Agility dog show in Phoenix

AKC dog show.
Carol’s bit

The rules for AKC ( American kennel club) are a bit different to ours, and the ultimate goal is the Nationals as the British is Crufts.

This was agility, from basic level to some pretty serious experienced dogs.
Most of the dogs were border collies as usual, because without a doubt they are the fastest workers, not always the most accurate though. Going at that speed they can end up with injuries, and over shoot the object. The handler has to be one jump ahead all the time to point to the next challenge. Even so if the dog takes the corner too fast they can cause some pretty serious injury that may be permanent. Charro did basic agility and I decided it wasn’t worth the risk, he had perfect hips until the day he died, although an injury just chasing a ball, caused a permanent contracture in the groin muscle when he slipped and did the splits.

Although most of the dogs enjoy the excitement, some do not. These competitions can be about the handlers, and I saw a couple of them with dogs that made mistakes
walk a way from the dog in disgust, leaving the dog standing, wagging it’s tail, not knowing what it had done wrong. The dogs are under their handlers control, and they are responsible for the dog’s m
istakes.
Mostly though everyone seemed to enjoy the day and we were accepted as part of the day, even without a dog. There was a stall selling doggie things, always a big mistake going to look at these, the handlers buy things for their dogs, and the dog probably never even looks at most them.




One of the competitors ,Judy was in a turbo charged wheelchair
and took her border collie bitch Peek round the course faster than some of those on foot. Peek is a rescue dog and has very unusual markings for a border. She responded very well to the wheelchair and kept well out way of the wheels, I don’t see why an event for competitors that are disabled, shouldn’t be included as part of the agility programme here and throughout the dog agility world.

Thanks to Judy for her help in making us feel welcome and settling us in.