AGILITY - RULES

SADAA has 4 recognised disciplines.

To read the rules for these events please click on the below links.

What is Agility? It's a great sport that involves you and your dog working together, as a team, whilst negotiating a course of different obstacles. It's entertaining to watch, fun to participate in and very, very addictive. Over 50% of South African handlers have more than one dog competing in Agility.

It is one of the fastest growing dog sports in the World. From its early beginnings in England, dog agility was devised from the idea of horse jumping and made it's debut as a demonstration event at Crufts Dog Show in 1978 , in the UK .

How does it work? You, as the handler, direct your dog through an obstacle course of tunnels, jumps, dog walks, a-frames, weave poles, floppy tunnels ,and see-saw in a race. Obstacles are taken in numerical order from the correct side ( side with the number) and the fastest dog with the fewest faults is the winner. So it is about BOTH speed and accuracy.

You are not allowed to touch your dog, or the obstacles. Your dog competes off-leash and without a collar. You , the handler, use your body movement and your voice to direct your dog through the dog agility course.

“Agility” includes the disciplines of Agility, Jumping, Gamblers and Snooker, plus many more fun games and as a whole is a sport of strategy, athleticism, strength, and speed for both you and your dog. It's invigorating, rewarding, fun, entertaining and an amazing sport to watch and participate in, whether you are a beginner or an expert.

SADAA has 5 height categories, so we feel that the majority of dogs have a chance to compete. Border Collies dominate the sport, and we have some brilliant Border Collies competing, BUT you don't need to have a BC to compete . Below are some of the different breeds that have had very successful agility careers.