Agility, obedience or Therapy?

[jelly8bean]

My blue baby is doing so well in beginner training and we have a wonderful trainer. We are in a fenced off area in Petsmart and she has had us do things like , walk a balance board.. jumps... and this past week an A frame. Seems my sweetie is very good at all this and really likes it. The trainer has said that she might make a very good therapy dog.. but I'm not sure I want to commit to that, I was thinking of doing some additional obedience and then taking a look at some agility stuff. What do you all think? Any experiences? I saw that lovely agility video and I know my baby would enjoy it.

[Kimbertalkls]

Since TDIs are available at most Canine Good Citizen tests they are pretty simple to get. I usually suggest getting it if you have a dog that has some basic training and is well behaved. Even if you never want to do visits to have your dog be a certified Therapy Dog can be useful in a neighbor dispute or other incident that can be thrust upon an unsuspecting dog owner now adays. Most nondog people do not know what a canine good citizen is but therapy dogs appear on the news...
As to agility, I will again age myself by saying when I was traing most of my titled dogs there was no agility yet. (The dinosaurs could not do it.) I did set up different jumps in the yard, heel my dogs over wood piles and back up through raised boards in an L. It was heaven when those talents became a sport. If you have an agilty club near you by all means do agility it is great fun and will keep the active doberman mind busy. It can be expensive to get all the equipment yourself but a piece at a time is how our obedience club did it with members building some. Good luck. Anne

[DynamicDuo]

If ya think about it; they all kind of go together. You need a dog that is obedient at all times, why not help people with pet therapy, and most of all have fun with your Dobermans by doing agility.

I did agility a few years back and it was FUN! People had every size, shape, and breed of dog enrolled. Most of all you need a dog who will look and listen to commmands from you to excel!

I've done pet therapy also with my terrrier mix in nursing homes and I'm currently enrolled in an obedience class with 1 Dobe. Just pick one thing to do at a time, you've got plenty of fun years with your dogs!

Good Luck and have fun with what you choose!