Group Classes

Unless otherwise noted, all group agility classes meet at Topflight Farm

4530 Hollow Oaks Drive, Chapel Hill NC

Beyond “Sit” & “stay”: Concept training for all dogs

Concept training focuses on building the core skills your dog needs to confidently navigate the world — not just respond to commands. Instead of only teaching behaviors, we strengthen the foundations behind them: Confidence, Impulse Control, Focus, Flexibility, Grit, and Optimism. When these skill gaps are missing, behaviors such as leash reactivity, jumping on guests, inability to settle, destructiveness, or nervousness can manifest. Through simple, intentional training games, we can create meaningful, long-term change. This class meets at my home as well as at safe public pet-friendly spaces.

PREREQUISITES: Basic obedience skills. No aggressive dogs. Minimum age 4 months.

ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 4 Teams

sports Foundations

This is your starting point within the PPP Agility Program. This class teaches your team the learning structure and skills that will be utilized throughout all other agility classes, such as:  The principles of operant conditioning, obedience and positional cues related to agility, focus, impulse control, drive, play, and working through distractions. Introduction to agility equipment will occur, but will not be the focus of Sports Foundations. This skill-set will provide the foundation that all other agility skills will be built upon. Time and effort spent building a strong foundation makes all other aspects of agility training easier for you and your dog. The teamwork between handler and dog is developed and strengthened in foundations.  These skills will carry over to all future training and subsequently, this class should be repeated as necessary.

PREREQUISITES: Basic obedience skills such as sit, down, stay, and focus on handler. No aggressive dogs. Minimum age 4 months.

ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 8 Teams

Agility Handler Mechanics

A “Handling System” is the language you use to guide your dog through an agility course. Clear, consistent communication is essential for confident, reliable performance. In this class, we focus on teaching the handler first—so your cues become intentional, consistent, and easy for your dog to understand.

You will learn how your body movements influence your dog, how different physical cues create different responses, and how to combine those cues effectively. By understanding the “recipe” behind each handling technique, you’ll gain the skills to communicate more clearly and improve your team’s performance on course.

This is an elective class within the agility program and is one where our dogs are not active participants. It is designed to be taken following, or in conjunction with, Agility FUNdamentals. This class meets at my home.

PREREQUISITES: Agility FUNdamentals class or instructor approval.

ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 4 Handlers

Advanced Sequencing w/jumps & tunnels

We will continue to refine our handling to keep a consistent line of communication between you and your dog. Only jumps and tunnels will be used in this class. Dogs will progress to jumping full height. Students will be given longer turns in this class to really build proficiency towards running full length courses with multiple side changes.

PREREQUISITES: Novice Sequencing class or instructor approval. No aggressive dogs. Minimum age 1yr.

ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 5 Teams

Intro to Contact Obstacles

We will build on the foundation behaviors required for stopped contacts in this class. We will teach the behavior and proof it with motion, handler position, and distractions so you have the makings of a bombproof contact behavior! This class meets at my home.

PREREQUISITES: Agility FUNdamentals class or instructor approval. No aggressive dogs. Minimum age 1yr.

ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 4 Teams

Wicked Weaves

Dogs entering our weaves class should have a strong understanding of jumps and tunnels and be prepared to learn weave poles. Learning to weave is the most difficult obstacle to teach in agility. Your dog will be taught to weave with confidence during this class utilizing both the 2x2 method as well as channel weaves with guide wires. Also appropriate for dogs that are already weaving, but need some “rehab”. Class may need to be repeated until proficiency is gained. This class meets at my home.

PREREQUISITES: Novice Sequencing class or instructor approval. No aggressive dogs. Minimum age 1yr.

ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 4 Teams

Masters coursework

Let’s put all of our hard work to the test! We will put it all together with the contacts and weaves so you’ll be out there competing in no time! Students will be given longer turns in this class.

PREREQUISITES: Advanced Sequencing, Contacts, and Weaves classes or instructor approval. No aggressive dogs. Minimum age 1yr.

ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 5 Teams