26 April 2023

Canine agility champions


Filmed at the 2015 Westminster Kennel Club dog show.  Wikipedia has a wonderfully comprehensive article on dog agility competitions.
Dogs run off leash with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles. Consequently the handler's controls are limited to voice, movement, and various body signals, requiring exceptional training of the animal and coordination of the handler....

Because each course is different, handlers are allowed a short walk-through before the competition starts. During this time, all handlers competing in a particular class can walk or run around the course without their dogs...

Each dog and handler team gets one opportunity together to attempt to complete the course successfully...

Dogs are measured in height at the peak of their withers (shoulders). They are then divided into height groups... Dogs are further divided into their experience levels...Dogs are not separated by breed in agility competitions... 
Lots more details re the individual obstacles and the training techniques.

Reposted from 2015 because I was inspired by watching video of the 2018 competition this week, and another video of an 8" Papillon winning this year.

Reposted once again to add this video:



And this tiny dog:



And if that's not enough, here's a "best of" compilation:



Addendum:  Rehearsal for first dance at a wedding.

Reposted from 2019 because today I saw a gif of Gabby's performance elsewhere and was reminded of this compilation.

If you watched one or more of the above, or if you wonder what dogs think about this, you should finish up with this video-

4 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2019 at 11:15 AM

    alternate dog Winky the Bichon Frise

    I-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. delagarJune 17, 2019 at 2:18 PM

    These are wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. bobbieJune 17, 2019 at 2:59 PM

    Well, there went 3 hours of my day ~ bur it was well worth it!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 26, 2023 at 11:45 AM

    A friend of mine did that for a few years with a MinPin. The amount of training time was crazy. She told me the hardest thing to get the dog to do is on that teeter totter they can’t jump off before they’re on the yellow box at the end AND must wait for that end to hit the floor. The waiting is contrary to the gogo nature of the whole run.
    xoxoxoBruce

    ReplyDelete