UK Agility International

Today was an agility day, but not an agility day like we usually have. Recently a group of us that had practiced together formed an official club/business. We were putting on demos already but wanted to do more. One thing that caught our attention was a new venue to agility in the US - UKI. Fun matches are being put on here and there around the country to introduce this venue to the agility community so we decided to give it a try. As a fun match, people were allowed to use their time in the ring to do what they wanted - training, working specific obstacles, to use toys, treats, their leash, touch the dog, whatever. The location we had available to us was a park. In the Pacific NW, you just never know what you're going to get - no matter what time of the year. Kind of like we figured, we ended up taking a ton of day-of entries because the weather was decent. It made for a hectic morning of paperwork to get everyone entered, answer questions, update the running order, and then get started. Being a new venue, there were many more questions than normal. Plus, being a fun match, it brought out lots of people who had not run in a trial previously. This is all good news! It is always encouraging and fun to see and meet newcomers to agility. It shows what a popular and growing sport it is - and is encouraging to see how many people value the bond between their dog and themselves and work to build that through a team sport.

I originally entered all five classes at the senior championship level. After having run a sample course the other day for snakes and ladders, I opted out of it today. I was a bit too mentally tired to want to bother with this game as it can be much more mentally intensive. However, instead, I opted to run the novice/beginning jumpers course. Plus, I ran the novice/beginners gamblers course earlier because a dear friend of mine stopped by after church and wanted to see us run.

All in all it was an enjoyable day. I'm sunburned in a ring around the collar. My lips are overly dry. I am physically and mentally tired. But I have a snoring dog behind me...who had a great time meeting lots of new friends including a blue Dane named Cooper, building her fan club, and a satisfactory vanilla ice cream treat after her good day today.