Can Labradors Do Agility?

By
Pippa Mattinson
-
14

In order to answer the question in the title of this article, I am very proud to introduce you to Chase.

You’ve no doubt seen dogs weaving in and out of brightly coloured poles, racing through tunnels and balancing on see-saws.

This is the sport of agility, a very exciting and often noisy activity where the speed, balance, and of course agility, of each dog is tested on a specially designed course.

Chase, pictured here,  has distinguished himself through his exceptional jumping ability.

A sport for smaller dogs?

We tend to think of smallish dogs when we think of agility.  Terriers,  cockers, and agile collies.  Yet, as I discovered when I sold Chase as a puppy to a keen agility competitor a few years ago,  labradors of a certain type can do very well at this sport.

Chase is a dog that I bred with gundog work in mind.  But I had no idea what the future would hold in store for him. I am delighted to see how successful he has been in his new life.  The picture below is Chase with some of his agility awards.

Growing in popularity

The sport of agility was born in the UK in the late 1970s and has grown rapidly in popularity throughout the world.  An agility event is essentially an obstacle course.  The dog has to negotiate the course as fast and as accurately as possible. Obstacles include ramps, see-saws, long jumps,  high jumps and various types of tunnel.

The ideal agility labrador

The Labrador which excels at agility is the lighter, more agile working type built like Chase, with a lighter, faster frame than the more substantial show or bench labrador.

Can labradors do agililty?If you are thinking of buying a labrador puppy and are interested in training for this fun activity,  then you should endeavour to ensure that make sure your puppy is from working lines.

Check out ‘Choosing the right dog‘  for more information on this.

Dogs compete against other dogs of similar size.

So you won’t be up against dogs much smaller or much larger than yours.

‘Chase’ The Agility Labrador

Chase was coached to success by his owner and handler Sally Miller.   I would like to thank Sally for allowing me to use her photos, and for giving Chase such a wonderful life.

If you are interested in having a go at agility with your Labrador, you can find out more on Agility.net   http://www.agilitynet.com/  and for USA dog owners you can visit the United States Dog Agility Association http://www.usdaa.com/

If you are enjoying agililty with your Labrador,  tell us about it in the comments below.

And have fun with your dogs!

Does your Labrador love agility? Let us know about your experiences in the comments section below. 

The Labrador Site Founder

Pippa Mattinson is the best selling author of The Happy Puppy Handbook, the Labrador Handbook, Choosing The Perfect Puppy, and Total Recall.

She is also the founder of the Gundog Trust and the Dogsnet Online Training Program 

Pippa's online training courses were launched in 2019 and you can find the latest course dates on the Dogsnet website

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

14 COMMENTS

  1. I have a almost 2 year old English lab that I rescued from the shelter. She’s so high energy and naughty we needed to channel her energy into more productive arenas. This dog excels at agility and she has been asked if she is a working line dog. She’s not. Her pedigree is from show champions.

    One inadvertent effect is now when she is feeling naughty she has learned new escape maneuvers.

  2. I’ve recently started doing agility with my beddi x whippet and I’m thinking of getting a second dog, a Labrador as I don’t need to tell any of you on here how brilliant they are! And I’d really like a working gundog. But is it too much to ask a lab to do both gundog training AND agility with the same dog? I don’t mind if they aren’t top of the class in either, I’d settle for middling in both if we have fun but does anyone else do both? And can offer advice please?

  3. I have an 8 month old working line labrador who absolutely loves his agility classes. And before anyone goes off the deep end about his age and doing agility, the classes we attend are with a qualified agility trainer and he only goes over heights that he could walk over – so only tiny ones. He does not fear the tunnels, the jumps, the walks or the seesaw – he even gets very upset whilst waiting for his turn to come round again 🙂

  4. Hi I am a a Guide Dog owner of Two fully fit Lab/Ret I am getting started in agility as I have enough sight to get a dog around. I am looking to get my first Agility Lab in near future. I have Guide Dogs helping find a dog that dos not make the grade. Where else is best to look please. My current Lab is a pocket rocket and loves a challenge, as she is my guide I cannot use her (My girl is called Genie and is Black and 3 years old). Any advice would be great and loving the site

