Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

It's time for another edition of Around the Dog Agility Blog-o-Sphere!

The website for the 2010 European Open 2010 to be held in Liberec, Czech Republic, July 24 & 25, 2010 is live! More info on the US team selection coming soon! We'll keep you posted.

There's a new blog (as of January 2010) detailing news about all kinds of dog sports in Europe. You can search by sport subject, including agility!

If you are a USDAA website subscriber...be sure and check out the subscriber news page, login required. You can see my (and Mum's :) article 'Is Your Dog Bowl Safe?', reprinted from our Raise A Green Dog blog. All kinds of info about all types of bowls and help in finding the safest and healthiest for your dog. You can also read our article on 'Tools for Keeping Your Dog in Shape or Rehabbing from Injury.' Thanks to Brenna Fender and the USDAA for helping us share this important info and contributing some of our key blog posts with the USDAA community!

AKC Nationals

The 2010 AKC National Agility Championships will be held next weekend - March 26-28, 2010 - at the Ford Truck Arena and Mustang Arena at Expo Square in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The judges for the event are: Dan Butcher, OR; Dan Dege, MN; Tammy Domico, CA; Sheila Kaufman, CO; Jane Mohr, TN; and Scott Stock, PA.

Here are important links:

Running Order
Running Order - ISTT
Judging and Ring Schedule

Friday is the International State Team Tournament for heights 4 8 12 16 20 24, 14 18 & 26. Saturday and Sunday is the National Agility Championship for heights 8 12 16 20 24 26 and the preferred National Agility Championship for heights 4 8 12 16 20.

Competition changes for this year include:

• All dogs must compete in their measured jump height class or in the 26” jump height class.
• A minimum of 6 dogs will advance in each jump height class to the Finals round regardless of how many dogs were competing at the jump height.
• The National Agility Championship Titles will only be awarded to final round winners with a score of 100.
• There will be a 4” jump height class during Friday’s International State Team Tournament competition.

Preferred agility classes are eligible to compete in the AKC National Agility Championship this year. The Preferred and Regular class dogs will compete for separate awards.

Qualification period for the event was December 1, 2008 through and including November 30, 2009. Regular class requires at least 6 Double Q's & 400 MACH points from the Regular Excellent B Standard & Jumpers With Weaves class during the qualifying period. Preferred Class Qualifications include at least 6 Double Q's from the Preferred Excellent B Standard & Jumpers With Weaves class during the qualifying period. For dogs to compete in the Preferred Class at the 2010 AKC National Agility Championship they must only compete in the Preferred classes from March 1, 2009 through November 30, 2009.

AgilityVision.com will be showing the AKC Nationals livestream for the Final and Challenger Rounds this year. There are three packages available: DVD, VOD, + Live for $39.99; VOD + Live for $29.99; and Live only for $14.99. Don't miss out on the action, go to their website to purchase one of the packages.

USDAA

The USDAA Spring Festival of Dog Agility simulcast events, where competitors in the Mid-Atlantic Showcase hosted in Fredricksburg, Virginia compete against competitors in the South Central US hosted in San Antonio, Texas at the Rose Palace, will be held on April 2-4.

The trials both offer full titling and tournaments over three days, with a special Showcase class offering Spring Festival trophies provided by USDAA and other prizes from the host clubs.

The Showcase will be simulcast on USDAA.com free of charge. Stay tuned for more info.

The first official use of electronic scoring for titling classes in USDAA events was the first weekend in March. Tim Verrelli's Agility Trial Secretary software became the first officially Authorized Software for use in USDAA scorekeeping. Read more from the USDAA website.

Crufts

Sadly with our move, we totally missed watching Crufts agility competition, March 10-12. At least now that we're in doggie heaven, we won't have to look for Branson vacation packages, BOL! We've got all the fun we need right in our backyard.

Here is some info from the action at Crufts!

Here are all the agility results from the event.

Here's the winner of the freestyle competition, cute!!!


Winner of the Large Dog Agility - Mark and Kodi
Winner of the Medium Dog Agility - Toni & Minx


If you'd like to see more videos of Crufts, visit their YouTube channel; or visit this YouTube page (presearched for Crufts Agility 2010).

Other Stuff

We hear that AgilityVision.com my be showing the World Team Tryouts live stream May, 8 & 9, 2010 for entry into the the FCI Agility World Championships, October 1-3, 2010 in Reiden, Germany. Stay tuned for more info.

AgilityVision also has a Dog Agility iLog available through iTunes for $17.99. It's an electronic record book to conveniently track your agility trial results right on your iPhone. It fully supports the following venues: AKC, USDAA, AAC, CKC, UKKC, UKA, UKI, FCI, ADAA, ANKC, NADAC, CPE, ASCA, DOCNA, UKC, TDAA. The Agility iLog tracks event date, dog, club, location, Q, placement, time, score/faults, SCT, course yardage, Yard or Meters Per Second (YPS), MACH points, venue, division, level, class, jump height, surface, judge, pairs partner, and notes. It also automatically calculates your Yards or Meters per Second and MACH Points for AKC agility.

Here's a nice little article about using clicker training in agility, from Karen Pryor's site clickertraining.com. It features a Q&A with Swedish trainers and competitors Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh who have been teaching and competing in canine agility since the early 90’s, using reinforcement technology. They have a new book out 'Agility Right from the Start.'

The AKC is having an early bird special if you are looking to enroll in their Canine Partners Program. Apply online by April 30th, and pay only $25 (regularly $35). Your dog will be eligible to compete in AKC Rally, Agility and Obedience trials accepting mixed-breed entries, starting April 1, 2010.

