Emma

Thanks for all the great advise everyone. Believe me I will be taking it easy with Ash - I have a lot of experience with horses and know from that experience the importance of allowing for proper growth to finish before subjecting the joints to any sort of concussion. Also, from watching Ash try to repeatedly jump off the front steps that she's going to be the type of dog that jumps off of A frames (contacts! contacts!) but I have found an excellent Agility Organization that are very safety oriented. But for now, we'll work on basic obedience and go out to play of playground equipment occassionally. The vet did say at our last visit that Ash isn't overweight at all (her body condition is such that there is a light fat layer but you can still feel the ribs) but I think once she is spayed that I may switch her over to adult food since she IS a heavier build and therefore may be susceptible to being overweight. For right now, she's still busy having growth spurts! Ah, children! Thanks again for the advise! Emma & Ash.

Hi, my name is Emma and I have a 4 month old female BC named Ash. I've had Ash for about 7 weeks and plan on doing Agility with her once she is older. We start Puppy classes (regular obedience and socialization) on Tuesday - and we are looking forward to it. We went to the vet's today to have her last set of shots before starting classes and the vet mentioned that she is a big BC (she's 24 lbs at 4 months old) and to be careful with our activities as because of her size, she could be susceptible to hip dysplaxia, joint and back problems if she is over worked So this makes me stop and rethink my plans. I was originally planning on starting her in Agility this summer (about June - 9 months old) - just doing low stuff such as tunnels, chutes, see saw, and the like. But if I should be controlling her exercise so that she doesn't stress her growth plates, maybe I should wait? Any ideas? I don't want to hurt my Ash... Emma & Ash