Every dog should have the opportunity to achieve a basic education. They should be schooled in some basic obedience commands for their happiness as well as for their family. This is particularly important before beginning in agility. They should have a good foundation in team work with their owners before beginning to negotiate the agility obstacles. In agility team work is everything! 

Drawing by: Victoria Reid.

The "recall" is the most important lesson of all. Not only should you be confident that your dog will return to you when called in case of danger, you will need to know that you can direct your dog through a training session and later an agility course.

"Sit" and "down" are both useful in leaving the dog at the start line, and both can be used as pause table positions on an agility course. This also gives you some items to work on at home to begin your teamwork foundation before you move on to more serious work.

Your dog need not be a social butterfly, but it should be tolerant of other people and dogs so that it can line up at the agility starting gate without incident. Life is much more pleasant with a dog that possesses social grace.

Potty training mini dogs may require more diligence, but they are no more difficult to train than other dogs. Here you'll find answers for that hard to train human.

Barking is a useful behavior for dogs, but it can become a self-reinforcing annoyance to everyone else around it. Gain control over your dog's barking habits.

Clicker training is a very useful tool to add to any trainers bag of tricks. The dogs find it to be a fun game to play where they have some control over the situation at hand.

Understanding Dog Aggression may require assistance from professionals in your area. This link will provide many answers to questions to assist dog owners in seeking that assistance. 

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