In addition, you’ll receive these special AKC benefits valued up to $75 – all for $25 if you enroll online by April 30th. Other benefits include:

* Complimentary 60-Day Trial AKC Pet Healthcare Plan*
* Lifetime enrollment in AKC CAR Lost & Found Recovery Service
* One-year subscription to AKC Family Dog magazine
* AKC Canine Partners Official Decree of Dog Fun
* AKC Canine Partners Decal
* Eligibility to participate in AKC Agility, Obedience and AKC Rally® Events
* AKC CAR collar tag with AKC Canine Partners Listing Number

That's it for now!!!

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

Oh my, it's been a while since we updated you on what's going on around the dog agility blog-o-sphere...so let's get to it!

EO 2010

EO 2010 gets underway this weekend in Liberec, Czech Republic. Practice will be held on Friday, with the event on Saturday and Sunday. Here are some important links:

List of registered participants sorted by country.
USA team members listed at the bottom of this page.
Meet the judges
Full competition program
Regulations/Rules

Agility Vision will be at EO video taping the finals of the event. The finals won't be live streamed this year, but you will be able to view the Video on Demand once it's uploaded (targeted for 8 PM ET, July 25th). You can pre-order the VOD by Friday, July 23rd to save $5 off the regular price of $19.99.

UPDATE: Results from European Open 2010 (EO 2010)...

Agility Individuals Large
Agility Individuals Medium
Agility Individuals Small

Jumping Individuals Large
Jumping Individuals Medium
Jumping Individuals Small

Final Individuals Large
Final Individuals Medium
Final Individuals Small

Teams Large
Teams MS

NADAC

The 2010 NADAC Championships will be held September 23-26, 2010 at the Cam-Plex Multi-Event Facilities in Gillette, Wyoming. Entries close on August 3rd.

Agility Vision will be at the event video taping all runs. Special packages are available. Visit their website for more info.

USDAA

Some news via USDAA...

View the new rule changes including allowing 24" weave pole spacing, displaceable tire, new Veterans Program and more. Some new rules effective July 1, 2010, others effective for the 2011 and subsequent tournament and/or calendar year.

Results from the Rocky Mountain and SouthWest regionals have been posted. EDIT: You can now view some of the results from the NorthWest regionals.

More info for Cynosport, October 12-17, 2010 in Louisville have been posted, including info on agility.

AKC

New rules coming into effect for AKC agility from the May Board Meeting and include positionless table, 24" weave pole spacing, no more multipliers, no more up contact judging and more. Here is the link to the Board Meeting minutes, the link to the full new regulations, and a nice overview of all the changes courtesy of Magica Goldens blog.

2010 FCI Agility World Championships

The final US team for 2010 FCI Agility World Championship, October 1, 2 & 3, 2010, Reiden, Germany has been announced, including those who qualified at the tryouts and those named to the team. Other country participants are starting to be added to the main site. You can also follow the FCI Agility World Championships on Twitter, (hashtag #agiwm).

Agility Vision has a special preorder price of $24.99 now through September 17th or the first 1,000 orders (whichever comes first) for their Live Stream and Video on Demand of the entire 2010 FCI event. Click here to order the special package.

If you purchase this video package you will receive a coupon code that you can use in the Clean Run store for $5off the 2010 FCI DVD. The full 2-DVD set of the "Best of the 2010 FCI Agility World Championships" will be available via Clean Run bringing you hundreds of runs from the event, including all of the runs by Team USA and Team Canada. The DVD will not be available until late November. However, Clean Run is currently accepting pre-orders. Place your order by October 3rd to receive the early bird DVD discount: $5 off the regular price of $29.95, plus free shipping.

Other stuff:

Silvia Trkman is planning an online video tutorial teaching her famous Cik/Cap turns that can shave seconds off your course time. Here's a teaser video (below), first video of the tutorial is live as of today. Here is info for purchasing (about $57 USD). Looks like she may be planning more tutorials for heeling and tricks, coming soon.


And don't miss this new vid of Silvia's new pup Le.

Silvia will also be in the US next year doing seminars in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia, the end of January, beginning of February. Here is the info (click on upcoming seminars) for the Florida seminar, Jan 24-28 in Tampa. Watch her website for more info on other upcoming seminars.

The first Dog Olympic Games will be held October 14-17 in Lignano Sabbiadoro in Northern Italy and is planned to be an event held every two years, featuring Agility, Disc Dog, Dog Dance, Flyball, Obedience, Rally, Nature Testing and more.

Happy to see Linda Mecklenburg has been uploading some new YouTube videos in the past few weeks. If you haven't subscribed yet, do it! Always great to watch great teams.

Better late than never :) Here are some great runs (and interesting courses) from the AKC World Team Tryouts, thanks to Agility Vision.

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

It's time for around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

Recent news...The Midwest Agility Championships slated to be held at the Libertyville Sports Complex in Libertyville, Illinois, October 23-25, 2009 has been canceled due to insufficient entries to hold the event.

The FCI World Agility Championships were originally planned for Slovenia in 2010, will now be held in Rieden, Germany, October 1-3, 2010.

Other future dates include:

2011 - Lievin, France - October 7-9
2012 - Czech Rep
2013 - South Africa
2014 - Luxembourg
2015 - Italy
& archives for WM 2008 (Finland)

A couple of vids from FCI thanks to our friends at JustAgility. And big, big congratulations to Hugo and Kissy on their great 25th place overall individual and 12th place in agility. Great job! See their run here.

Marcus and Juice:


Silvia and Bu: (Amazing dogwalk)


See more videos here (referenced from our friends at aurea.userworld.com)

Large Dog - Agility, Jumping, Team
Medium Dog - Agility, Jumping, Team
Small Dog - Agility, Jumping, Team

Here's a link to all the FCI courses - good for some challenging practice!

