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Dog agility course instructor Laurie Williams watches Buster, a Labradoodle, jump through a tire. Dogs are coaxed through
A Jack Russell terrier named Ding finishes walking through weave poles to be rewarded
Beverly Malzahn leads her cairn terrier, Charlie, over a jump. At 6 months old
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REYA DIDN'T LIKE that long yellow tube. The Doberman pinscher was almost too tall to fit inside, and the other end was 15 feet away. She'd run up to the opening with her owner, Joanna Lewis, but as soon as Lewis dropped the leash to run down the outside of the tunnel, Freya would turn around and come back out.
This was Freya's second dog agility training class, and it took three tries to get her to run all the way through the tunnel. Once she got the hang of it, though, she was zipping through it with great enthusiasm.
"This is dogs doing what dogs are meant to do--run, jump," said instructor Laurie Williams. She's been giving private agility lessons for the past four years, and is now offering the training on a group basis.
Dog agility is a popular competitive sport, with a national association (United States Dog Agility Association) and televised events on Animal Planet, ESPN and National Geographic channels.
The dogs are timed as their handlers send them through a variety of obstacles--tunnels, jumps, ramps, teeter-totters, weave poles and the like. They get points taken off if they don't complete the course correctly. Biting the judge or leaving the ring also bring demerits.
Dog agility began in England in 1978 as an intermission entertainment at the Crufts International Dog Show. It has since grown to international competitions. The USDAA was organized in 1986.
Williams, who lives in Stafford's Garrisonville area, started agility training with her own dogs seven or eight years ago as a diversion from their obedience training. She has been teaching dogs since she was a 10-year-old 4-H member in Allentown, Pa., with a beagle-dachshund mix named Mamie.
"She won everything I ever entered her in," Williams said.
She's always had at least one dog ever since, breeding and showing them. Right now she has three Maltese, a Dalmatian and a Pharoah hound.
She got the idea of offering agility classes because, she said, "I wanted to bring things here for dog enthusiasts."
There weren't any opportunities in the county for dogs and their owners to have fun together, she said. Sure, there were things in Richmond or Silver Spring, Md., but, "People get home after a long commute, they don't want to get back on 95 to work their dogs," she said.
Dog agility competition is good for both dogs and people, Williams said. Not only does the dog get to jump and run, but the handler has to keep pace with the dog as it races from obstacle to obstacle.
"I want pet owners to do it because of the benefits to dogs and owners," she said.
She has worked as a personal trainer and taught aerobics, so she knows about humans as well as dogs.
The agility training is an acceptable way to unleash some of the pent-up energy the dogs have.
"Most of them are bred to do jobs. When they just sit in the house, you get destructive behavior," she said.
Williams is tailoring her classes more to people who want to have fun with their dogs than to those who are interested in competing.
"These are people who love dogs, who want to have an activity with their dogs," she said.
"I don't want people to feel they have to go into competition."
The students in her current eight-week session of classes range in size from the two Busters--one an Airedale terrier and the other a Labradoodle-- down to Bonnie, a dainty Pomeranian.
In between are several assorted terriers, a shepherd-Lab mix and a Belgian malinois.
"Any breed can learn obstacles," Williams said, "Mixed breeds as well."
At their third meeting, the dogs were all ready to play the game. First came the tunnel. Owners ran their dogs to the opening, calling "Tunnel!" as they dropped the leash and went running down the outside as the dog ran inside. At the end, the leash was reclaimed and the dog got a handful of treats.
The dog responds to both verbal commands and body language, Williams said. In a competition the judges set up the course and the dog and handler must follow that set order. The commands tell the dogs what they are expected to do.
Once everybody was comfortable racing through the tunnel, the dogs were shown how to negotiate the weave poles, a sort of slalom event. The trick, Williams explained, is to get the dog to go straight, rather than going from side to side, which wastes time.
Then came the jumps. There were two kinds--ordinary hurdles and a tire suspended from a frame. Both were adjustable, to accommodate both big and little dogs. Even so, Charlie, the cairn terrier, was more interested in going under the tire than through it. Enough treats held up on the other side convinced him that he wanted to jump.
At the end of an hour, the dogs were full of treats and their owners were ready to go home.
Most of the folks in the class said they weren't interested in competition. The training is just something fun to do, a way to burn off energy.
Laura Mooney of Vista Woods subdivision in Stafford is hoping to train Ding, a Jack Russell terrier, as a therapy dog.
"He's so energetic. He needs an outlet," she said, explaining why they're taking the class. At 6 months old, Ding is tied with Charlie as youngest in the class.
"It's exercise for both of us," said Karen Donnelly of Rock Hill. She brings Devil Dawg, her Scottish terrier. Once he learns the ropes, Donnelly said, she's thinking of building a course in her back yard and training her other three Scotties to run it.
Lewis, who lives in Stafford's Apple Grove subdivision, said she was thinking about competing with Freya, once she is trained properly.
Competing at dog agility events was her husband's idea, Lewis said, but his work schedule has made it impossible for him to attend the classes. So she's decided to take over.
"I'm hoping by the end of the year she'll be ready. Right now, let's get her trained," Lewis said.
For more information about dog agility training, Laurie Williams can be reached at 540/288-0316 or onesmartpooch@aol.com
To reach LUCIA ANDERSON: 540/374-5405 landerson@freelancestar.com
