A Boxer In Agility

By: Barbara Wadge

     I had first seen agility when it was an exhibition event. Watching the Border Collies, Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers maneuvering the courses  was quite impressive. I had earned a CD (obedience Companion Dog title)  on my first Boxer, Beau and was currently  training him for competition at the Open level when agility first hit the show circuits as an exhibition sport.  At that time there were no local trainers but but there were occasional agility seminars. So, I took my two Boxer companions to a working agility seminar and found them to be quite good at it. Unfortunately, as previously stated , there were no trainers in the area so agility got put on the back burner and I put my concentration and time into campaigning my new puppy (“Talley”) toward her champion title.                      
     Fast forward about three years. “Talley” is now CH LoneStar’s Tallahassee and has given me a beautiful flashy fawn girl (“Tazzi”) who I am currently breeder/owner-handling in conformation and training in obedience hoping to compete and earn some titles.  As luck would have it, our obedience  trainer had recently gotten involved in agility and so began to have agility classes.                               
   When we first began these classes I was a little hesitant are to train off-lead because the training area was not fenced in and I wasn’t totally confident in “Tazzi’s” dependability. However, before long we were totally off-lead and she showed lots of enthusiasm and aptitude for agility.  She quickly learned and became quite proficient on the equipment.                                                                      
     For those of you not familiar with agility, let me give you a little background.  There are three levels of competition - Novice, Open and excellent.  Once a dog earns three qualifying scores (legs) in Novice, they can move up to Open. After receiving three legs in Open they are eligible to compete  in Excellent. After receiving three legs in Excellent, they then go to Excellent B and compete to earn their Masters Agility title on to a Mach Title (Masters Agility Champion). 
         There are two different courses which allow for two different and separate titles. First there is the Standard course which consists of all equip-    ment,  including dog walk, A-frame, open tunnel, collapsed tunnel, table, seesaw, weave poles, and various jumps. The title earned here  here is  Novice Agility (NA), Open Agility (OA), Agility Excellent (AX) and Master Agility Excellent (MX).  The other course is Jumpers With Weaves and consists of weave poles, tunnels and jumps.  The titles earned here are Novice JWW (NA), Open JWW(OA), Excellent JWW(AX) and Master Excellent JWW(MX).
       After a year or so of training and running in a couple of matches we were ready, or so I thought, for our first trial. So, our first official agility trial was going to be, of all places,  Astro Hall; one of the biggest agility trials in our area.  There are literally hundreds of dogs entered in these trials and usually usually three rings going on at once-which makes for a lot of noise and confusion. Since I was also showing in the breed classes, which were in a totally different building, it made the whole experience even more stressful and challenging. 
     One of the best things about competing in agility at an all breed conformation show is that agility people are accommodating and willing to help resolve ring time conflicts. Unfortunately for us, it meant that every day we had to be one of the first teams to run the course. What this consisted of was get  up REALLY EARLY to make sure the conformation dogs were groomed and ready to show because, as is often the case, Boxers has an early ring time every day for breed and, as a Novice, were were also in the first agility class. After ex-ing and grroming the breed dogs, we would hurry over to the agility building, get the conflict resolved and prepare to fun first or second. I would then have to hurry up and walk the course (to get familiar with the sequence of obstacles and also plan my running strategy), get “Tazzi” warmed up by taking a few practice jumps and be on the line and ready to go when the judge said ready.
     The first day I follow someone else with a conflict.  Her dog’s jumps were set at 20”  After she completes the course I sit “Tazzi” in the same spot to begin the course.  Unfortunately, “Tazzi” jumps 24” and, being the novice that I am, I do not take the height into consideration. So we start the course . “Tazzi” is doing fine and is very focused. She makes two errors, which are allowed in Novice. We get to the end of the course well under course time only to find out that, having started her a little to close to the first jump, she had knocked the bar off - a BIG NO NO in agility.  SO, no qualifying leg that time!
     The second day, I am first to run.  Being determined not to repeat yesterday’s mistake, I start her well back of the starting line.  She clears the first jump and makes the turn toward the second jump. The agility courses at Astro Hall are on concrete  so the floor is covered with carpeting to give dogs traction and some cushion.  I find that the faster the dogs runs, the more they tend to lose their back footing on the turns.   (I understand that dogs can get used to running on carpet, but, in our area , our trials are usually on compact dirt, not carpet.) So “Tazzi” being pretty fast, has [problems gathering herself up for jumps immediately following a turn.  She runs this course really well with only one error. However, she knocked down two bars on jumps following turns and , therefore, does not qualify.
       Day three.  I am getting a little frustrated because I know “Tazzi” is giving it her all and a really good working Boxer. Unfortunately, inexperience is getting the best of us this weekend. The third day I am having to rush even more so because our breed ring is at 8:00 am and I am in the first class. The ring crew is hustling to get the course ready so that I can run it.  I am in such a tight time bind that today I am running the course in my conformation clothes. I hurry and walk the course and give “Tazzi” a couple of quick warm up jumps and get on the starting line.  We start  the course and are doing really well. Then we come to the collapsed tunnel.  This obstacle consists of a rigid barrel-type entrance and goes into a collapsed parachute-type tunnel which the dog pushes with her nose until she clears the exit.  “Tazzi” enters the barrel, goes into the chute and gets hung up because the chute came away from the barrel. She spends what feels like a minute  ( but in reality was probably only about five seconds)  trying to find a way out of the chute.  She finally escapes and we attempt to go on with the course; but I guess it was just too much for her and she runs out of the ring into the arms of several kids ringside.  She eventually comes back on course (once the kids are convinced to let her go) and completes it, but her zip was kind of gone and she made a couple of mistakes.  Again, no qualifying run.
     So there you have it, Our first three agility runs we go away without  a single qualifying leg.  As I found out during the trail, each run is a learning experience.
     1) The first run taught me to better asses where to start “Tazzi” on a given course based on the first obstacle and best angle to continue on to the second obstacle.