If you're ever looking for that USDAA four year calendar, here's the link.

Clean Run continues to expand their library of article on everything from nutrition, to motivation to training tips and lots more. Be sure and visit.

New DVD from Patricia McConnell, "Dog Play, Understanding Play Between Dogs and Between Dogs and People," looks interesting!


The AKC announced yesterday that they will be offering AKC® Title Medallions to all owners whose dogs have earned titles at AKC events. Both the small and larger versions will be $25. They will be available in December of this year.

Also, October 1st marks the first day that Mixed Breeds can register with the AKC to receive an AKC Canine Partners Listing and an AKC number for competition eligibility in mixed-breed classes at stand-alone Agility, Obedience and Rally events.

AKC Canine Partners Listing includes a custom, blue AKC logo tag, as well as lifetime enrollment in AKC CAR Lost & Found Recovery Service, one-year subscription to AKC Family Dog magazine, AKC Canine Partners Certificate of Recognition, AKC Canine Partners Decal and eligibility to participate in AKC Companion Events.

Enroll here if interested. Cost is $35.00. Clubs can now apply to allow mixed breed classes at Agility, Obedience and Rally trials for competition beginning April 1, 2010. If clubs have applied for an event that will take place on or after April 1, 2010, they may still add mixed breed classes by contacting the AKC.

The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Finals will be held this Friday-Saturday at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, Missouri. Here's more info. Finals will be first broadcast in January, 2010. Here is the schedule:

St Louis
01/24/10 Sun 3:30 - 4:30 PM ABC
02/27/10 Sat 10:00 - 11:00 AM ESPN2
03/14/10 Sun 5:00 - 6:00 PM ESPN2

The 2009 Hyperflite Skyhoundz World Canine Disc Championship were held in Chattanooga, Tennessee lat weekend. Here are the results. A couple of routines from Mark Muir and Gipper, first place finishers in the Open Division.

And last but certainly not least. Silvia's youngin's trick class from this summer!


That's it for now!

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

It's time for around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

Save the date: Karen Pryor's first ClickerExpo of 2011 will be held January 21-23, Hyatt Regency, Newport Beach, CA. More info here.

Good luck to the US representatives at the IFCS World Agility Championships, next weekend in Clevedon, North Somerset, UK. Team members include:

12" jump height:
Angie Benacquisto and Toy Fox Terrier, Duncan
Daneen Fox & Papillon, Masher
Janelle Julyan & Corgi, Eve

16" jump height:
Angie Benacquisto & Rat Terrier, Dylan
Suzanne Wesley & Poodle, Sonic (replacing Elizabeth Evans & Hemi (injury))
Rhonda Koeske & All-Breed, Tack

22" jump height:
Elise Lynch & BC, Ting
Kate Moureaux & BC, Driven
Stephanie Spyr & BC, Rage

26" jump height:
Rosanne DeMascio & BC, Drifter
Dudley Fontaine & BC, Maverick
Ann Zarr & BC, Skylar

For interviews with competitors visit the USDAA Website News Section.

Congrats to those winning spots at the AKC World Team Tryouts this weekend for the FCI Agility World Championships in Reiden, Germany this coming October 1-3, 2010.

We hear lots of folks had a great time watching the live stream from Agility Vision. Would have loved to see it sitting back in some nice home theater seating, BOL, but we did a ton of hiking this past weekend - the weather was just too nice to stay inside.

See the results for rounds 1-5 here. The following won spots on the World Team at the Tryouts. The two remaining team spots for each jump height will be chosen by the Team Coach and the Team Captain using the dogs’ show record both during the year, performance at the AKC Nationals, as well as their performance at the Tryouts:

Small:
Marcy Mantell and Wave
Dee Anna Gamel and Kelsi

Medium:
Karen Holik and Sizzle
Diane Goodspeed and her Sheltie Demon

Large:
Channan Fosty and her Border Collie Icon
Terry Smorch and his Border Collie Presto

Agility Vision has a listing of running orders, course maps and full results sheets from the weekend. You can also see info on their VOD and DVD's from the weekend, as well.

A fun video of agility handling in the forest...now that we have tons of trees around I think we may have to give this a try!

AgilityVision.com now has Agility iMap available for the iPad on iTunes. Here's a link to a YouTube demo. Agility iMap is the ultimate course designer for dog agility on the iPad. Design a course with your fingers (or paws!).

USDAA regionals get underway in a couple of weeks. First up the SE regional in Perry, GA, June 4-6, followed by RM in Farmington, UT, June 18-20. The remaining regionals are:

July 9-11 - Northwestern US, Auburn, WA
August 13-15 - South Central US, Fort Worth, TX
August 26-29 - Northeastern US, Logan Township, NJ
September 4-6 - Southwestern US, Prunedale, CA
September 10-12 - North Central US, Rochester Hills, MI

Qualifying events for the 2010 tournament season began September 14, 2009 and continue through September 12, 2010. Entries and fees for Cynosport, October 12 - October 17 - Louisville, Kentucky must be received no later than Tuesday, Tuesday, September 14.

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

America's Best Dog Trick Contest

The Zoom Room Dog Agility Training Center and sponsor West Paw Design have announced the “America’s Best Dog Trick Contest” – a trick contest using only positive-reinforcement dog training methods.

Open to any American resident, dog owners will submit a short video of their best dog trick via the Zoom Room’s Facebook Page. Initially, anyone may vote for the Best Dog Trick on Facebook. The top five dog tricks will then face a panel of judges from the Zoom Room and West Paw to determine the winner.

The first place winner will receive $1,000 plus a collection of West Paw's Zogoflex toys. Second place will receive $250 plus the collection of Zogoflex toys from West Paw. The other three finalists will each receive Honorable Mention, as well as a Zogoflex toys.

