Cross Breeds

Can mixed breeds be in the professional agility contests?

I want to start training dogs for agility contests. I already trained my Siberian husky/Aussie. cattle dog. Does obedience centers train for agility? Should I try to get a job at an obedience center? Do they hire someone who only has personal experence and no professional? If they require professional experence, is there a school for dog obedience. Please no jokes or rude comments. How do you find a school? Thats what I was asking for mzbryana. You dont have to be rude.

Public Comments

1. You obviously have no idea as to what you are talking about. I suggest getting educated about the sport before trying to get a job as a trainer of one. To anwser your question- yes they can in USDAA and NADAC events. edit- sorry if I came off as rude. You should take some classes yourself and find a good mentor if you wish to carry on in this sport
2. If you Google for Agility Events, you'll find that they are put on by the AKC, UKC and others. AKC does not allow mixes....others do. You can go the the parent club page and search for local Agility Clubs. You can train at an AKC obedience or agility club even with a mix. http://www.google.com/search?q=Agility+club&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA Try googling Agility Clubs in (insert your city or state).
3. Search for agility clubs in your state here http://www.akc.org/clubs/search/index.cfm?action=agil&display=on They may require someone with professional experience, but they may give you a job with the club to gain experience, and maybe later on get moved up to the training. Depending where you live, and who you work for, they may want a trainer who is insured and licensed...maybe even bonded.
4. Will be honest here... Yes. mixed breeds can "compete" in agility trials, in every agility organization in the US, but AKC. Usually "obedience" centers train obedience. Obedience is NOT agility. Sure, an agility dog has to "obey" their owner, be well mannered, be able to walk on and mostly OFF a leash, sit, down, stay come etc etc...but not necessarily as the "obedience" dog does....an agility dog needs to know SO MUCH MORE. Quite often, a competition obedience dog has a lot of trouble transitioning to agility... NOT to be mean, but to be truthful: you say you have trained your mixed breed dog for agility. but you are asking if mixed breeds can "be in the professional agility contests" that tells me you: 1) have obviously never competed with your dog. You have no agility titles to "prove" that you have correctly trained your dog for agility 2) you haven't the knowledge of "what agility really is" to be a trainer Agility is GREAT FUN! But it isn't easy! There are rules...... there is a right way and a wrong way for dogs to "do" the equipment....particularly weaves and contacts agility isn't dogs running rampant around and over and through...it is a "dance" between the dog and the human, who guides his dog through the correct course using verbal commands, but mostly "body language". There are "handler moves" used in this dance: sends, front crosses, rear crosses, blind crosses, reverse flow pivots.....etc etc to train people, you need to be able to inform them do your research.......take some training classes....go to trials and watch...enter your dog....gain knowledge you can't train what you do not know