# Toy poodles in agility?



## flyingduster

definitely there's some amazing lil toys doing agility; it's come up on the forum before I think too! hehe. And yes, obedience too. Over here we have a lady who does obedience & agility with her papillions and toy poodle X shih tzu (ie, all are TINY) and doesn't do too badly! hehe.


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## Paris-London

My toy poodles are big, my female is 9 inches, and the male should be 9-10 inches, my female has some short legs though, male has very long legs with a very short body,
My female is very athletic despite her body conformation, she loves tennis balls I was thinking about starting flyball with her but I worry about her body conformation seeing as she is longer bodied with shorter legs. Her knees have been checked and vet says they are good.

my male is quite spunky for an 11 week old toy breed. I think he would excel at agility I am just worried the vet may tell me his knees are bad etc.


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## cbrand

Paris-London said:


> My toy poodles are big, my female is 9 inches, and the male should be 9-10 inches,


This is not big for a correctly bred Toy. It is in-size and if anything, they are actually a bit small since many show Toys push right up against that 10" mark.


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## Paris-London

I mean big as in, in the top of the "correct standards" 

People around here are all about the "teacups" and "tiny" toys, and i'm very against breeding specifically to get smaller dogs with no consideration to health and temperament..
I love my girls size and hope my male is just a teeny bit ever so slightly bigger

So far at 11 weeks both have been a little over 3 lbs. My boy is growing about on par with how my female grew, maybe a little bigger.


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## Marian

Is there any concern with doing agility with longer legged small poodles, like leg breaks?


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## *tina*

We are starting obedience/agility training in May with Captain. He is a mid-size mini. I can bet he'll be awesome at it, seeing him leap over the ottoman in my living room. They adjust the barriers and things for smaller breeds, or at least I remember them doing that in the past.


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## Blue Ridge Poodles

Paris-London said:


> Do toy poodles usually do well in agility?
> I am really wanting to start with my male.
> 
> What kind of veterinary work should I have done on him to make sure he is physically healthy? I know the knees need checked, what else?
> 
> He is 10 weeks old, and I know we need to start with obedience and work our way up into foundations agility at 6 months.
> 
> Also can you compete in agility AND obedience? Is this hard to do?


I competed in Rally and Agility with my two toy Poodles. We finished our RE titles. I now run my 3.5# toy in just Agility She is in Standard Excellent A Preferred and is starting Excellent B Jumpers Preferred. She loves it. She was easy to train, but I have been fortunate to have two great trainers--where I travel an hour once a week for training. I am also fortunate to live on a farm where we turned an old horse training ring in to an Agility training ring, so I can train most every day. There are ways to train with just two jumps and contact boards if you have just a little room. Best of luck.


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## highhorse

I compete with my toy poodle, Inca. I also do doggy dancing and general tricks. Most poodles will eat the agility equipment, providing they ooze confidence. Mine is extremely fast and this has been quite a problem in the past as thinking little girls don't always do what they are supposed to do, they do what they think is best. I would make certain that your dog is well socialised and has a good off the lead recall, then just enjoy, play and watch what they are good at. I started Inca off with garden agility, a child's crawling tunnel works very well and a plank on the ground helps them to get used to a dog walk before they actually meet one up in the air. I've also heard that it is useful to introduce them to a moving plank/skateboard/anything else that safely moves, as they then don't expect planks to stay still and you have got them well on the way to the seesaw. A sheet or even a long strip of kitchen roll can be draped over a chair, the dog called through and there you have the beginnings of a collapsed tunnel. Enjoy.


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## PaddleAddict

*tina* said:


> We are starting obedience/agility training in May with Captain. He is a mid-size mini. I can bet he'll be awesome at it, seeing him leap over the ottoman in my living room. They adjust the barriers and things for smaller breeds, or at least I remember them doing that in the past.


I would love to do agility with my mini... he is so active and agile and LOVES to jump. Unfortunately, I am the one with bad knees  so that won't happen. I do plan on doing obedience with him, hopefully all the way to the upper levels and when he's older, I might check out flyball since he loves tennis balls (and loves fetch) and loves jumping and running.


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## highhorse

Hi PaddleAddict - even with bad knees, don't give up on agility. I have problems with my knees but am learning to handle from a distance. Once your body language is up to scratch, you don't need to do all that frantic running about. Get a trainer who will help with the distance handling.


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## PaddleAddict

highhorse said:


> Hi PaddleAddict - even with bad knees, don't give up on agility. I have problems with my knees but am learning to handle from a distance. Once your body language is up to scratch, you don't need to do all that frantic running about. Get a trainer who will help with the distance handling.


Thank you Highhorse, you just gave me hope! I am telling you, this pup would just adore agility.


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