Agility shoes

I usually run on dirt (both on my field at home and in trials)  and my shoes have a mildly aggressive soles.  Go to a sports store and look at Trail Runners.   That's what I'm using.  If you're doing indoor trials on mats, be very careful.  You don't want too much "grab" since you can blow out knees that way.  The shoe grabs, the body turns and the shoe keeps the knee not moving with the body - bad.  If you're doing lots of outdoors on grass, I'd look for rubber cleat type shoes. 

I run both inside and out, on grass, dirt and sprint turf.  I have a couple different shoes.  I have a pair of clean run turf shoes. They are clean run's version of Ditas.  For me these work best inside on sprint turf or on dry grass.  I also have a pair of Merrell trail running shoes.  I LOVE these!! They have goretex so I usually wear these when the weather is wet and the grass is tall.  I agree about shopping the trail running section of the shoe dept. 

 I agree with agilebasenji, I don't want shoes that are too grippy.  Years ago (like 11) I used to wear cleats.  But then one day my cleats stuck and my body kept going!! Luckily I was not hurt, just landed on my butt. 
 

I have no useful advice, but apparently at Kenya's breeder's CPE trials it's customary to run bare foot!

 lol... I've seen people run barefoot before!  :)

 I too have two pairs of shoes that are used only for agility.  One pair is for inside and one is for outside when it's wet or on grass.  The outdoor ones have more cleat-like soles, but they are not cleats.  Just slightly deeper than regular sneakers.  The other pair are for indoors on mats, artificial turf and dirt.  I bought both of mine at a local shoe store.  I think they are Nike's but not sure.  I just try on shoes until I find a pair that feel good and are cushy to stand in.
 

I also have "agility only" shoes.  I generally will take two pairs to every trial, just in case one pair starts to bother me for some reason.  My main pair is a pair of running shoes -- Asics GT2110's.  The other pair is just a Reebock cross trainer.  These plain-soled shoes have worked well for me because most of my trialing and my training is done in an indoor facility on mats.

I have a lot more outdoor trials on my schedule this year, so right now I'm looking for a pair of turf shoes -- these will also come in handy when we run in the indoor soccer facilities that are popular in this region.  I haven't yet tried the barefoot style, but I've seen a few people do it!  Those indoor turf surfaces are springy, so I bet it's not too bad.

I'm sending back a pair of Dita Turf Ladies to Clean Run today.  They said that they run a size small, but that was an understatement.  Even though they say that the other Dita shoes run true to size, I'm hesitant to try them -- So now I'm going to try the AgileGear Qualifiers.  If those don't work I'm going to send them back and start shopping locally for some sort of turf shoe -- I don't know, soccer shoes or something?

I admit that I didn't even look locally before trying the Clean Run shoes.  Maybe I should have.

Here's what I wrote on the Agility Jitters thread after KarissaKS wrote about sending her Ditas back to CR.  I will now buy shoes on line if I can do it with a store like REI, but probably won't get shoes from CR again unless they are on SALE and then some.

Oh my does that sound familiar.  I'm afraid to buy shoes on line any more.  If you're okay with that concept, sierratradingpost.com or go to the rei webpage and, if you're like me, check out the outlet/sale corner.  The cool thing about rei, is that if there is a store in your town, you can pick up there and there is NO shipping charges (you do have to pay tax).  Then you can try them on in the store and return them then and there if they don't fit, so no extra trip or $ spent.  good deal there.  But yea, I was looking forward to having Ditas, I'd heard so many good things about them.  (I now have Merril, but have also had NewBalance and Sockeny sp?)

Thanks for all replies!

I'll be running on mat, grass, dirt, and turf. I am looking at the Innov8 rocflites for outdoors and it is a very stiff shoe around the heel section. I was thinking of new balance X trainers for indoors. The trail type shoes I have looked and I have contacted the manufacturer if they had support for fasiciitis/over pronated foot but I haven't received a response.

We had two ladies running barefooted at the last run through we attended. I thought they were nuts.

j

Before you buy a pair of unknown shoes online, try going to a local camping store or shoe store and trying on different styles.  If you volunteer at a trial (which we all should do) you will be on your feet a lot and a good comfy, cushy shoe is a must!  I buy a new set of agility shoes each year to make sure that my feet, knees and hips stay in good shape while I do agility.  But then again, I have bad knees and hips.  ;) 

Excellent advice I shall follow.

 I have a lot of trouble with my feet, due to having the flattest feet around.  I use an insert that I got at the Good Feet store.  I wear them in all my shoes, including my agility and agility training shoes.  I use them in a pair of Nikes and a pair of Merril.  You may want to invest the money in a good insert, to help stablize your feet, if needed.  I like shoes with deep tread for more traction.   I have friends who use New Balance and are quite happy with that brand and swear by them.

I also have a friend who loves to run barefooted, and yes, I agree - NUTS 

I am running some heel inserts I think their Dr. Scholl's since I have flat feet as well. I don't think they work that well hence why I am going down the shoe route.

My last resort if this fasciitis doesn't go away is going to the ortho and getting my feet molded to have my own soles. My instructor did this and she said, no more problems.

I got my Agile Gear Qualifiers from CleanRun today and I think we have a winner!  I did order a half-size larger than I usually wear and they are nice and roomy, yet still feel stable.  I'm looking forward to trying them out -- not sure if I should wear them on our mats at class tonight or save them for our outdoor trial this weekend!

This past weekend I actually ran barefoot in the outdoor rings all day on Saturday.  Sunday was too cold for barefoot, plus I think my legs got a little more tired than usual without the support of good shoes.  The act of running barefoot itself, though, was actually quite nice!  I felt like I had a lot of grip/control and didn't have any issues at all.

My feet got dirty, though. 

I'd be curious on how they last and the right size shoe!!!!!

Thumbs up on the Agile Gear Qualifiers!  I wore them Saturday & Sunday for an outdoor trial -- six classes both days.  I have to say that I definitely DID notice a difference in my grip/turning ability, but not so much that it bothered me or affected my knees.  I had a very nice level of control & stability.  Big bonus points for the fact that I wore them straight out of the box and they didn't rub or bother me at all.

They are a *little* on the large side, but that's better than too small -- and feet do tend to swell a bit in the hot weather, so it's all good.  I didn't have any issues running in them.

I won't be able to test them on the indoor soccer turf until the end of June, but I can definitely vouch for them on grass.