Agility is a fun, fast and exciting sport that you can participate in with your dog.  It involves competitors directing their dogs through an obstacle course within a certain time (the time is set by the judge on the day) and without any mistakes (known as faults in agility).  An agility course consist of:  various Jumps, Tunnels, Tables, Dog Walk, A-Frame, Weaving poles, See-saw. Not all levels of agility will use all of the equipment. It is a fantastic way to gain fitness for you and your dog as you need a LOT of energy to compete in Agility.

There are four separate classes for Agility they are:  Novice, Excellent, Masters and Open.  The classes each have their own height category as well.  Jump heights and widths vary for each height category.

The height of the dog is measured at the withers and the categories are:

Height Category Height at Shoulders 200 Up to and including 270 mm 300 271 mm up to and including 365 mm 400 366 mm up to and including 455 mm 500 456 mm up to and including 545 mm 600 546 mm and over

The first class that you compete in is Agility Dog (AD). This is open to dogs that have not gained an agility title You must gain three passes in this class to be able to compete in the next class which is:

Agility Dog Excellent (ADX).  This is open to dogs that have gained their Agility Dog title.  You must then gain five passes in ADX under two separate judges to be able to compete for:

Your Agility Dog Masters (ADM) title.  This is open to dogs that have gained either their Excellent or Masters title.  You need seven passes under three different judges to be awarded your ADM. 

A total of 20 passes in both Agility and Jumping Masters (total of 40 qualification certificates).  The 20 qualifying certificates must comprise of:

Ten first place results in trials conducted by affiliates after 1 July 2006, and, ten first, second or third place results in trials conducted by affiliates before or after 1 July 2006 will award your dog the title of:

Agility Champion! (Ag Ch)

Agility Dog Open (ADO) is granted when you gain five passes in the open class under three separate judges.  This is open to all dogs.

The higher up you compete with your dog, the harder the courses become and the time you need to complete the course becomes shorter.  The See-Saw is only used from ADX upward.

Each dog in the class takes a turn to complete the course individually and is assessed on the time it took and how many mistakes (faults) were made.  To gain a pass you must complete the course within the allocated time and with no mistakes at all!

At Masters and Open level you can earn multiple suffixes.

Multiple suffixes for Masters may be awarded for multiples of seven certificates gained (21 masters qualifications is equal to the title of ADM 3). 

Multiple suffixes for Open may be awarded for multiples of five certificates gained (15 open qualifications is equal to ADO 3).

You may also participate under the new ANKC Agility  rules in three Agility Games - Snooker, Gamblers and Strategic Pairs. Each of these have the levels Novice, Excellent and Masters, with various qualifications required for the earning of titles under each level. The new titles available to be earned are Snooker Dog (SD), Gamblers Dog (GD) and Strategic Pairs Dog (SPD) each requiring three qualifications at Novice level; Snooker Dog Excellent (SDX), Gamblers Dog Excellent (GDX) and Strategic Pairs Dog Excellence (SPDX) each requiring five qualifications at Excellent level; and Snooker Dog Masters (SDM), Gamblers Dog Masters (GDM) and Strategic Pairs Dog Masters (SPDM) each requiring seven qualifications at Masters level.