AKC Eukanuba National Championships, Obedience Invitational and Agility Invitational

Don't miss the 2009 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship in Long Beach, California on Dec 12-13. Thousands of top show dogs from across the country and the world will descend on Long Beach next month to compete for the prestigious title of AKC/Eukanuba National Champion. In honor of the AKC's 125th anniversary, the invitational format is waived for the 2009 show. This year's open format means AKC will offer breed classes, giving dogs the opportunity to earn championship points for the first time in the show's history.

Each year the show is held in conjunction with the AKC National Obedience Invitational and AKC Agility Invitational, representing the culmination of a year of competition in three AKC sports: Conformation, Obedience and Agility.

For the AKC Agility Invitational, the first round of invitations to dogs ranked 1-5 in their breed closed on September 9th. If any of the dogs ranked 1-5 declined the entry to attend the Agility Invitational, the second round of invitations to dogs ranked 6th and higher were mailed September 14th. The AKC Agility Invitational report lists the top dogs ranked in Agility events and is based on the Top MACH Dog formula (Double Q's x 10) + MACH (Master Agility Championship) points that dogs have earned during the qualifying period.

The field is now set. Here is the running order.

The Agility Invitational will consist of Round #1 Excellent B Standard, Round #2 Excellent B JWW, Round #3 Excellent B JWW, Round #4 Hybrid (16-18 obstacles, two contacts), Round #5 Finals (open only to top 57 dogs overall through 4 Rounds of competition). For the finals round only one dog from each breed within each jump height will be invited to participate in the finals. More information about specific rules can be found here.

This year the competition will be held in a unique structure being built for the Agility Invitational. The surface will be a 2" thick sod which will be laid in the 2 rings and the practice areas. A change from past years. More news and updates can be found here.

If you can't make it to Long Beach, don't forget to watch the show simulcast on Animal Planet and Discovery on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 from 8-11 p.m.

Cynosport - USDAA

One piece of big news coming out of Cynosport is the news The Cynosport Games will not be returning to Scottsdale, Arizona next year. According to USDAA, they have worked to find other locations so that competitors will not have to travel to the same city every year. In 2010, the Games will take place in either Philadelphia or Kentucky. The event will be held earlier in the fall to take advantage of the area's nicest weather. More information will be coming soon.

Big congratulations to those who were able to attend the event, compete and to those who ran, placed and won. We watched a lot of the event throughout the weekend and saw some amazing runs. We hope everyone made it home without any medical travel snafus :)

We were blown away by the 12" performance Grand Prix run by Jean LeValley and Spec who won the event. Spec is only three (I believe) years old, and once begins maturing and tightening some turns will become an even greater force to be reckoned with.

It's always great to watch Ashley Deacon and Luka run, one of our favorites - they came away winning both the 16" Grand Prix and Steeplechase for I believe the second (could be the third) time.

Another memorable and amazing moment was the run by Tori Self and her BC Revolution in 22" Steeplechase Finals. Tori is just 17 years old, Revolution is three years, They beat out Marcus Topps and Juice (2nd) and Nancy Gyes and Ace (3rd) for 1st place. Really nice tight turns and great weave entrance.


A few items we found on YouTube.

Check out this very nice 7.15 YPS jumpers run by Chris Parker's Wowwie, from SpeedDoggie. Nice and tight :)

Silvia Trkman is in the US for the next couple of weeks providing seminars around the country. We found this vid of Kathy Mazzola and Georgeous at a seminar this past weekend with Silvia providing tips on running dogwalk.

OK this is cool! Two dog leg weaving from Sian. May have to give that a try since both me and Gracie know leg weaving.


We heard from the grapevine....that big congratulations are in order to Ann Braue and Scream (MACH3 Bluefire Causin' Commotion) for being chosen by the AKC to represent the USA at Crufts, March 11-14, 2010 in Birmingham, UK.

Interesting document on teaching a dog weave poles with clicker training from Robert Luftus. (Thanks JustAgility for finding this).

The new Agility Zone Magazine from the UK has a free October issue to read online. Interviews with Natasha Wise, French champion Amandine Caye, and more...

We heard on Facebook that Clean Run has negotiated rights to sell a 2-DVD disc set from the 2009 FCI Agility World Championships. The DVD was produced by Media Studio in Germany, that we told you about in our last 'around the Dog Agility blog-o-sphere' post.

Interesting blog post about TAGteach and handlers at shelters using the system with shelter pups to help them be more adoption friendly.

Lucy and Walter's Mom attended a Chris Zink seminar recently, head on over and read some of the good stuff on structure, a little core training and more. Day 1, Day 2.

Be grateful for you and your dog's ability to do agility!

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

A few tidbits from around the dog agility blog-o-sphere the past week or so.

The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Eastern Regionals will be held in Indianapolis this coming weekend. As best as we can determine, Friday is the day for open qualifiers from 11 AM - 3 PM EST. Saturday is the actual regional event from 12 Noon to 5 PM, EST.

Finals will be held on October 2nd and 3rd at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, Missouri.

Here's the network broadcast schedule:

Western Regionals:
08/30/09 Sunday 3:00 - 4:00 PM ESPN

Eastern Regionals:
09/20/09 Sunday 12:00 - 1:00 PM ESPN2
09/20/09 Sunday 5:00 - 6:00 PM ESPN

Finals:
St Louis
01/24/10 Sunday 3:30 - 4:30 PM ABC

Here you can see the results from the Western Regional held in San Diego in June.

The Purina World Dog Games will be held at Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia on October 31 - November 1, 2009. The top Aussie canine athletes will compete in flyball, agility, canine disc and diving dog. To keep up on the action, you can follow the World Dog Games on Twitter.

