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This ain't your Border Collie's dog agility
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Flying High
The fast-paced sport of dog agility has been around since the mid 1980s and has continually grown into one of the most popular dog sports in the world. Today there are many different organizations that hold competitions, and in most, all breeds of dogs, purebred and mixed, can enter. However, if you catch a high-profile agility competition, especially one that is televised and shows only the top dogs, what you’re most likely to see are herding breeds like Border Collies, Australian Shepherds and Shelties, or sporting breeds like Labrador and Golden Retrievers, Weimeraners and Vizslas mastering the courses.
These breeds were built and bred for speed and agility, so there’s no wonder they excel at the sport. In dog agility, the competitors are separated into different classes or divisions according to their jump height, and jump height is determined by a dog’s height measured from the floor to the withers (shoulder). So occasionally you will see smaller dogs and toy breeds competing in the lower jump height divisions, but there are fewer entries than in the taller classes. For a little perspective on the disparities, in 2007, 283 MACH (AKC Master Agility Champion) titles were earned by dogs in the Herding group (100 Border Collies alone), and 280 by dogs in the Sporting group. However, only 46 were earned by dogs in the Toy group.
Well, there’s a new venue coming to town to knock the traditional agility competition down a peg or two, or three. How cool would it be to watch Chihuahuas, Maltese, Shih Tzus and Yorkies flying around the agility course, some almost small enough to hide in your purse? That’s exactly what you’ll see when you attend the Teacup Dog Agility Association trials June 13 and 14 at my business, Pup ‘N Iron Canine Fitness & Learning Center in Stafford County. In TDAA, all competing dogs are under 17 inches tall, most much shorter, and are given the opportunity to have fun and compete with each other on a much more level playing field. Recognizing the anatomical differences in smaller, shorter and longer backed breeds, TDAA offers scaled down versions of the agility equipment and shortens the size of the course, not only making the course more realistic to manage for the smaller dogs, but safer as well.
Dogs will be coming from all over the east coast to compete and a few from the Midwest as well. Come out and support this little all stars!
When: Saturday and Sunday, June 13 & 14, 2009
Where: Pup 'N Iron Canine Fitness & Learning Center, 21 Perchwood Drive, Fredericksburg, VA
For more information: http://www.pupniron.com
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