Iris' Den
Iris' Agility Page
Graphic providied by Babycass's Den
Dogs have great fun in agility, clearing different obstacles. I hade so much fun doing it with Iris! We have most of the obstacles, which makes practicing easier. I used to do AKC agility competition with Iris. She's now retired and has finished with; 2 legs of our NA (Novice Agility), 2 legs of our OAP (Open Agility Preferred) our NAP (Novice Agility Preferred) and our NJP (Novice Jumpers Preferred)!
When you see agility on stuff like Animal Planet, most of the time all the commenters talk about is speed, speed, speed. They make it sound like speed is everything, agility wise. That's not true. Agility should be control, control, control. Even at a show, you might have the fastest dog, but it made a mistake, so it wouldn't win.
There are several different organizations to hold agility trials. Some of them are AKC, UKC, USDAA, NADAC and many others. Their rules may vary, but all of them are quite similar. They want the dog to go fast, but the dog must be complete at least most of the course accuratly.
I don't know what it is about agility, but dogs just seem to love it! You see those Border Collies and Shelties and you see an agility dog. You might not think of a rottweiler as an agility dog, but Iris' 4-legged doggy friend Carl has started and now has his NAJ & OA! Yes they might not be as agile or fast, but they can be great agility dogs!
If you're interested in agility, I'd go to an agility trial first. Oh and just FYI, when the people are all walking around the ring without their dogs, they're "walking the course". They do this at agility trials so you can get a feel for what your going to do with you dog.
To find out more about agility go to these sites:
The Dog Agility Page
This Part Of The AKC Web Site On Agility
Agility Rules
Clean Run Magazine and Info
To see some pictures of Iris doing agility, go here.