We've seen this before, but not sure if we ever pointed it out. Nice little site on how to build your own agility equipment from InstantAgility.com.

Bob at Belgian Shepherds and Agility graciously added the courses from EO '09 on his site. Now there's some fun practice set ups! And you can go here, click on courses on the left and see other European courses by judge and event.

A little more from EO. Here is Krisztina Kabai & Chili in the final, winners of large dog individual.


Always enjoy watching Silas and Caja, wow! 2nd place in individual finals.


Be sure and stop over at our friends in Portugal, Hugo and Kissy Just Agility's YouTube channel for more nice vids at EO and their recap of the event on their blog. Big congrats to them on their placements!

Like this! In prep for one of the new Contact Point pups joining the family, Elite Forces of Fuzzy Destruction has been making a list of puppy behaviors. Nice list!

Team Whisner has a great little post about nose work games. Looks like some fun stuff to do with your pup on a rainy, cold or snowy day.

Frontline 2009 was held back in May in Monza, Italy. You can see a lot of vids from Frontline 2009 here.

Till next time!

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

The 2009 Agility Association of Canada National Championships were held in Ottawa, Ontario, July 30 - August 2, 2009. A draft of the aggregate final results are up. Courses and class results here. YouTube vids here.

At the July 09 board meeting of the Agility Association of Canada 24" weave pole spacing was approved. Here's more info from their site:

As of September 1, 2010, weave pole spacing will be changed to 24” on centre. The long implementation period reflects the need to replace equipment and allows both host clubs and individuals the time to do so. Because of concerns about dogs having to adjust back and forth between sets of poles with different spacing, there will be no period during which current and new requirements will both be acceptable. That is, 24” poles must be used after September 1, 2010, but are not acceptable in the trial ring prior to that date. Further work is underway to develop a plan to subsidize clubs purchasing new weave bases and to investigate the possibility of working with suppliers to manufacture and provide new bases to both clubs and individuals at a favourable price.

If you haven't stopped over and visited Jesse's (the JRT) YouTube channel, it is so worth a look. 20 year old Heather trains Jesse, quite an accomplishment! Lots and lots of tricks.

The USDAA NC Regionals were held this past weekend in Crystal Lake, IL. We don't have the results, (EDIT: see below for results) but have heard that Angie Beniquisto & Dylan kicked some dog agility butt, winning the Team (with Judy Schor/Moxie and Jen Crank/Blast), 16" GP and SC. Angie and Duncan also won the 12" SC. Nice job Angie! SC Regionals will be the weekend of the 29th of August, SW Regionals will be held the weekend of September 5th.

The Border Collie Classic Open European Agility Championships are taking this weekend in Bettembourg, Luxemburg. You can see results from Friday, and we expect other results will be posted soon. Thank you to aurea.userworld.com for keeping us posted.

Thanks to our friends at Just Agility, who dug up another good site to help you build your own agility equipment.

Dates for Karen Pryor's ClickExpo 2010 have been announced and registration is open. Bios of presenters are here. Dates and locations are:

ClickerExpo 2010
January 29-31, 2010 — Portland, Oregon
Doubletree, Portland

March 19-21 - Lexington, Kentucky
Griffin Gate Marriot Resort and Spa

Here's a nice little vid of Bernadette and Zen (O'Bay Shelties) at EO 09, 4th place in Ind Jumping. You can read their blog post about the event here.

There's a new K9 athlete online community run by Ron Watson, a disc dog fanatic and dog trainer in Michigan, you may want to check out. Not that new, I guess, since about January or so. Don't know what the plans are for the site, but so far they have a few agility articles from Susan Garrett and Bud Houston. There's also a forum, although it looks like it's used primarily with the disc dog lovers. There are now over 900 members, including Mum and yours truly.

For all of you wanting or needing info on dog agility injuries, one of my favorite resources is Dr. Stephen Canapp at the Veterinary Orthopedic Sports Medicine Group in Annapolis Junction, Maryland. He has written often for Clean Run about dog agility injuries; including the iliopsoas, rotator cuff, shoulder and cruciate ligament injuries. You can see some of his articles here. And now you can follow him on Twitter.

And last but not least, the system I utilize to keep track of my agility runs, placements, times, titles, etc., is Agility Record Book. Love it, love it, love it!!! We see today that they released support for Mac OSX! Nice work! They also have a Yahoo Group with amazing service to help you along.

EDIT: Here are the top performing results from the USDAA NC Regionals:

Grand Prix Finals - Performance
8"
1st Splash/S Crank
2nd Amoco/B Pelton
3rd Rudy/R Osiol

12"
1st Bruce/L Fearn
2nd Neelah/A Sheffield

16"
1st Brownie/T Vojtech
2nd Remy/T Smorch
3rd DiDi/N Schramm
4th Maverick/D Gill

22"
1st Kestrel/C Bates
2nd Wyatt/S Kaiser
3rd Punk/K Phillip
4th Houston/K Wells

Grand Prix Finals - Championship
12"
1st Whim/K Elliott
2nd Eve/J Julyan
3rd Tobi/D Paul

16"
1st Dylan/A Benacquisto
2nd Bode/L Michaels
3rd Neil/J Meyer
4th Jimmy/A McLean

22"
1st Sweet/D Fontaine
2nd Pyro/R Carter
3rd Streak/D Sanders
4th Jet/D Sanders

26"
1st Scream/A Braue
2nd Maverick/D Fontaine
3rd Zippity/D Thomas
4th Presto/T Smorch

Team
1st Blaster/J Crank, Dylan/A Benacquisto, Moxie/J Schor
2nd Stellar/L Mecklenburg, Cisco/R King, Scream/A Braue
3rd Presto/T Smorch, Encore/S Garrett, Recess/K Cullen
4th Mick/D Rohaus, Mickey/D Paul, Drifter/R Demascio

