Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Up, down, in out

Kenn Rodriguez News-Bulletin Staff Writer; krodriguez@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas Standing at her tent at Los Lunas' Heritage Park, Lynne Fickett feeds her dog Bessa treats and coos into her ear that she's a good dog, telling her what a great job she's just done.

Fickett brought Bessa and her other three dogs to Los Lunas for the Valencia Valley Kennel Club of New Mexico's agility trials on Saturday and Sunday.

Bessa, an Australian shepherd, and Fickett just completed running through an agility course that included jumps, a walking bridge, a teeter-totter-like obstacle, and at the finish, a tire the dogs must jump through.

This is not your typical dog show - it's more like the X-Games of dog shows.

"I probably take them to a dozen competitions a year," Fickett said. "I mostly come to Albuquerque to compete because it's easy to get to and I love the shows because the people are friendly and the venue is nice. The facilities are lovely; it's a very nice show. I like coming here."

Fickett said she's been training dogs for 18 years, and the agility trials are among her favorite activities.

Ann Callahan agrees with Fickett on that. The East Mountain resident said she shows dogs for confirmation, where judges rate the purebred status of the dogs, as well as going through agility training.

"You have the community and so many of us do all of that as well,' she said. "I might go to a show for confirmation and see the same people."

Callahan said she often shows her rottweiler, Poppy. But Poppy has excelled at agility trials. At home, Poppy herds sheep and has gone through extensive obedience training, Callahan said.

"She's a finished champion, and she's running (here) at an advanced level, the excellent top level," Callahan said. "The average time to train a dog from the novice level is about two years - same thing in obedience. I started as a puppy with her because then it's natural for her."

Obedience training goes hand in hand with agility training, Callahan explains.

"It bleeds over, and it's very helpful to have an obedience trained dog," she said. "What's different here is your body language means so much and you're moving and working at a greater distance from your dog. Sometimes I'm running behind her and yell 'left' and she has to understand left from right."

The agility trials at Heritage Park drew more than 100 exhibitors with as many as 150 dogs participating, said Terry Culley, agility director for the VVKC. He said the trials have been held in Los Lunas since 2002.

"I'm not sure how many different breeds we have this weekend," he said. "You see a lot of border collies, Australian shepherds, Shetland sheepdogs. We've got fox terriers, Australian cattle dogs, Labradors."

Gail Goodman, education coordinator for the VVKC, said the trials are usually very well attended.

"This is a very prestigious trial," she said. "People are very happy to come here."

Goodman said trainers and breeders could enter any dog that's recognized.

"If you want to prove your dog in this functional competition, you can do it," she said. "You just have to have the desire to train your dog, which is difficult, as you can see."

The patterned course is timed, and dogs must not bump bars on jumps, along with other guidelines. They must also follow the course, which is not an easy task for some of the more inexperienced dogs, who run off through the plastic tunnels or over jumps at inappropriate times.

"There are two factors, time and following the pattern, and the dog must do that," Goodman said. "The faster and more precisely they do it, the higher placement they get."

Goodman pointed out the family atmosphere at the trials, which dog lovers of all ages attended in big numbers for the weekend.

"It really does draw people from all walks of life and all ages, which makes it a wonderful event," she said.

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version