  5. I have a 22 month old black male bred for hunting I am training for Agility. He is lean, athletic, and tackles everything I ask of him with great enthusiasm. He had a late growth spurt, and when measured by his first official judge he was 22 3/4, requiring a new jump height of 24 inches. I have had all kinds of advice, mostly from people who don’t know the breed, from starve him for his next measurement to switch him to preferred because the breed can’t handle the high jump, to he’s fine and don’t worry about it. He has great structure for this sport, and clears 24 inches with room to spare. He does lose enthusiasm for the new jump height after a long training session, which I have fixed with a change in tug toys. He really is pretty lean, but ribs are not showing. He weighs. 61 lbs. Looking for advice from experienced lab handlers.

  6. I have a”Field Bred” Lab. We have been doing Obedience and Rally and have recently added Agility to the mix. Bota gets so excited when I put the treat bag and collar on the table getting read to go out. She excels at all of the contact obstacles except the teeter, she is sure it is going to eat her feet. Letting her take it slow and she is getting to be more interested in the contact plate at the other end than the board moving under her feet. I am glad we have started agility, it has improved the team work between the two of us in Obedience and Rally a lot and reminded me that Bota and I are a team and THIS IS FUN!

    • I have started with my fab black lab Teddy. He is 21 months. We have been just once. He is a nervous dog of things he doesn’t know especially if they move lol! I noticed he was the only lab there and wondered if that was significant. He is from a great line of prize winning gun dogs and is so smart. How do I help him to be brave? He did quite well I think? On the seesaw once, on the raised plank thing lol! Through the tyre and over the jumps but wouldn’t go on the A frame and didn’t do anything with the tunnels last week. It is a big class with lots of dogs, but hope he will be more familiar this week and do even better.

  7. This is so encouraging to read. I have a working line 14mth old yellow male lab and we attended our first agility session. We have attended puppy, obedience and basic gundog training so I was so pleased with how Marley picked up the basics so quickly despite his initial fear of the tunnel, cheese helped and with lots of encouragement he made huge and instant progress! He showed focus, precise and unbelievable steadiness. As mentioned some of the faster dogs lacked self control and made numerous mistakes. Great site by the way, thank you Pippa

  8. My Lab Holly is 7 in July and we’ve been competing at KC shows since 2009. She is my first agility dog so we started in Grade 1 and now we are in Grade 5. She is a working lines Yellow Lab and is very enthusiastic, she loves doing agility and it keeps me on my toes as well.
    Agility is a great way to have fun with your Lab and there are quite a few on the circuit. You don’t need a Collie to do well at agility, it may be a bit harder with a Lab as they don’t have the same speed, but I think far more enjoyable, especially when you beat the Collies!!!
    There are also ABC (Anything But a Collie) classes which are fun as it’s more of a level playing field. The highlight of our agility career was last week when we competed at Crufts in the Large ABC Agility Final. It was a fantastic experience and we managed to come 3rd. There was a black Lab in the final as well, not sure where they were placed though.
    I’m so proud of my Holly, she’s even earned the nickname SuperLab among our agility friends. As Annie says, it’s the fastest CLEAR round that counts.

  9. You must be proud Pippa to have bred this lovely dog , smashing photos , what a champ he is ! This has given my some ideas for Sam, his build would make him just right for this activity and i`m sure he would love it too !

    • Thanks Kate, I think for anyone that would like an active pastime to share with a working bred lab, agility sounds like a lot of fun.

  10. I have a 2 and a half year old black lab and we do agility and we love it!!! Labs are such smart dogs and element of team work between handler and dog is great. I find that the more weaving and triky courses are sometimes better for me and Tiber (my lab )as he is steadier than some other digs. We started competing at Kennel Club shows and won out of grade 1 earlier this month. tiber holds his own and you have to remember its the fastedt CLEAR round that counts!

LEAVE A REPLY