Performance Pairs
1st Kestrel/C Bates, Remy/T Smorch
2nd Bruce/L Fearn, Sydney/B Bicksler
3rd Neelah/A Sheffield, Maverick/D Gill
4th Lil' J/D Stover, Sadie/A Tickle

Steeplechase - Performance
8"
1st Splash/S Crank
2nd Judy/A McLean
3rd Lizzie/L Polazzi
4th Rudy/R Osiol

12"
1st Sydney/B Bicksler
2nd Neelah/A Sheffield
3rd Bruce/L Fearn
4th Lacey/A Stocum

16"
1st Remy/T Smorch
2nd Visa/T Vojtech
3rd Brisco/R Bardenett
4th Forrest/H Varco

22"
1st Buster Brown/J Boggs
2nd Vice/V Mortarino
3rd Wyatt/S Kaiser

Steeplechase - Championship
12"
1st Duncan/A Benacquisto
2nd Tobi/D Paul
3rd Mikey/B Rogers
4th Whim/K Elliott

16"
1st Dylan/A Benacquisto
2nd Taser/J Pinder
3rd Smitten/M Miller
4th Skye/L Michaels

22"
1st Ting/E Lynch
2nd Blaze/B Wiegand
3rd Sweet/D Fontaine
4th Streak/D Sanders

26"
1st Scream/A Braue
2nd Xtreme/J Crank
3rd Drifter/R Demascio
4th Austin/M Miller

-------------

To view past dog agility blog-o-sphere articles, click here!

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

A few tidbits of information from around the Dog Agility blog-o-sphere!

AKC

We're getting close to the April 1st date when mixed breeds will be allowed to compete right along side purebreeds in AKC agility and other companion events. To find out more information about the program, to enroll, get details on entering rally, obedience and agility, and more visit the AKC Canine Partners page on their website.

This is new, now when you do a search for companion events in the AKC events section, there is a checkbox that indicates you can limit searches to those allowing mixed breeds. A quick search for Indiana for the year (that's where we live) shows seven events so far in Indiana during 2010 that will be including Canine Partners in their agility trials. Kudos to the those clubs for allowing all dogs to compete!

We've read in several groups and boards that the Top 5 mixed breeds will be invited to the Invitational (along with the Top 5 of each AKC breed), December 4-5 in Long Beach; as well as go head to head with purebreds at Nationals beginning in 2011.

Activity is heating up for the upcoming AKC National Agility Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Ford Truck Arena and Mustang Arena at Expo Square, March 26-28. Visit the AKC website for information on judges for the championships, the Judging/Ring schedule, running order, and how you can volunteer for the event.

A few competition changes will occur this year including:

• All dogs must compete in their measured jump height class or in the 26” jump height class.
• A minimum of 6 dogs will advance in each jump height class to the Finals round regardless of how many dogs were competing at the jump height.
• The National Agility Championship Titles will only be awarded to final round winners with a score of 100.
• There will be a 4” jump height class during Friday’s International State Team Tournament competition.
• AKC announced that dogs competing in the Preferred agility classes will be eligible to compete in the 2010 AKC National Agility Championship. The Preferred and Regular class dogs will compete for separate awards at this event. In order for dogs to compete in the Preferred Class at the 2010 AKC National Agility Championship they must only compete in the Preferred classes from March 1, 2009 through November 30, 2009.

USDAA

News from USDAA regarding the final regional dates and qualifying period for 2010.

USDAA Regional Dates include: Qualifying events for the 2010 tournament season run from September 14, 2009 through September 10, 2010.

SE Regional - June 4-6 - Perry, GA
RM Regional - June 18-20 - Farmington, UT
NW Regional - July 9-11 - Auburn, WA
SC Regional - August 13-15 -Fort Worth, TX
NE Regional - August 27-29- Logan Township, NJ
SW Regional - September 4-6 - Prunedale, CA
NC Regional - September 10-12 - Rochester Hills, MI
TBA - Spain National Championships
TBA - Japan National Championships
TBA - Latin America Regional Championships, Mexico

2010 USDAA Cynosport® World Games Agility Championships:
October 12 - October 17 - Louisville, Kentucky

The tournament season for the 2010 championships has been reset to run from September 14, 2009 to September 12, 2010, which now includes the second weekend of September. Qualifications earned at U.S. events falling between these dates shall apply to eligibility for the 2010 Cynosport World Games. Note, however, that because of the extension to September 12, persons qualifying the weekend of September 10-12 will be under the gun to get entries in so that they are received by the Tuesday,September 14, closing date for this year's Cynosport championships. Further details will be available this summer.

The 2011 season will begin September 15, 2010.

OTHER STUFF:

One of the most sought after annual updates and reviews of dog food is now available for 2010 from Whole Dog Journal. With a $20 subscription from Whole Dog Journal you get 13 issues of their news, along with the Dog Food report, well worth the price for the wonderful information, reviews, and latest in health and wellness for your dog. And the nice thing is you won't have to look into those best diet pills, BOL!

Also enjoy watching Silvia run her dogs. Here's one of her new pup, Bi, in one of their first trials. Check out the speed on that dogwalk, and the nice save on the weave poles. Nice!



I thought this was really great! A few days ago the ASPCA held their 5th Annual Talent Show to showcase eight dogs, all available for adoption at the ASPCA, and their handlers showing off their unhidden talents for a panel of celebrity judges. What a creative bunch! Here's just one of the vids, go to their YouTube channel to see more.

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

The official set of dvds from the recent FCI World Championships is available for purchase. We understand that it contains 6 discs with 12 hours of agility, and the cost is 25 euros + shipping. It can be purchased via the FCI website.

