When Pigs Fly... (Dog Agility Sport)

Member Name: rolletrog

Product:	Dog Agility Sport
Date:	21/03/09 (213 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Your dog's fitter, you're fitter, it's FUN

Disadvantages: You have to run and get up early on a sunday

~~*~~*~~ When Pigs Fly... ~~*~~*~~

Ah, the excitement of it all: the flying drool, the inelegant falling from a high rise plank, the roar of the crowd when finally a piece is correctly executed - Pig (small brained chocolate lab) loves agility and so do I.

It all began when some evil lady made a passing comment on Pig's weight - she is in no way a slight little monkey, it's true she is quite large, but in all honesty its cos she's big boned. No, really. She has a very deep chest and fairly stumpy legs so she looks like a fatty but on close examination she does have a waist and her ribs can be felt through her lovely thick coat. Unfortunately, the woman's comment planted a little seed of doubt in my tiny mind, and I embarked on getting the pigster fitter, if not thinner. Pig now has a busier schedule than most children - she has hydrotherapy Tuesday and Friday (luckily it's discounted as it's at the kennels I work at), obedience training on a Monday, and now she has fabulous agility on Wednesday and Sunday. I'm more knackered than she is but at least we're both trying.

~*~ What is this agility malarkey then? ~*~

For those of you who live under a mossy stone in the back of someone else's garden, agility is essentially a timed obstacle course for dogs whereby 'faults' are incurred when the dog makes a mistake (I'll go through these later) or if they make a chronic booboo, they get eliminated. Though pig has not entered into any competitions yet (and probably never will because we're both fairly crap) the club we go to teaches us how to avoid getting faults and the emphasis is on a 'clear run' and not particularly speed - it's the faults that cost a dog first place.
Any dog can compete in agility - it's not merely for collies (ABC agility = Anything But Collies) - Pig is unique in our club as it mostly collies but there's also a beagle (Pig's best friend who leads her astray and distracts her from her work), a Belgian Shepherd (likes to bite Pig's bum but then again she does have a lot of pork fat on her rump), a Patterdale and a Mini Schnauzer (both of which are very fast but easily distracted by the rabbit poo on the field). It's by no means just for the up market pedigrees of this world - any dog can join in providing its fit and loves to play. The requirements at our club are that the dog must also be fairly friendly with others (as the work is, in the majority, off lead), good at recalling, and over 18 months (before that age the little pup's bones and muscles are not fully developed and injury could occur). For competition purposes, there are 3 size categories - small, medium and large (Pig is in large though it's based on height) and the equipment varies slightly to accommodate their littler or larger legs.
Whilst the Pig is performing, I'm not allowed to come in contact with her - she must master the obstacle by obeying my commands only - which is why we'll never be in competitions.

~*~ Equipment ~*~

Each piece of equipment has its own little rules, some of which Pig has mastered, others still leave her dumbfounded.

~~ Jumps/hurdles ~~

Surprisingly, Pig (with her little stumps) is quite good at this. Actually, the premise is not that hard - she only has to jump over them the correct way round and not knock the pole off or she'll incur a fault. These can get more complicated as a dog may have to go around the back of the hurdle to then jump over it but during the early stages we've just concentrated on clearing it.

~~ Long Jump ~~

Pretty much what it sounds like - the dog must clear the jump which varies in length according to the size. The dog may touch it but mustn't knock the pieces over as they'll be faulted. Pig's quite good though many dogs run round it - well why bother exerting so much effort?

~~ Tunnel ~~

Pig's pretty fearless so the tunnel proved no obstacle though some dogs are a little wary. There's also a sack tunnel whereby the entrance is the same but they have to push through the collapsible material to get out the other side. If pig refused to go in she would be faulted, bless her.

~~ A-Frame ~~

This piece of equipment is triangular and pretty steep (you wouldn't get me up it in a hurry) and although the mighty Pig was fine at first, her clumsy ass fell off it one day and she's never really been that confident since (she fell right from the top and landed flat on her back - Labradors are in no way like cats which is a shame as she left a hefty dent in the ground). The A-frame has contact points on either side at the bottom which the dog must make 'contact' with, if not she is faulted, again.

