By Dayanti Karunaratne
Brightly coloured hurdles, tunnels and teeter-totters are carefully arranged and numbered in a dusty barn on Sunset Farms in Carp, outside of Ottawa.
It’s half an hour before the April Fun Match begins on a windy Saturday night, and the participants are starting to trickle in. Soon the place will be filled with the excited yelps of dogs pulling on their leashes, eager to try out their new tricks.
Tammy Tomalty stands by herself near the barn door while her husband Steve gives Zeke a pep talk in their car outside.
Their two-year-old German Shepherd-Collie has been training with the West Carleton Dog Agility Group (WAG) since he was a puppy, but this is his first match and his owners say they are a bit worried about his behaviour, in a strange place with a bunch of new dogs.
Dog agility races provide a new challenge for dogs, and their owners, and a unique way for people to get active with their canine friends.
Obstacle courses help develop their dogs’ skills like balance, obedience, speed and control. While the dog-handler teams are timed and lose points for mistakes, agility races are primarily organized to judge how a dog is progressing.
Sue Purcell, owner of Dogz agility training centre in Nepean, is the organizer of the Fun Match series.
At Dogz, dog owners can bring their dogs to an indoor facility where they — both handler and dog — learn how to manoeuvre through a course of obstacles.
Obstacles include jumps (set at different heights depending on the size of dog), tunnels, teeter-totters, tight slalom courses, and a steep A-frame that dogs ascend — usually stop to enjoy the view — and descend.
While agility courses can be physically demanding, Purcell insists that interested dog owners shouldn’t be dissuaded by their own level of fitness.
“You don’t have to be a young athlete — I get a lot of older women.” Purcell describes many of her clients as mothers experiencing empty nest syndrome, who are looking for something fun to do with their dogs.
Sometimes it’s the dog that demands it.
For example, Zeke’s herding genes meant he was bored as a house pet. Tammy explained that before Zeke the couple had Romeo — a toy poodle, “(Zeke) had a bigger type of brain.”
The Tomaltys saw an agility competition on television, tried it out, and Zeke has been hooked ever since.
“He likes it,” says Tammy. “He starts whining as soon as he knows he’s going.”
On his first run Zeke did well, though he got distracted and started chewing on whatever tasty barn sediments lay between the last tunnel and the slalom course.
Once Zeke hits the finish line, Steve offered treats and rubbed Zeke’s chest. “I’m just glad he’s not barking,” he said.
Purcell admits agility races can be a chaotic affair.
“Once they get off leash, and it’s a new arena, and there’s, like, poo all over the place and other treats … suddenly they’re off and they’re running around. But that’s all part of it, that’s why we do the fun matches.”
Purcell says some dog-handler teams go on to more competitive matches, and these fun events are the perfect training ground.
Josée Sisson and her Cockapoo Shadow dashed through the course flawlessly — and fast.
Shadow races the advanced course, because he has successfully completed the beginner route three times already.
After the graying canine has made it through the advanced course one more time, he can go on to the masters.
The courses become progressively more difficult, and the allotted time shorter, as dog-handler teams progress toward the master level.
Shadow yelped throughout his time on the course. Sisson translates her dogs behaviour as a sign that she wasn’t fast enough.
Sisson adds that agility training and races are great forms of exercise, especially when handling faster dogs.
Steve gives Zeke a treat at the start line as they prepare for Zeke’s second stab at the course.
To get an edge on the clock, Steve takes a few slow steps onto the course.
Zeke is nearly shaking with anticipation, but sits patiently until he is called into the course.
This time around, Zeke struggles on the final obstacle, a weaving exercise through the slalom course.
After two attempts Steve throws up his hands,
“I give up.”
“Don’t give up,” Purcell urges.
With persistence, Zeke and Steve succeed at this challenge and are even looking to the big leagues — the more competitive Canine Cup series this summer.