GET SET, GO!
We were first drawn to Agility as a spectator sport at the only benched show in our area. With nothing much to do part of the day we were attracted by the cheering and general noise of a large crowd of people enjoying themselves. Not to mention all the barking!! Once we managed to find room to watch the ring we were "hooked" for the remainder of the event. In 25 years of showing dogs (mainly in conformation and sometimes braving the obedience ring!) I had never seen pets and owners having so much fun! It is hard to tell who enjoys it more, tho I think it has to be the dogs. Many an outgoing dog starts the course "talking" and continues to tell all within hearing that this is FUN! It was several years after that first encounter with the sport before I had a dog that I thought was perfect for me to work with in this new endeavor. By a happy coincidence a close friend also had a Crested and together we first finished both dogs in conformation and then put CD's on them before starting agility. Formal obedience is not a must for agility work but the control that you gain over your dog is certainly helpful. We were very fortunate to find a quality agility training class in our area. As in all areas of training, some people use methods suitable for toy breeds and others use methods better suited to training werewolves. Use common sense and never allow anyone to do something toyour animal that you know is wrong for that particular animal! The "fun" part of training appeared much sooner than expected. The first night of class our dogs were introduced to most of the obstacles used in competition. The training area looked much like a playground, full of wonderful things to go under, over, around and through. Naturally some of this went quite smoothly but some certainly did not! Just try convincing a 13" Crested that he can crawl under that 8" tunnel. Talk about having fun! There lay Deb and Lynne at the end of the tunnel begging and bribing two very reluctant dogs! In the end it was the cookies that won them over, not our begging! Casey balked at everything that involved the word 'jump', while Ricky just sailed over anything and everything. Casey thought the teeter-totter was a breeze while Ricky must have had nightmares about that particular obstacle! Bridges that wobbled and swings that swayed didn't deter the boys at all and by the end of the first six week session we knew that they could master everything. The next several sessions, while polishing the dogs performance, we learned about all the errors that we were making. Blocking our dogs movement. Guiding our dogs movement. Entering "planes" of the obstacles with our hands, feet or other body parts. It seems like everything we did was going to cost us points! After about a year (yes, a year) of attending class on a fairly regular basis we felt that we were ready to give trials a try. We belong to a club governed by NCDA rules and are allowed to enter both the beginning level of agility and the advanced level on the same day. Brave souls that we are, both dogs were entered in both classes on both days of a very frigid weekend. All dogs and owners are allowed a "walk-through" before the actual timed course. This allows the dogs to familiarize themselves with strange looking jumps that may have a totally different look from what they are used to seeing. Equally important is that this time allows the handler to plan a strategy as to where to stand, when to take it easy and when to go as fast as the team is capable of going. Each judge sets the course as they see fit and many a judge seems to enjoy trying to tempt the dogs to take the obstacles out of sequence - a quick way to lose those precious points. Casey is a hairless and was allowed to do the "walk-through" in his pj's but had to enter the ring totally natural for the real thing. Despite a temperature in the building that hovered somewhere between 55-60 degrees, all of us fared well, gaining 3 "legs" per dog. Deb and Ricky ended the weekend with one "leg" towards their Agility I title and two towards the more advanced title of Agility II. Ricky, always a little hesitant in crowds and really noisy situations, lost out on that last leg simply because he spent just a little too much time navigating the course. Casey came home with two "legs" in Agility I and one "leg" in Agility II. Casey's NQ score was mostly due to handler error. In obedience you have one try at an exercise and that's it! In agility, at least by NCDA Rules, you get three attempts at an obstcle. I simply forgot this very important rule and when Casey refused the closed tunnel, I passed it and kept going. Not very likely that I will ever make that mistake again. So.....we headed home that weekend - cold and tired - but full of anticipation for our next outing!
   
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