this time, all handlers competing in a particular class can walk or run around the course without their dogs, determining how they can best position themselves and guide their dogs to get the most accurate path around the numbered obstacles.
Flyball, just for fun or working towards competiton, two of our trainers teach the skills necessary for flyball and both take part with their own dogs.
Flyball
Flyball is a dog sport in which teams of dogs race against each other from a start/finish line, over a line of hurdles, to a box that releases a tennis ball ball to be caught when the dog presses the spring-loaded pad, then back to their handlers while carrying the ball.
Flyball is run in teams of four dogs, as a relay. The course consists of four hurdles placed 10 feet (3 m) apart from each other, with the starting line six feet (1.8 m) from the first hurdle, and the flyball box 15 feet (4.5 m) after the last one, making for a 51-foot (15.5 m) length. The hurdle height is determined by the shoulder height of the smallest dog in the team. Each dog must return its ball all the way across the start line before the next dog crosses. Ideal running is nose-to-nose at the start line. The first team to have all four dogs cross the finish line error free wins the heat. Penalties are applied to teams if the ball is dropped or if the next relay dog is released early.
Rally-Obedience, just for fun or working towards competition, all of our trainers participate in Rally-Obedience and are on hand to demonstrate how the various exercises or moves should be carried out.
Rally-Obedience
Rally obedience (also known as Rally or Rally-O) is a dog sport based on obedience.
Rally is the very latest dog sport to be recognised by the Kennel Club. It's fun and no matter what level you and your dog may be at it's easy to get involved and start training and competing.
Rally involves you and your dog working as a team to navigate a course with numbered signs indicating different exercises to perform; think of it as a sort of 'obedience exercise obstacle course' including simple exercises.
The course is set by the judge or trainer. There is no pause between exercises - you and your dog work briskly through the course without direction from the judge. You are encouraged to talk to and praise your dog during the performance. Any dog can get involved; your dog does not have to be a pedigree dog to take part
Unlike regular obedience, instead of waiting for the judge's orders, the competitors proceed around a course of designated stations with the dog in heel position. The course consists of 10 to 20 signs that instruct the team what to do. Unlike traditional obedience, handlers are allowed to encourage their dogs during the course.
Trick Training
Trick Training, this is where most of our members start, we can tailor your training to your needs, whether that is basic obedience, tricks to show off to your friends and family or pre agility and flyball, all our trainers and their dogs participate in learning the tricks we teach. Our Trick classes are completed in levels, should you wish to you can progress up the levels and each successfully passed course is recognised and rewarded, we provide handouts for continued learning at home and actively encourage you to contact us out of class time if you are having difficulty with any of the at home learning.
The tricks we train go from beginner to advanced tricks, such as circling around the body, twisting left and right, weaving through legs and arms, jumping legs and arms, paw lifts right through to prop tricks such as skateboarding, barrel walking, figure 8 around walking sticks moving hoop jumping. Currently many of our students are working towards their Trick Dog Performance Titles with Do More With Your Dog, and we are happy to announce that 11 of our members dogs now hold their title letter awards.
Dog tricks are a great way to train your dog, and many of them build from the basic commands such as sit, down, come, stay. While those things are important and we will work through your basic commands, don't underestimate the benefit of the mental stimulation and fun for you and your dog with training tricks, not forgetting the ability to show off you and your dogs skills to friends and family.
Doggy Dancing, put your tricks, yours and your dogs personalities into a sequence add music and move with your dog, our members take part in local displays, showing off their routines and giving trick demonstrations raising money for charity.
We hold three shows a year which is open to all club members to take part in and the general public are invited to come and watch.
Our Agility and Flyball show gives our members a chance to take part in races and compete against different classes, there is always the chance to win prizes and rosettes and take part in fun classes.
Our Trick Class summer show allows our members to come show off their routines and tricks, competing against other members for titles such as best routine, most fitting music choice.
Our Christmas show is for every club member to come and take part in, we have routines, trick demonstrations, games for all dogs, awards are given out to our members in categories such as most improved handler or dog, an evening of socialising with our members over coffee and mince pies.
Hoopers
Unlike agility, Hoopers has no jumps. Instead, ground-level hoops are used for the dog to run through. It has the same pace and excitement as agility, but the courses are flowing and don’t involve the tight turns of agility, making it safer for dogs.
There are no jumps or high impact equipment: just hoops, barrels and tunnels – not only making injury less likely, but also making it cheaper and more accessible for pet dog owners to partake and practice at home.
Hoopers is a low-impact sport suitable for all age dogs, including puppies and older dogs. Retired ex-agility dogs can return to dog sports through Hoopers.
It’s not just agility dogs that this sport caters for: unlike agility, where you run the course with your dog, the long-term goal of Hoopers is to distance-handle everything. This means the owner stands still as the dog is directed around the course, through hand signals and verbal cues. This makes it an exciting, fast-paced dog sport that is accessible to owners with restricted mobility.
Points are scored in competition by managing to direct the dog through the elements of the course from a ‘handling’ box, staying within zones or remaining in one dedicated spot whilst your dog completes the full course.