~~ Dog Walk ~~

This is essentially a high-wire tightrope act for pigs. She must walk up the plank, along another plank and then down a plank, at the end she must make contact or she'll incur yet another fault.

~~ See-Saw ~~

This is a pretty hard piece to master - the Pigster must tip it with her weight and she must touch the contact part at the end of the see-saw - you'd think it would be easy but as soon as it moves, Pig decides to jump off, every bloody time, the muppet. The smaller dogs have to travel further towards the end to make it tip cos of their weight but Piggle only has to put one hoof on it and it moves. It also makes a loud bang as it hits the ground which spooks a lot of doggies but only serves to wind the Pig up.

~~ Tyre/Hoop ~~

The tyre is merely a round jump that varies in height the same as the hurdles. Pig is rubbish at this and just runs straight past every single time for which she is faulted, again. Should she run past and go onto another obstacle she will be eliminated for being an eager beaver.

~~ Weave ~~

The most difficult piece to master, ever. It looks very impressive when the dog can do it but apparently it takes an average of 6 months which is why we've purchased our own set for practice. Pig must enter the weave with it on her left, she must 'weave' in and out of the line of poles and must not leave until the last pole otherwise she'll incur a fault, again.

~~ Table top ~~

This tends to feature less and less in competitions so our club doesn't bother with it anymore, but basically it's like a table on which the dog must go down until you release it.

~*~ Number of gravy bones needed to play ~*~

Not many in the grand scheme of things: At our club its £50 for 8 beginners lessons, once you've graduated from that class, it's only £3 a session. I think it's a real bargain as we've had loads of fun, at only £6.25 a go it's a lot cheaper than a hydro session and only a quid more than her obedience time. Buying equipment can be kept to a minimum though I've invested in some jumps, a weave set and a tunnel for practising in the park but that's cos I've given up smoking and every day I go without means Pigmeister gets a fiver! I wear my hiking boots but when it gets slippy I'll either dig out my footie boots or invest in some proper agility shoes that have spiky bits on the side to prevent you slipping over - there's a lot of sudden stops and changing direction involved. These shoes, however, will involve another 9 days without fags so she'll have to wait.

~*~ On your marks, get set, go... ~*~

To find your local flying extravaganza, start on the internet - it's always the best way to begin - and go to agilitynet.com which handily tells you the clubs in your county - it's not brilliant as counties can be pretty large so check where they train before you sign up. Alternatively, ask random people (who have dogs) whilst on your walkies: they may know of someone in the vicinity - dog walkers are usually friendly people, unless your dirty stinking labrador is winding up their beautifully groomed white poodle. Some agility clubs are linked to boarding kennels or breeders so you could always ring your local one of these and quiz them - there's no harm in asking. There is a massive waiting list for our club but to be fair, once you're on it, you've only got to wait about 3 months so it's not all doom and gloom.

Agility is challenging not only because Pig is large, clumsy and incredibly stupid but also because I am too. The leader at our club demonstrated what the owners were supposed to do using the piglet and she performed perfectly - I took over, fell over a jump and the pig was completely lost so it turns out that I'm to blame for her failures. It's all good though because I like learning new things. Now that Pig's experienced the basics of the different equipment, it's up to me to guide her to the right piece which involves my body language, early commands and reading the piggles naughtiness before she performs her naughtiness (usually this involves her legging it to the nearest other dog for a quick botty sniff or stealing of their treats). I find it very rewarding - more than obedience (cos that's a bit slow and dull) - it's fast and furious and when she gets it right everybody's dead chuffed - last week we performed our first mini-course and the pig did it all (though I ended up hurdling a jump myself as I got lost in the maze of obstacles (but I'm pretty sure we weren't penalised for it)) without any faults - hurrah!! I know Pig enjoys herself because when we get there she drags me all the way down to the field and seems really attentive which is a sure sign she's not bored. I was using the treat method but we've progressed to a tennis ball - whenever she completes a course or difficult piece, she gets to run after a ball - hopefully the weight will soon drop off the little fatty's bum bum and if I'm lucky, a bit may fall off mine. I can highly recommend trying agility providing you've got a dog because you'll look a right numpty without one.


Caroline & Doughnut March 09.

Both wishing they were fitter.

Review will appear elsewhere, probably.

Summary: Transform your pot-bellied pig and have a go