Agility is a fun performance event for all dogs, both purebreds and mixed breeds. The handler must successfully guide their dog through a course of obstacles including jumps, tunnels, the dog walk, the A-frame, and a teeter. The dog must walk across the teeter and tip it to cross. Weave poles are another obstacle that the dog must slalom through starting with the first pole on the dog’s left shoulder, not an easy thing to teach a dog!! On top of making it through all of the obstacles cleanly, the event is timed.
There are four events now offered by the American Kennel Club in agility: the Standard Course with the contact equipment (A-frame, teeter and dog walk), the Jumpers With Weaves course – a fast, flowing course without contact equipment, and two games classes. The games classes are FAST (Fifteen and Send Time) which has a distance requirement as part of it and Time2Beat. For more information about any of these classes, please visit the AKC website.
County-Wide DTC will again be offering Agility classes during the winter months. This is a terrific way to introduce your dog to agility at our indoor facility during the short, rainy days of winter. We will offer 6 week Agility I and II classes during November and December, $70 for each 6 week session. In January of 2012 we will offer 4 week Agility I and II classes, $50 for each 4 week session.
Suzanne Deghi will be teaching our classes again this year. Agility I will introduce you and your dog to the variety of obstacles in agility competition with an emphasis on safety. Agility II will look at techniques for sequencing and running an agility course. .
