History of Dog Agility

Dog agility is a fairly new sport, created as merely a demonstration in the late 1970s in the United Kingdom. It has since spread rapidly around the world, with major competitions held worldwide.

The sport's first documented appearance was as entertainment at the Crufts dog show in 1978. John Varley, a committee member from the 1977 show, was given the task of coming up with entertainment for the audience between the obedience and conformation competitions. Varley, who was more familiar with horse sports, asked dog trainer Peter Meanwell for assistance, and together they adapted jumps and obstacles from horse steeplechase races to come up with a demonstration of dogs' natural speed and agility. (By some oral accounts, there was an earlier demo with similar intent using playground articles such as a teeter-totter and a tunnel, although this has not been documented.)

At the 1978 Crufts, the demonstration immediately intrigued dog owners because of its speed and challenge and the dexterity displayed by the dogs. People were keen to see more, and indeed wanted their own dogs to be able to participate. The demonstration was so popular that it grew into local, then national, and eventually international, competitions with standardised equipment. In 1980, The Kennel Club became the first organisation to recognise agility as an official sport with a sanctioned set of rules. By this time, agility equipment included some additional elements modified from the training of police dogs and Schutzhund competitions, such as the A-frame and the dogwalk.