Tibetan Mastiffs in Agility?

Don't know why not.  There was a St Bern at the Invitational in 06.

How long would I need to wait to start the obstacles .. they grow slower and I've just briefly skimmed over agility websites and the posts here, and people say 1.5yrs. However I'd probably guess that would be 2yrs (or a bit more?) I have no problem waiting, it's just more time I have to fine tune any training.. 'cause god know I'll need the extra time with a independant guardian breed.

Plus, i'm going to be doing puppy class, beginner obedience and then intermediate before I start foundation work for agility..

With an independent breed, I'd actually start EARLIER- not later. Obviously no jumping and with things scaled WAY down, but getting the foundation of focus, distance, and control early is essential if you're going to be really successful with an independent breed in agility (or competitive obedience.

 

Ah, that does make sense actually. Well, can always do intermediate obedience + foundation for agility at the same time. I want to do agility for fun, but I do also want to compete. So I want to be serious with the training.. rather than just fooling around on the equipment, heh.

Okami

Do you think a TM could be successful (capable enough to compete, I don't care if the dog wins every time) in agility? I think agility would be really fun.

 I have seen dogs of all kinds doinf agility over the years. Some dogs though, are not real well suited for it. Draft and mastiff breeds were never intended to be jumpers or all that agile - they are built for power but not to be super althletic. Jumping is overall much harder for these breeds and often is a reason for people who have trained them to not compete or stop competing. For every heavy boned, giant breed I have seen do well in agility, I have seen several who had major issues clearning jumps even in preferred (for them 20";) classes. One person I knew had three Berners and none of them ever got to where they could jump well enough to do much in agility. One did get his Novice title but he was a bit leggier than most and still had jumping issues.

 All that said if you want to try agility with a TM, go for it! Learn all you can about teaching good jumping skills and make jump training, once the dog is old enough a first priority. Most agility classes do not focus much on teaching specific jumping skills, so you will have to work on that at home. And start early with the basics, as was already mentioned. There is no reason a young puppy can't learn chutes, tunnels, very low aframes, ladder work and going over jumps 4" off the ground if you have access to the eqipment. If not you can buy a kid's tunnel and put together different things for walking over. Do the training for fun and if your dog ends up able to compete - all the better right? Also CPE offers the specialist titling class, which makes agility titles and competition possible for dogs who for whatever reason can't jump in their normal height or their Vetren height (one height division lower than the normal height. For the Specialist class, jumps are two divisions lower than the dog's normal height. This would put a TM in the 16" jump height (normal would be 24" and Vets would be 20";), which I don't think would be a problem.

I was originally worried about their ability to go over jumps.. they are "top heavy" dogs. Alot of the TM's i've seen on Youtube (Tons of videos of 'em playing and running on there) .. I saw that they can be really agile dogs. But then again, it really is a individual thing for them. If he ends up to be a not-so-good jumper, no hole in my boat. All the other obstacles are still fair game. Just wouldn't be able to compete (expect in the specialist trials you mentioned :o) ), but thats not a deciding factor. I was wondering what kind of obstacles a puppy could do (Cuz I don't think it would be beneficial to introduce obstacles just at the age when they are done growing). So It's nice to know that they can try most of the obstacles miniaturized. But still better to keep it slow with that.. keeping the joints healthy is one of the main concerns. Thanks