Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off-leash 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.

In its simplest form, an agility course consists of a set of standard obstacles, laid out by an agility judge in a design of his or her own choosing on a roughly 100 by 100-foot area, with numbers indicating the order in which the dog must complete the obstacles.

Courses are complicated enough that a dog could not complete them correctly without human direction. 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.

Scoring is based on how many faults are incurred. Penalties can include not only course faults, such as knocking down a bar in a jump, but also time faults, which are the number of seconds over the calculated standard course time.

Credit toward AKC agility titles is earned by qualifying in AKC licensed and member club agility trials. The titles earned at AKC agility trials are Novice Agility (NA), Novice JWW (NAJ), Open Agility (OA), Open JWW (OAJ), Agility Excellent (AX), Excellent JWW (AXJ), Master Agility Excellent (MX), Master Excellent JWW (MXJ), Master Agility Champion(MACH).
For stories about Kanzu’s agility journey
Click Here
For Agility Photos
Click Here
For Agility Videos
Click Here