The AKC Agility League has just turned 3 years old. Its triple birthday is a nod to the launch of the pilot season in 2022 and coincides with plans to add an Invitational in 2026 and to recognize the most-improved competitors starting with the Spring-Summer 2025 Season.

The fast-growing, popular team sport is rooted in recreational fun and blended with a competitive spirit that has taken the agility world by storm. The League’s signature attraction is the rallying support participants receive from teammates as they vie for top honors while training on challenging courses.  

“We try to foster a sense of community, and I think that’s one of the keys to making it successful,” says Penny Leigh, Director of the AKC Agility League. “People like being part of a team. It’s less intense than an agility trial, but it’s still competitive.”

The Agility League embraces a twofold community support system driven by team camaraderie and the League itself. The League’s Facebook Group page broadcasts rankings, news and member spotlights, but it also garners members’ submissions of dog photos and videos of their agility runs. The excitement and pride run deep.  

The AKC’s first team sport was inspired by Gina M. DiNardo, the AKC’s new president and CEO, who envisioned an experience for agility enthusiasts similar to her own as a league tennis player in the United States Tennis Association.  

“The AKC Agility League offers the unique opportunity to compete with your teammates toward a common goal,” Gina says. “There is something very special about the camaraderie of a team environment. I am delighted that the AKC Agility League is a success and continues to grow with positive feedback from competitors.”

Nancy Yeoman, the Agility League coordinator at Adventuretails Dog Sports and Training Facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, promotes the League every chance she gets.  A longtime agility competitor, Nancy is thrilled to be running her almost 2-year-old male Miniature American Shepherd, “Ryser,” in the Freshman level in his second season of League.

“I love talking to people about League,” Nancy says. “There’s absolutely no pressure. We have fun working on skills together as a team. Everyone is so welcoming.”

At the newly-built Adventuretails facility, owned by Deb and Andy Gropp, several banners hang proudly recognizing teams that finished their seasons with Top 5 honors and a Ph.D. championship team from Season 6.  

“Adventuretails has more than doubled in the number of dogs and teams participating since it opened in fall 2023,” Nancy says. They enrolled 11 teams and 63 dogs for the Spring-Summer 2025 Season, the first season all divisions have been offered. Some people drive an hour and a half to take part.

Likewise, participation in the AKC Agility League has grown significantly across the country since the first regular season in fall 2022. The Spring-Summer 2025 Season has a record 1,840 dogs and 335 teams taking part. Participants include novice to world competitors.

“League has experienced 56 percent growth overall,” Penny says. “We’ve had 57 percent growth in unique handlers and 68 percent growth in unique dogs.”

The growth, sparked largely by word-of-mouth testimonials, sets the program on course to achieve the mantra of its founders.  

“Our goals include getting more people in the sport and giving new people the confidence to enter an agility trial,” Penny says. “It’s a different feeling when you are part of a team that is a great training group and that mentors and cheers one another on.”

A Successful Soft Launch

During the pandemic in 2020, the AKC Agility League began to take shape. Gina and Penny began writing a business case for the program. They worked with the AKC Internal Consulting Group including Seth Fera Schanes, Director of Planning, and Kassandra Pickle, Manager of Business Intelligence.  

Penny, a 19-year veteran with the AKC, helped put together the business case that led to the 2009 launch of the AKC Canine PartnersTM program. She is Director of Canine Partners, which allows mixed-breed dogs not eligible for purebred registration and their owners to participate in sports like agility, rally and obedience. As a bonus in working on League, Penny competes in agility with her own dogs.  

The plan centered around teams of three to eight dogs that would compete in divisions named after classes from Freshman (Novice) and Sophomore (Open) to Senior (Masters/Excellence). It would offer training via challenging Jumpers and Standard courses. Runs with faults could be practiced and rerun. A scoring and ranking system would add a competitive element. There would be three 12-week seasons a year, each having six biweekly rounds.  

“The AKC Board of Directors approved a pilot program, which was introduced May 30, 2022,” Penny says. “We invited 19 groups with 40 teams from around the country to participate. They all ran the Masters level of agility.

“It was a big hit. We got good feedback that enabled us to tweak the program. For example, a lot of people told us they wanted to run international style courses, which led us to develop the Ph.D. level.”

The first regular season after winning Board approval was the Fall 2022 Season.

“We are still tweaking all the time as League continues to evolve,” Penny says.  

In the Fall 2024 Season, the Elementary Division was introduced for pre-Novice dogs and their handlers. It features shorter courses without weave poles and teeters.  

“Team captains and owners of training schools had students who wanted to be in League, but they weren’t quite ready because they were still working on weaves and the teeter,” Penny says. “Elementary has been very successful, and many have already moved up to the Freshman level.”

Another tweak, the Spring-Summer 2025 Season will recognize the most-improved dogs.  

“We are adding the most-improved dogs because there are a lot of dogs that start the season at the bottom of the ranking,” Penny says. “Although they never get high enough to place in the Top 4, they move up a lot of places. We want to recognize more people for the hard work they put in.”

A League Invitational is tentatively planned for 2026, in which the top teams of the Senior and Ph.D. divisions will be invited to compete. It will augment the AKC Agility League Championship, in its third year in 2025.  

The Championship, which is open to teams that complete one 12-week season in the competition year, is considered a fun event with highly competitive T-shirt and crating decoration contests. Importantly, teams of all levels, including Elementary and Freshman, the pre-Novice and Novice classes, can attend the National.

As the AKC Agility League celebrates its third birthday, Penny shares key wins.

“People tell us they gained the confidence to enter a trial because of League,” she says.

“Importantly, it gives dogs that love agility but have anxiety or are scared or nervous an outlet where they can do agility at a familiar place,” she says. “People have told us that because of League, their dogs have gotten the confidence to move on. It’s a place for dogs that don’t do well in a competitive environment.”

Nancy agrees.

“Agility League is for everyone, whether they are competitive or not,” she says. “I tell people we will find the right team for them that matches where they are now with their goals. Some people are new to agility, and some have an older dog that still loves the sport but is not able to go to trials.”

“Agility League is like a softball or bowling league for agility enthusiasts,” Penny adds. “It’s recreational. It’s fun. It gives you a chance to get together with people who love agility. You build courses together and play together in your home environment.  

“People really love League,” Penny says.