32 – Agility Addiction

This past week has been just about perfect when one considers the weather – dry, warm, and a slight breeze blowing from the Southwest.  It’s only natural that my thoughts turn to the great outdoors and full blown agility training.  Don’t get me wrong.  The Buzz and I work throughout the winter cold, but we do more foundation work since indoor space is limited and I hate the cold.  (Can the Animal Campus and its new training building happen just a little faster, please?).  While a strong set of basic skills is essential to successful agility training, working those is just not nearly as much fun as working sequences made up of A-frames, tunnels, jumps, and weaves at a full run.  As an added bonus, running agility outside has the most marvelous side effect of tiring out Buzz, a feat that is often dreamt of, but rarely accomplished.  What’s so great about agility other than wearing out your dog?  The rewards are endless.

For control freaks, you’ll have a chance to have the illusion of control.  Type A personalities revel in getting their dogs to follow verbal directions of jump, charge, weave, and table.  All this is done off leash and, in most venues, without even a collar.  Perhaps you noticed the word “illusion.”  Dogs are great at letting us think we are in charge, aren’t they?  While you may experience many wonderful runs, there will be a time when your pup decides to remind you that, in the game of agility, nothing is ever guaranteed.  One of my first runs ever with Missy, the fearful/reactive Border Collie mix, was memorable for the fact that we had a perfect qualifying run right up to the last jump, where my husband waited on the other side to help us celebrate.  But wait – “Dad” had an umbrella, which is deadly to Border Collies (according to Missy), so our “perfect run” ended with the agility dog imitating a tree on the wrong side of the final jump.  Lesson learned. The Husband was banned from standing at the final jump for all future runs.  Luckily, for those of us who like control, spouses provide a standby outlet, at least at agility trials.

For those who enjoy making others laugh, there are many opportunities in agility.  From slapstick comedy of “tripping over the dog” to getting lost on course (yes, it’s possible to get lost running only 21 obstacles in a small ring) to entertaining the audience as you work to convince your beagle that baying after each obstacle is not standard operating procedure, you’ll be rewarded with laughter from the spectators.  You, in turn, will be entertained by your fellow competitors as they work to get their Basset Hounds over the 5 foot A-frame, as they try to convince their Australian Shepherds that the course designed by the judge is not open to redesign, as they plead with their Golden Retrievers to stop surveying the crowd from the top of the A-frame, and as they beg for motion from their Border Collies who stop just in the right place on the teeter so it stays parallel to the ground, thus avoiding that annoying banging noise teeters make.  Perhaps that’s why agility competitors are so friendly with each other.  They can laugh together rather than laughing at each other.

Like games requiring strategy and thinking skills?  Give agility a try.  First, you must remember the course.  Okay, they do have little cones with numbers on them telling you which obstacle is next, but try to watch your dog (did he clear that last jump?), watch your footing (it’s not cool to trip over an obstacle), think ahead two obstacles (will I be heading left or right?), evaluate your shoulder and arm/hand positions (I need to keep him close, not send him out), all while keeping track of whether or not you are making time.  And then you get to do the course backwards on the next run!  If the standard runs aren’t challenging enough, most venues have added “games.”  Jumps with weaves, tunnelers, and snooker are several designed to test your ability to lay out a plan then change it midway through the run when your dog’s plan turns out to be different than yours.  They make a game of chess look easy. 

Agility is a sport for all.  From children to seniors, for men and women, inclusive of the physically fit and those with handicaps, no one is barred from participating.  I have seen children cheered on by the crowd, especially when fear was evident on their young faces.  I have seen trainers in wheelchairs and I have even had the pleasure of observing a young blind woman “run” her dog.   Participating dogs come in all shapes and sizes, from Chihuahuas to Great Danes.  You don’t need a border collie.  In fact, in venues other than AKC, mixed breeds are numerous. Want to investigate if this is the sport for you?  Check out Play Dog Excellent’s Calendar of Events at http://www.playdogexcellent.com/Calendar.htm and make a trip to one of the upcoming agility trials nearby.  Or watch the AKC Agility National Championships coming March 27 through 29 from Concord, NC.  Just be forewarned – agility is highly addictive and you may get hooked.

Jan Casey owns Smiles and Wags Pet Services and is a reward-based dog trainer in Cookeville, TN.  You can email her at jan@smilesandwags.com.