About Five Points Training

Five Points Training is the metro's dedicated agility facility. It is a 5,600 square foot artificial-turfed building in Rush, and unlike the general schools in Rochester it publishes one discipline and nothing else: dog agility geared for competition.

The building

The turf floor and the size are the point. The site invites owners to tour the building, and rentals are available on request. Everything in the class list is run inside it.

How classes are split

Classes divide into Handling Classes and Foundation Classes. The published ladder runs from most to least difficult, with Masters Handling at the top for experienced teams competing at the highest levels of the various agility venues; the site says that class focuses on course analysis and on testing and pushing a handler's skills. Lower handling classes refine an individual skill and then fold it into full courses, working up from short sequences while a handling system is developed for each team. Foundation classes come first for new teams and build the skills that let a pair transition to running courses.

Prices and format

Most foundation and handling classes run about seventy-five minutes and cost $25 to $30 per class. Private and group lessons are $80 per hour, with the note that owners can team up with others to form a group private lesson.

Who runs it

Joel and Lori Basa started training agility as a way to exercise their own athletic dogs, and the site says it grew from a hobby into a passion. Their blog records their Belgian Tervuren, Siren, earning two AKC Master Agility Championships and qualifying for the 2018 AKC Invitational Finals.