Agility Training for Your Australian Cattle Dog

The Australian cattle dog (often called an ACD or heeler) is a high-energy herding breed. Their natural athleticism and working ability lends itself well to dog sports such as agility, obedience or herding; the American Kennel Club states the ACD is happiest when given a job to do. Agility combines running, jumping and maneuvering through an obstacle course with teamwork and obedience. Australian cattle dogs are naturals for agility.

  1. Considerations

    • Since much of agility training is done off-leash, and collars are forbidden in most competitive venues, your Australian cattle dog needs to be somewhat trained and responsive to you. Dogs don't have to be formally obedience-trained before starting agility training. In fact, a highly trained obedience dog is at a disadvantage in the agility ring, because it will need to "unlearn" a lot of the obedience rules in order to understand agility rules.

      Take classes instead of trying to teach your cattle dog agility at home. It is very easy to train poor performance or techniques that can hurt your dog, and very difficult to correct these techniques later.

      If it's aggressive toward people or other dogs, you will need to get that under control before taking classes or entering the ring.

    Time Frame

    • Dogs of almost any age can start agility, as long as they are healthy. If you want to start a middle-aged or older dog, most agility organizations have separate programs to let your dog jump at lower heights. Australian cattle dogs tend to be a long-lived breed. For instance, the United States Dog Agility Association makes a performance program available to dogs that don't need to compete at high levels, such as older dogs. The equipment heights are lower and the time requirements for completing the course more generous.

      Puppies as young as 16 weeks old can be started in agility training. While you shouldn't allow your cattle dog puppy to do any repeated jumping until it is over a year old, agility foundation training involves mostly "flat work," which is training without obstacles, then progressing to obstacles set at very low heights.

    Benefits

    • Agility training is a good outlet for your high-energy Australian cattle dog's need for physical and mental stimulation. Agility training can help you teach your cattle dog basic obedience commands such as come, sit, down and stay in a "structured play" environment. It teaches dogs self control and focus. Whether you train recreationally or for competition, agility training can be a sport for your cattle dog's whole life. You never stop training for better speed and performance, and higher-level training becomes very complex and will increase the working bond between your dog and you, the handler.

    Warning

    • Australian cattle dogs herd livestock by biting and nipping at their heels. This can translate to your cattle dog nipping you during agility training when it becomes impatient or feels you're not keeping up. Nip this behavior in the bud, because it can be a real problem in competition.

    Unregistered Dogs

    • Your Australian cattle dog doesn't have to be registered as a purebred to compete in agility. There are several international agility organizations that accept nonregistered or mixed-breed dogs, and even the AKC has programs for non-AKC-registered dogs.