1. Agility is good for almost all dogs. I imagine there might be a dog who stresses a lot or is highly reactive that would find agility to be negative. But you can take dogs that are not physically great fits for agility(dachshunds or bulldogs) and they’ll have a blast with it. Yes, I’ve seen Pugs do agility.

2. Not all BCs are good at agility. I know a couple of BCs that are probably never going to succeed at this sport. So don’t automatically assume that if you get a BC than you’ll be rocking at agility. Also, before it’s an agility dog, it’s a pet. Let me give you an example to illustrate.

On Monday, my dog (we compete in agility seriously) got walked for 150 minutes over 4 sessions. We did 2 separate agility workouts in the backyard (total of 15 minutes). I spent 15-20 minutes throwing the ball with him (and he sprints to get it and sprints back). I also did some trick work with him (where he has to jump up into my arms). He is not a BC and doesn’t have the energy demands of a herding breed dog. On Tuesday he only got a 1.5 mile run with me, 40 additional minutes of walking and about 20 minutes of chasing balls and agility work plus probably 15 minutes with his soccer ball. I had a busy day–just didn’t have as much time to work him. Anyway, he was then up at 4:30am this Wednesday morning bouncing of his crate saying “c’mon Dad–let’s get out and chase some squirrels, going jogging, run some courses–I’m bored and full of energy.” Do NOT get a BC unless you’re going to work the legs off that dog and THEN also challenge it mentally (with tricks and classes and activities). That’s not just true of a BC but almost all herding breeds.

3. Start by finding agility classes close to you. You can go to the Clean Run website to search for instructors (the list is incomplete and out of date). You can go to and find a trial near your house. Then go observe and ask for trainer/class recommendations. Once you get into a class and start to learn about the sport, you can then start doing some training in the back yard or the park.

4. Here’s my advice: start with the Pug. Almost all serious agility champions don’t succeed wildly with their first dog. They’re doing conformance or have a pet, got into agility, started to get good but that almost realizing all of the stupid things they did with their first dog. And then they get a second (and sometimes third, fourth and fifth) dog and that’s what they make finals with. The point I’m making is not that your Pug is disposable–he isn’t. It’s that as a novice, regardless of how hard you try, how much you learn, how good your trainers are, you’ll make tons of mistakes and afterwards you’ll be amazed you managed to compete because of how you made life so difficult for that first dog. And the second dog will be easier. To put it another way, your first agility dog is about YOU learning the sport (and basically screwing up a lot with your first dog).

So start with your family’s pug. Do agility with that dog. You’ll get an introduction to the sport, decide if it’s for you, learn basic handling skills and what the circuit is around you, who the good (or not so good) instructors are. So if you decide to stay with it (and then get a BC in a couple of years) you’ll be well-informed and also have enough of a foundation where you’ll make a good choice of the dog and also hit the ground running.

Yes, you can whine, stomp, beg, plead, and take a big tantrum… That will get your parents to give you another dog!

Or, wait until you move out, like everyone else.

I think the best way for you to show your parents that you can care for your own dog is to take sole responsibility for the care of your current dog (that means you do everything and make sure all of Curly’s needs are met – you do not rely on others to tell you what needs to be done or worse, expect them to do it if you slack off). A good foundation of basic obedience is important for success at agility. Your dog should have an excellent recall in distracting environments (agility is highly stimulating and distracting) and should be able to focus on you when other dogs are around and running loose. If your dog doesn’t currently meet those criteria, I would work on that before attempting agility.
Good luck.

Agility is lots of fun. If I were you I would take agility classes with Curly. It will be good for both of you. He will learn the obstacles and how to jump properly, you will learn how to “handle” getting him from one obstacle to the next. Pugs are quite good at agility.
As far as a BC is concerned, they are great agility dogs but not for everyone. They are a very intense dog with lots of drive. They are a difficult first agility dog. I would learn agility with Curly and then in a couple of years, if you are competing and doing well, then a BC might be appropriate.