By Grey Poodel of www.LuckyDogMart.com

In 1978, the first dog agility performance is credited for starting the sport of Dog Agility Competitions at the Crufts Dog show in the United Kingdom. The dogs performed as entertainment for the audience between the obedience and conformation competitions at the main ring. The audience was amazed with the natural dogs speed, agility and performance which were set up similar to a horse jumping competition. The performance also consisted of similar dog agility training equipment used today such as tunnels, collapsed tunnels, waving flags (today called weave poles), dog walk, and others. In the mid 1980’s dog agility training competitions became an extremely popular dog sport in the UK.

In the early 1980’s in the United States agility equipment was used as well for series of dog agility training competitions based mostly on UK rules. Dog agility training competitions did not become popular in the United States until the late 1980’s. The founding groups in America were the NCDA (National Committee for Dog Agility) and the USDAA (United States Dog Agility Association). Shortly after this dog agility training equipment had been used for all dog breeds big or small. British rules were followed in jumping competitions for different sizes of dogs. Initially small dogs were at a disadvantage as they had to jump 30” like the big dogs. In the early 1980’s mini dogs got their own class and had to jump 15” for dogs 15”at the shoulder or less. In 1987, the first mini-dog agility competition took place at Olympia in the UK. Not until 2005 did medi-dogs class (15-17 inch at shoulder) jumping 20” come into its own class for competitions.

In 1987 Charles Kramer published the book “Agility Dog Training for All Breeds,” which was from a series of articles he wrote which he experimented with various agility dog training equipment. His idea sparked the National Committee for Dog Agility (NCDA). It was briefly affiliated with AKC (American Kennel Club) in the early 1990’s, but then became the National Club for Dog Agility which merged with the UKC (United Kennel Club) in 1994. UKC agility has evolved into a different sport than AKC, USDAA and international agility organizations stressing more focus and control over the dog during hard competition tricks as opposed to fast and accurate competition based easier tricks.

The United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA) was incorporated after a couple of years of all-breed competitions in Garland, Texas. They were able to get Pedigree Dog food as their sponsor. The first national championship the Grand Prix of Dog Agility at the Astro World Series of Dog Shows was introduced in 1988 at Houston, Texas. The USDAA tried getting ordinary dog owners involved with agility competition training. Up until 1990 the competitions were for placement ribbons. After this they started offering agility titles that the dog could earn over a few competitions in which they performed. USDAA offered the beginners level (AD-Agility Dog), intermediate-level (ADD – Advanced Agility dog) and the expert-level (MAD – Master Agility Dog). A dog owner did not have to have a super dog to earn these levels, but only had to work and train their dog not to mention exercise for the owner as well.