The DVD contains the following:
DVD 1: opening ceremony, agility and jumping large for teams (top 10);
DVD2: jumping and agility for small and medium team (top 5)
DVD 3: jumping and agility individual small for all the competitors
DVD 4: jumping and agility individual medium for all the competitors
DVD 5-6: Individual jumping and agility large for all the competitors, prizes and closing ceremony.

Found this very interesting from Susan Garrett's blog...Helen King on Structure Evaluation. Definitely worth a read.

My friend Penny and her Mom have been having some fun with homemade toys. Love this little video of a toy she made with a half gallon jug. Read more of the post and see the links to Fun-With-Dogs, the German site devoted to enhancing human-canine interaction that we've shared in the past.


Although I haven't seen any news from the AKC about this, we've been hearing a lot about handlers that formerly applied for an AKC ILP (Indefinite Listing Privilege) and were rejected are now automatically being signed up by the AKC for the PAL program, so that their 'mixed' breed dog can compete in companion events should hey choose to in the future.

Also, 2010 AKC National Agility Championship competition changes have recently been announced. According to the info on the AKC website:

• Large dogs wishing to apply their Saturday and Sunday qualifying scores from the Nationals towards the AKC 2010 Agility World Team Tryouts must compete in the 26” jump height class.
• All dogs must compete in their measured jump height class or in the 26” jump height class.
• A minimum of 6 dogs will advance in each jump height class to the Finals round regardless of how many dogs were competing at the jump height.
• The National Agility Championship Titles will only be awarded to final round winners with a score of 100.
• There will be a 4” jump height class during Friday’s International State Team Tournament competition.

The 2010 AKC National Agility Championship will be held March 26 - March 28, 2010 at the Ford Truck Arena and Mustang Arena at Expo Square in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Read more...

Website is live for the IFCS World Agility Championships, scheduled for May 14th – 16th, 2010. The 5th IFCS World Agility Championships 2010 will be held at the Hand Equestrian Centre, Clevedon, North Somerset, United Kingdom.


The biggest news coming out of Cynosport this year is Roving Reporter Rickie Roo. Yes, Roo is a dog...interviewing other dogs at the USDAA World Championships. You can read his interviews in the news section of the USDAA website. What's up with that? A dog interviewing another dog? Is that a trend happening? BOL!!

Ok, seriously. Cynosport gets underway tomorrow.

Lots of events going on including: Agility, Flyball, Dock Jumping, Exhibitions and more.

Here's the running order for agility.

Here's the Tentative Activity Schedule:

Wednesday - 1:00pm to 5:00pm only

• Dog Agility (single class - afternoon only)
• Dock Jumping

Thursday - 9:00am to 5:00pm

• Dog Agility (multiple rings)
• Dock Jumping
• Vendor Exposition

Friday - 9:00am to 5:00pm & 6:30pm to 9:00pm

• Dog Agility (multiple rings)
• Dock Jumping
• Flying Disc
• Canine Dance Seminars & Exhibitions
• Lure Coursing
• Herding Instinct Test & Exhibitions
• Doggie Do-Right "Try Agility" Ring
• Flyball
• Vendor Exposition
• Featured Event
• Evening - Performance Grand Prix Championships(6:30pm to 8:00pm)

Saturday - 9:00am to 5:00pm & 6:30pm to 8:30pm

• Dog Agility (multiple rings)
• Dock Jumping
• Flying Disc Exhibitions & Seminar
• Canine Dance Seminars & Exhibitions
• Lure Coursing
• Herding Instinct Test & Exhibitions
• Doggie Do-Right "Try Agility" Ring
• Flyball
• Vendor Exposition

• Evening - $10,000 Dog Agility Steeplechase® Championship Finals - (6:30pm-8:30pm),& Performance Speed Jumping & Junior Handler Spotlight

Sunday - 9:00am to 5:00pm

• Dock Jumping**
• Flying Disc Exhibitions & Seminar**
• Canine Dance Seminars** & Exhibitions
• Lure Coursing**
• Herding Instinct Test** & Exhibitions
• Doggie Do-Right "Try Agility" Ring**
• Flyball
• Vendor Exposition

• Evening - Finals for Grand Prix of Dog Agility® World Championships (2:00pm)
• USDAA® Dog Agility Masters® Three-Dog Team Championships & Performance Versatility Pairs (10:00am-12:00pm)

• Cynosport® World Flyball Championships (4:00pm)

• Cynosport® World Dock Jumping Championship (To be determined)

We expect results to be posted in the News Section of the USDAA Website.

USDAA video from Cynosport:

According to the USDAA there will be free live stream from this years agility events. They are testing a new interface and it will be installed on the website the near beginning of Cynosport week. Sooo...you may want to go out and pick up a Custom usb drive, just in case :)

Here's what else they say..."Subscribers to USDAA.com will have free live stream available. Due to storage and other associated costs, there will be a charge for on-demand viewing. For everyone else, there will be a nominal charge per event or for the package, which will include 30 day on-demand viewing following the event. Details are expected to be posted on Wednesday, November 11th.

Visit the USDAA website for more information, or click here for the direct link to video. (Hmmm...that video link doesn't seem to be working at the moment, but we believe that will be the link once things get rolling. If not, click here, and then look for the word video, and click.)

And we'll leave you with....Autumn Tricks from Silvia Trkman.

Around the dog agility blog-o-sphere!

Reminder: The Midwest Agility Championships will be held On October 23-25, 2009 at a new site with indoor sports turf, the Libertyville Sports Complex, Liberty, IL. Closing date for entries is September 26th. Here's a link to the premium.

