How long b4 agility competition?

Well my signature sure didn't work. Help?

Based on 3 different dogs from this household, anywhere from 6-18 months.  That is with frequent training and equipment in my backyard.  It also depends on what you view as a dog ready to compete.  Many people with their second, third or fourth agility dog don't bother to enter a trial until they feel the dog is ready for the excellent level.  DH still hasn't started competing with his malinois.  She could qualify in novice and probably open, but he feels she needs a little "more" before he'll enter her.

I should add that none of the 3 dogs mentioned in my previous post were ready for excellent when they were entered. 

Well, I always say make SURE your dog can be successful when you first enter.  Make SURE they know everything.  I was forced to handle a dog that I train in a trial WAY before she was ready and it only made her more fearful and nervous.
 
Cocoa was entered in her first trial probably only after 6 months of training, but with Marq, my new Pointer, I imagine it will take alot longer due to his slow learning rate.  If I do trial him this summer, it will ONLY be simple game classes such as Jumpers or Tunnelers.

To me it all depends on what you want.

Want to win - wait until you KNOW 110% the dog is ready.

Want to go have fun, maybe lose, maybe have your dog totally embarass you but have a great live learning experience - enter as soon as they know the names of the obstacles.

Me, I'm not the competitve type so we go for the fun!

It's not so much time as setting benchmarks for your dog.
Before you enter any competition (and your first ones should be "fun matches" not trials), your dog should be absolutely reliable on all obstacles, including weaves and including consistent contact performance (lots of people use two on-two off but there are other methods). Your dog must be able to handle a practice course of 18-20 obstacles without losing focus. YOU must be comfortable remembering and handling a course of that length. You must be able to do front crosses and back crosses withoug falling down.

When you can do all that in practice, you can try a fun show. Count on almost everything falling apart! You will lose your place on the course; your dog may start sniffing or "zooming".. these are all signs of stress, which you will overcome with practice.

Dont rush yourself... you don't gain anything by entering a show before you feel you're ready. You and your dog have many years of agility; you'll enjoy them more if you build a good foundation.

In other words: do as I say, not as I did.

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This all sounds like great advice. My biggest obstacle (no pun intended) is that I am learning agility handling for the first time. Lucy is doing very well (better than I am!) but I have no doubt that she would be doing much better with a handler who has been doing this for a while. It doesn't frustrate me, though, b/c we are both learning, bonding and having fun.
 
Random question - Lucy is pretty consistent on the weave poles now (she gets it), but what should you do to get her to do it faster? She flies through all the other obstacles she's worked on, but then slows down on the weaves. Any advice?

The fun is the important thing.  By far.
 
Weaves.  You need to go back and train for speed.  Open them up (if you can), get her revved up and have her race through them.  As you bring the poles in, look for speed.  If she slows, keep them spaced farther until she gets the speed.  Toss a ball/toy/treat bag AFTER she's done all the weaves.  (You can do things this way if your weaves don't open.)  This will help her drive forward.  You can also goose her as she is in the weaves, but I'd advise against this if she pulls out of them. 

Same line of thinking, how old is too old to start a dog on agility training? 

You can also goose her as she is in the weaves...   

 
What does that mean?

I entered my 2 dogs after a year of training.  They are good on all obstacles but not 100% on weaves.  I knew going in, that we wouldn't qualify with any scores but I wanted to see how we were doing in other areas.  One dog would do ok, just real slow, lack of confidence in those surroundings.  The other, well, running out of the ring twice shows you how important I am to him!  lol..  but I learned a lot.  I thought we were good on weaves but teaching agility is like teaching a good recall, practice in LOTS of different arenas/venues.

As for when to begin teaching agility, you can begin as young as 6 months but NO weaves or full height jumps until 18 months of age.  You can't even compete in USDAA until they are 18 months or older.  But you can teach contacts, tunnels, table, etc as young as the pup can handle.  The younger they are, the shorter the sessions should be and always make it fun!

How old is too old?
 
If the dog is physically (and mentally) fit, I don't see a problem starting at any age.  You may have to be a little more careful of sharp turns, but that won't be a problem when you first start anyway.  I know of a whippet that started at 9 or 10 and got her MACH (AKC's highest agility title) at age 13. 
 
goose - to poke the dog in the butt in a playful manner.  I do it with mine as the start to enter.  I also do it on the dogwalk sometimes. 

ditto what agilebasenji said.  Dasher has pretty good/fast weaves, and I periodically open them up and let him blast through and have fun with them.  I always toss a ball after the weaves and man...that makes him fly through to the end!! []   I went to a beginner dog seminar a few weeks ago and the clinician went over the things she likes all of her dogs to know before going into the ring.  The first thing is that she wants her dogs to have their contacts down 100%, no if ands or buts.  Also they know front crosses, rear crosses and she also has a "front" command.  Her dogs also have their sit/stays on the start line down 100%.  She said your weaves don't have to be perfect, as in novice you can repeat the weaves in case you miss or pop out of them (at least you can in USDAA and AKC).  Dasher's contacts are about 80%.  We have done one show, but we only did the jumpers with weaves class.  We will most likely do another jumpers class in June and our goal is to have our contacts at 100% by the fall of 2006. []

Lgoetz-here's a link I found interesting when I was thinking about trialing in agility. Scroll down to the part about entering your first trial:
 
[linkhttp://www.pascopaws.com/trainingtips.htm]http://www.pascopaws.com/trainingtips.htm[/link]
 
I entered our first agility trial after we'd been training a year. For me, it was too soon. I was a nervous wreck, freaked my dog out and she left the ring 3 out of 4 runs. I still don't have my confidence back after that!
 
When to trial is an individual thing, and I think you'll know when you feel ready, just don't rush it. Good luck and have fun!