In my spare time, when not working with clients and teaching classes, I love to play with my own dogs in a variety of fun sports. Dog sports allow me to train my personal dogs to a higher level, learn advanced concepts from world-level trainers (that I then pass along to my students), provide enrichment for my amazing dogs, and enjoy time with good friends.
Agility might be the most popular dog sport out there and depending on the talent and ambition of the dog/handler team, the sport can be enjoyed at a local, regional, national or world level. Aspirations to greatness aside…..it is just plain old fun!
On a typical training day, I might set up some fun courses to run with my dog:
To further my skills and understanding, my dogs and I attend a multitude of seminars each year, often travelling with friends and running crazy hard courses, which always leave us (human and dog) breathless:
And when we finally pull everything together and feel confident to step in the ring, we get to celebrate our very first trial and the beginning of a fun journey:
When we are seasoned, we might even win a few competitions at the regional level:
Starting agility requires little effort other than finding a class that has availability and having a healthy dog that wants to play. Our favourite local trainers can be found here:
- http://www.dogagility.ca/
- https://www.swiftdogsports.com/
- http://dogworks.ca/agility-burnaby
- https://www.maindogtraining.ca/
Beware. The sport of agility is highly addictive and may very well take over your life! Of course, in the very best way possible.
