Several of our members participate in Agility. From May through September, practice sessions are held on Thursday evenings. The sessions are held outdoors at one of our club member's homes. From October through April, the members train at the CCOC Training Facility.

The AKC states that the "purpose of Agility Trials is to afford owners the opportunity to demonstrate a dog's willingness to work with its handler under a variety of conditions." A dog must be 12 months of age or older and registered with the AKC, have an Indefinite Listing Privilege (ILP) number or have AKC Limited Registration in order to participate. Titles that can be acquired are: Novice Agility (NA), Open Agility (OA), Agility Excellent (AX) and Master Agility Excellent (MX); Novice Jumpers With Weaves NAJ), Open Jumpers With Weaves (OAJ), Excellent Jumpers With Weaves (AXJ), and Master Excellent Jumpers With Weaves (MXJ).

Agility is a sport for dogs that has excellent spectator appeal. The dogs go through a maze of obstacles in a pre-established order and compete for speed and accuracy.

There are only 2 participants on the agility course - a dog and his handler, who must become a team to succeed. It is important that the dog and handler have basic obedience experience before starting agility, as the dog is off-lead during the entire course. The handler may give as many commands or signals to his dog as he wants, but he may not touch his dog or the obstacles.

Becca carefully executes the seesaw encouraged by Patti.

Patti "spots" while Kermit negotiates the down-side.

Barbara helps "Zippity Zach" (not quite heavy enough to tip it!)

PJ jumps through the tire.  An A-frame shows in the background.

An Aussie goes over the A-Frame

Yoko flies through the tire, heading for the bar jump in the foreground.   Kate follows in hot pursuit!

PJ takes the bar jump with ease.

Becca waits on the pause table for the release signal.

Zach goes over the dog walk.

Zach going over the "wing jump".

Morgan, a Doberman, negotiates the Weave Poles with Barb's guidance. Other pieces of agility equipment, jumps, chute from the closed tunnel, and a contact obstacle can also be seen in the photo.

Agility is a fast-paced sport that dogs really seem to enjoy. 

But as with any performance-based activity, 

the most valuable outcome is the increased bond between owner and dog.