Page 92 - Aussie Magazine - 2023 Issue 2

Sport

In a dog terminology Agility is a sport for you Agility can be practiced with all kinds of dogs, no
and your dog. Like any sport, also agility can be matter what the size. It doesn’t matter if your dog
trained and competed at different levels. It can is a puppy or adult – contrary to common belief,
be a nice shared hobby for you and your dog in old dogs can learn new tricks! Your dog must be
your free time or you can compete more seriously healthy and in a good physical condition as dog
at top-level international competitions – still not agility is physically demanding, especially for the
forgetting having fun! Aussies are great in it – may dog. You need to focus on muscle care including
be not the fastest dog breed, but for sure happy to warm-ups and cool-downs to avoid injuries.
spend time with his owner.
Agility competition courses include about twenty
HISTORY different obstacles: jumps, tunnels, weave poles
Agility is a dog sport, where the dog is handled and contact obstacles the dog scrambles over.
through an obstacle course. The roots of the During the course the handler cannot touch the
sport go back to 1970 England, when it was dog, nor the obstacles. The goal is to complete
created as a demonstration sport. In advance the course without faults and as fast as possible.
of the 1978 Crufts annual show, as part of Similar to showjumping, you can get faults if your
the show committee, John Varley was tasked dog drops a bar when jumping, refuses to go
to create an event that would entertain the to the obstacle or misses the contact zone. The
audience between existing conformation and course is about 140-200 meters long and dogs
obedience segments of the show. John Varley can run up to five m/s. The surface may be grass,
collaborated with Peter Meanwell to create the dirt, rubber, or special matting.
first dog agility demonstration. The 1978 Crufts
agility demonstration was broadcast on Belgian Dogs are divided into different groups by size and
television and a recording can be viewed below. their experience in competitions. The regulations
Varley, who narrates the competition, starts for dividing the dogs in different groups vary by
by explaining that his goal with the creation of country. In Europe the levels are defined by the
this event was to “bring some fun into the more FCI definitions, which include skill levels from 1
serious side of Crufts … it has been designed to to 3 and size levels from 1 to 3 (small, medium
test a dog’s ability over a number of obstacles and and large). Competing in agility is popular; it is a
against the clock.” The competition starts with an nice way to spend time with your dog and your
Alsatian Shepherd (or, as we would call them, a fellow dog-owners. Many countries have regular
German Shepherd Dog) and then several Border agility competitions, even at most weekends.
Collies complete. Internationally, the top competitions are the
World Championships and the European Open.
This first agility course was similar to our modern Hundreds of top teams participate in these
agility courses with tunnels, the now-retired strict and challenging competitions and the time
collapsed tunnel, a frame and jump (including differences are measured in hundredths of a
one made from a literal tire), and a catwalk, which second.
Varley noted in the footage should perhaps be
renamed a dogwalk—and, of course, it ultimately At its best, dog agility is a seamless cooperation
was. Initially they only had one jump and it was very between dog and handler – it appears that they
high. After the success and popularity of the 1978 are one. From the outside it looks easy! The
demonstration, agility returned to Crufts in 1979 connection of being “OneMinded” is also the core
and, in 1980, The Kennel Club (the official kennel of the OneMind Dogs method. The dog is directed
club of the United Kingdom) officially recognized to the correct running lines by the handler using
dog agility as a sport and began sanctioning trials. the right body language. The dog follows the
The new, fast sport immediately took off and within following seven essential elements: handler's
a couple of years it was given official dog sport movement, position, eyes, chest, feet, arms and
status in the UK. Nowadays, agility is one of the vocal commands. After you understand how the
most popular dog sports around the world. dog naturally reacts to these elements, and you

92 | A Worldwide Magazine for the Aussie • Issue 2/2023