Looks like 'recreational' dog agility is the latest business venture to be franchised. The Zoom Room announced today their launch of the Nation's first dog agility franchise opportunity. Read more.

OK, this is just cool! We've seen sheep, pigs, hammies, cats and other 4-leggers do agility, but I've never seen a parakeet do agility, until now!!! Check out this post and vid :)

Tricks? You want tricks?

• Here's a great vid, '40 new dog tricks' from TaraDog
• Our friends Tani (8 month old Pyr) and Barbie with some fun tricks for puppies!
• Fun vid - teaching your pup to walk on your feet from Sian!
• Here is a nice little playlist to help teach your dog how to lift back legs, right legs, and weave backwards, from Polona!

A great video - teaching your dog to tug from KiKopup!


This would be so much fun! Cosi did an agility demo at their local fair and they set up an agility race between two dogs at the same time. I wanna try that!!!!

Check out our latest article for Dog Sport Magazine - Greening the Doo! How you can take care of your dog's poo and keep earth friendly at the same time.

ESPN will broadcast the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Eastern Regionals on Sun, September 20, 5pm – 6pm. Check your local listings for any changes.

A new series from Animal Planet will kick off on Saturday, October 3, at 8 PM (ET/PT). Featuring Zak George of YouTube fame the series, SuperFetch, will focus on Zak and his proteges, as he works with pet parents showing them how to transform their ordinary pet into a trick-doing stunt jockey and in the process strengthens the bond they have with their beloved companion. Should be fun!

The new HBO Films movie, based on Jon Katz book, "A Dog Year" will premiere tomorrow night, 8 PM on HBO, starring Jeff Bridges.

New video of Bi doing agility training with Silvia Trkman, such a young pup and awesome contacts. Also love he start line stay :)



EDIT AM 9-3-2009:

Last night we learned of yet another gut wrenching loss to the agility community. Our hearts go out to the families of Focus and Bailey as they try and cope with the passing of their amazing agility teammates.

Focus, who passed away very suddenly yesterday at practice, enjoyed life with Geri Hernandez. Focus was only five years old and just beginning the prime of his agility life. Last year Focus and Geri placed placed fourth at the FCI World Championships and they were were set to compete September 18-20 at this year's FCI Dog Agility World Championships in Dornbirn, Austria, as a member of the AKC US World Team. Read more about Geri and Focus, and their amazing accomplishments. (Photo courtesy http://www.ilovedogs.com)

Bailey, age 11 years, fell ill and passed on August 17 from kidney and liver failure due to Leptospirosis. Throughout their agility 'career' Mike and Bailey achieved an amazing list of titles and placements, with their crowning accomplishment as last year's IFCS World Champion multiple Gold Medalists in Standard, Gamblers, Jumping, and all around. (Photo Karen Moureaux www.dogsportphotos.com)

Around the dog blog-o-sphere!

It's time for....Around the dog blog-o-sphere...great dog stuff all over the Internet.

According to a study in the June 1, 2008, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, we don't have to worry about drinking that tap water. Tap water, the study suggests, doesn't cause bladder cancer in dogs. That's what they say...Mum says if she doesn't drink tap water, I shouldn't drink tap water! It's better to play it safe, she says.

A Labrador retriever named Jake lived up to his name last week when he plucked his 12-year-old owner out of the Platte River, near North Bend.

You've only got till the end of the month to enter the Pawlimpics! So get your sport on and send in your pics!

Mum and I have been working on a new Squidoo lens about Deaf Dogs. It's not finished yet, but we found an interesting article from our Twitter friend, Rosanna Hart, about training tips for deaf dogs!


In the fall of 2004 documentary filmmaker Shane MacDougall decided to chronicle the surprisingly cut throat world of competitive dachshunds for two years. The result is 'Wiener Takes All.' Screenings of the dogumentary are criss-crossing the country! Be sure and see if there's one near you!

Our friends, Miley and Guiness' Mum is attending a Chris Zink seminar this week and is sharing some great info she is learning about structure, gait and fitness of agility dogs. Check it out! And be sure and stop back, I think she may have more in the next day or so.

If you've been following Animal Planet's 'Groomer Has It', they are down to two groomers and this coming Saturday will crown the top dog (groomer, that is). Last week Jorge was booted out, and he talks about the entire experience of being on a reality show on his blog.

ScienceNOW has an article just released that outlines a new study, indicating that several behaviors and physical characteristics are specific to regions of canine DNA, and points to the possibility that canine characteristics may be hard-wired in dogs' genes.

If you've ever read my blog, you know how much I love sheep and would like to get into sheep herding. Well, maybe someday. In the meantime, I've been checking out some dog blogs of pups that are really into sheep and sheep herding. Here's one we've been reading lately - Shoofly Farm, Life at the farm with 7 Border Collies and a bunch of sheep!

Ever wonder what it's like to be a guide dog? Check out Puppy In Training, A Guide Dog Puppy Raiser’s Blog To Raising Dogs And Puppies. And don't miss their post on the Puppy Trials, a competition for upcoming Guide Dogs! If you'd like to learn more about Guide Dogs, click here!

Can't get enough of sheep herding? Check out this pup at the Bluegrass Classic, how that's sheep herding!


Want a challenge? Check out THAT MUTT's 30 day challenges, and see if it makes a difference.

My friend, Gunner, has a great blog where he blogs about life and dogs, news, tips and lots more at Urban Pets Dog Blog....it's a not to be missed blog, IMHO! Thanks Gunner for such great stuff! You Rock!

I'm a fortunate pup, I don't need any bridesmaid gifts, or BarkDay gifts. Want to get me a little BarkDay pressie? How about making a donation to your local no-kill shelter in your name instead? I'd love that, and so would the pups needing a furever home.