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Both actual it is as serious as you want to make it many enthusiats never compete or ask their dog to jump competitive heights, That said to compete it takes a knoledgeable trainer about 18 month of training to get a dog ready for the novice ring. but it high depends on the dog and the skill of the trainer. Mariah who was exceptional was competeing succesfully afte only 8 months of training and that on limit equipment but like I said she is a one in a million dog in many way some good and alot not good.
I can tell you this most the sucessfull basset in agility competetion have one thing in common they are/were relatively small females. Females out number males 4or5 to 1. At a basset invassion at a NADAC trial many many years ago 2002 there were Six bassets competeing. ! owned the heavest two there Toughy at 48# and Zephyr at 42# One other basset was 40 even and the rest between 35-40 lbs. Peanut the only basset to earn an AKC MACH (championship in a gility title) sub 35 lbs. Mariah is 42# when I got her from rescue she weighed 36# all the extra 6# is muscle on her himd end se is atypical of basset in this regard her hind end might be larger than her chest. So in terms of actual size sh is smaller than her weight would indicate.
other behavioral traits I thing are important is you want a dog with drive by that I mean not lazy willing to work at something .l It helps if they are intelligent because agility does require the dog to think and make decisions on its own as well.
oregon is a big state I would suspect there is likely one somewhere every weekend
keep in mind in agility there are a significant amount of sanctioning bodies with slightly to very different rules and obstacles.
the grandady of the all is AKC AKC requires the dog be AKC register failing that you can get an ILP (indefinate listing priviledge) if the dog looks like a pure bred sending two picture and i think 35 dollars and they well tell you if they agree an ILP allows you to compete in any akc perofrmance event obedience, rally agility tracking etc/ AKC now has a PAL progam as well that allow registration of Mixed breed dogs to compete in performance events However where they are allowed to compete at any given event is a the discretion of the club putting on the event that is they do not have to accept PAL register dog if they do not want to the can not refulse ilps however and most culb accept pals and the must say whether they will or won't on the premium
USDAA is the oldest dog agility sanctioning body with more physical demanding standard and course layot challenges that often are not allowed in other venues it is open to all dogs.
NADAC has agility games that do not involve jumping the course offer fewer technical challenge than many other venues but require greater speed.
CPE Canine performance events is basical USDAA lite lower jump heights more course faults allowed slower course times.,
TDAA teacup dog agility for dog 17" and under only compressed distance to give the handlers the same challenges as faced by running a faster larger dog
UKC has different obstacles sway bridge crawl tunnel does not require as much speed as other venues.
ASCA Austraian shepard club of AMERIca while a bbreed orgainzation agility is open to any dog one time tied with NADAC but NADAC made significat changes to the program ASCA stayed with the old rules.
Dogna Simillar to ASCA with slightly differet rules.
For a comprehensive lising see
Agility events
FWIW at most AKC trials a dog not entered is unwelcome that is not the case for most other trial organization but it is best to check the trial premium to be sure.
To have fun with it it can be done cheaply however to be competitive it is one of the more expensive dog sports. Weekly Casses typiically mor vary greatly via geographic areas run $100 or more for six week . what if ant equipment you want to train on you own is not cheap it help to have someone handy that can make it as well. Competeing cost are about 60 dollars a day for AKC 2 classes , 75 or so for 3-4 for USDAA etc plus travel expense and possibly hotels. You do not find too many poor people competing in agility but it not the enclave of the super rich It is however predominatly a female sport. Females out number males (humans) by at leat 4 to one generally greater but 10 years ago it was closer to 10-1.
Every question ussual lead to a 100's more I would suggest posing this same question on the basset agility yahoo group. yes it does exist. Where in Origon are you there are at least two people actively engages at least until recently with basset hounds in agillity Chris Wallen of Monmouth, OR. Karin Pearson-King in the portland area you should be able to reach either on through the yahoo group.
some general myth about the sport. It general requires as much if not more training of the human to have success as it does the dog. Often the weakest link in the team is the human. It does help to have some atheltic ability. With more atheletic dogs and ones that are pred to work on voice command you can get away with being less atheletic if you train even more with the less atheletic breed it is harder to be motivating if you are not being chased, not impossible just harder,
The toughest obstacle to train is not what people think it is not the weave poles or the teate it is quite simply the vast space between the obstacles that present the challenge if all that was required was doing the individual obstacles allity would be realitively easy.
Agility [made to look easy
and not so easy
