Small breed for agility + family friendly

[Curlewwoohoo]

My mum is looking for a third dog. She wants to do agility for fun and her social life. But dog also needs to be family friendly and small enough to fit in the car boot with dogs 1 & 2. We are not talking nuts agility collie type, as that would be not family friendly and too big. What could she consider?

Parson JRT

Border terrier? They are, like a Parson JRT a bit, um, less terrier than a full-on farm JRT.

Or maybe a show-line cocker? I love the workers, but they are a lot of dog.

Border terrier, cairn terrier?

How seriously do they want to take agility? My friend has a Boston that does well at agility but isn’t a quick as the small working cocker types.

Borders are fantastic dogs, again unlikely to be competative as a small WCS but lovely, friendly bright dogs.

Parsons JRT ..ours has a very placid temperament,brilliant with our grandchild since birth and doesn’t take up any room.

Whippet

Whippets are great, love a good run but are also mega couch potatoes and snugglers. Ours will have a good hours walk offloead so she can run, then will be couch potato and rest for the day. Lovely natured and low maintenance (minimal grooming). I absolutely love my dog so may be biased, but whippets I think make wonderful family pets.

Parsons JRT are different to non-Parsons JRT, mine runs like the wind, very nimble and light.

Italian Greyhound? Like whippets they like their snuggles on the sofa but can be trained a bit in agility - friend of mine has done some with hers (basically starting by getting it to chase something on a string though.. Not going to be competing at crufts with her dog but still has fun with him.

Toy poodle.

I dog sit a parsons JRT - love him but he is a proper terrier. So you need to like that kind of brain.

Actual poodle. Not a doodle. Small poodle. Clever and athletic. Great family pets.

Papillons are quite popular on the agility circuit.

I'd say a parson but mine was absolutely loopy, typical terrier. Great for agility though and excellent family dog.

Little mini schnauzer?

Westie?

I've got a Parson Russell cross and she was fantastic at agility in her younger days. She's very bright and an incredibly fast learner but terriers are not always easy for that reason. She's the only dog we've ever had who worked out how to open a dog crate, cupboard doors, ordinary doors - she thinks about things until she works them out and so we had to have child locks on everything. We eventually had to ban chocolate, fruit cake and boned chicken from the house as she would find a way the moment she was unattended for even a minute. But she has so much character and is just the most wonderful dog.

Also worth considering, a Shetland sheepdog. They are much less high maintenance than your border collie and other collie types but very small and agile. A friend of mine runs them for agility and is in a team that regularly compete at crufts. Both she and her sheltie breeder friend always compete with shelties. We've had four shelties across my lifetime and every one has been a brilliant, lovely natured family dog. Downsides, they can be barky. We had one quiet one who didn't seem to know how to bark but typically they love the sound of their own voice!

My Parsons is a bit thick tbh

Thank you all, some different breeds to look into here that were not familiar with as a family. They like working cockers and have had before, plus poodle mixes. But the trouble is as I said to mum, cockers aren't always up for agility, they are more into the scent work, so it seems like a risk. They can be hard to manage too in our experience, nose down on a scent and buggering off, and mum's husband is getting a bit old for that.

😂
I think with any breed, mileage may vary.
Shelties are meant to be bright and three I had were, but one......well let's just say it's a good job she was pretty 😁

Poodles love agility

@MathsandStats she is VERY food oriented so very trainable for a reward but has only learnt 4 words including her name

She aces the starving wee neglected look and is often mistaken for a puppy and in need of a treat from anyone she meets.

I have a cookerpoo (mini Poodle X ) that is a fantastic agility dog. Fast learner, fast runner and almost handbag size.

I think I would stay away from any terrier if your mum is a beginner to make training easier. She'd need a dog that is biddable and intelligent . Any Spaniel or Poodle seems to do well, we also have a havanese and a papillon in our class that can easily take on the pooX in their class.

In the end, breed/ type is only one aspect when considering a agility dog. All the usual criteria should also still apply.

And never underestimate the lure of competing should she get the right combination of speed & intelligence!

My border is my second agility dog and shaping up to be a cracker. She’s driven, easy to train and incredibly agile. Her parents have been fully health tested. A lot have problems now due to their popularity so I’d say buy carefully. They can make great family pets again if you do your research and buy from lines bred for health and temperament. It took a while to find ours. We wanted nice all round companion and walking buddy first and agility dog second. You never know if they’ll enjoy it or if they will be capable. So buy the dog you want as a pet. Most enjoy agility if you train it right.

JRT. Not even a posh parsons necessarily. We have two normal ones and they are great fun.

Papillon. Smartest of the toy breeds, agile as a mountain goat. Warm, very attached to you and always jolly. That’s mine. She’s nearly 4 but is half the size of our cat. Their coats do need daily brushing otherwise you get matting round the neck and ears