       2)  The second run taught me that she is too fast for an occasional run on carpet and that I either find a way to train on carpet or avoid the surface completely.

     3) The third run taught me that anything that can happen, will happen at some time or another so be prepared for the unexpected.  Equipment failure is just one of many possibilities of the game.

       Training and showing a working dog in agility can be a very satisfying endeavor. The first, and probably most important thing,  is to be sure that the dog you decide to train is structurally sound; this will better your chances of having a healthy dog and much success in he agility ring. Next, it is critical to find a trainer that keeps up with training methods as these are constantly changing .  Also, to get the most out of your dog,  your trainer  should use positive reinforcement . It is also a plus to start out with a dog that has a great attitude  and loves to run and jump.  Believe it or not, not all dogs enjoy this sport.  Some can’t deal with the demands of running with both speed and accuracy. I would suggest that your and your future agility dog go through at least a beginner obedience course as the dog will be required to, at some point, do a sit, stay, down and other behaviors normally taught in obedience. It is also essential to remember that, when an error occurs on the agility course, most often it is because of something the handler did or did not do when directing their dog.
     What I think is another very important point is not to rush entering your dog in an agility trial.  Go to matches and don’t run your dog off-lead if she doesn’t  listen. A dog that gets the “zoomies” (an agility term used when a dog decides to blow off the handler and run its own course) immediately learns that YOU are not in control in the ring and can’t catch her.  Continuing to run a dog that does not listen is only reinforcing this behavior and may soon become impossible to correct. Continue obedience, if necessary, to get your dog under control.
     At this point in time  “Tazzi” ( now CH Bargary’s Razzmatazz, CD,NA,OA) has earned her first obedience title and three agility titles and is one qualifying leg away from her fourth title. She continues to run with a lot of focus and enthusiasm and will begin competing at the Excellent level in the fall. We continue to train and try to improve on more difficult sequences of obstacles that we will face at the higher level.  Hopefully, by the end of the year “Tazzi”  will have earned her Excellent and Masters title and will be working on her MACH.

Remember, agility should be fun for both you an your dog.
Good luck and I hope to see YOU in the agility ring!

Published in “The Working Dog Digest” Jan/Feb 2006 Reprinted with permission