Agility-Control
Mike & Claudia Clifton
Semper Fi Boxers
Fayetteville, Georgia
At this year’s American Boxer Club National Specialty (ABC), I had the privilege of watching the largest Boxer only agility trial ever held in America. 93 Boxer agility runs in a single day! WOW!!
There were some great runs, good runs and entertaining runs. Many months, even years of training have gone into producing the caliber of Agility Boxers that we were able to see at the ABC this year.
As I watched run after run in person and then again many times on video, one issue seemed to stand out. Control. Or lack of it.
I know from my own experience that dogs, like people, can and will have good days and bad days. Sometimes just one tiny mistake by the handler or the dog can kill an otherwise great run. I saw a couple of great runs destroyed by the tiniest of mistakes. But, that’s part of the sport.
What concerned me was the number of dogs that were not under control. Some of the dogs would do one or two obstacles, or maybe not, and then get the “zoomies.” The zoomies can be best described as the dog “zooming” around the ring, doing his own course, oblivious to the commands of the handler.
The flowerbed inside the ring sucked in a disproportionate number of dogs that day. Anyone who doesn’t believe that Boxers love flowers, should have been there to see the number of Boxers from all classes that literally stopped to smell the roses, or tulips in this case.
There was also a tree inside the ring, but it didn’t seem to be much an issue. Since the open tunnel was wrapped around the tree, I think that few, if any, of the dogs even realized that it was there.
Aside from flowers and trees on the course, there were some control issues. It would appear that some of the Boxers skipped obedience training, or didn’t get enough of it. This is where I think that many agility people, not just Boxer people, make a major mistake.
I think that quite a few people decided to do agility because they found traditional obedience too strict, rigid or just plain boring. In many ways, I share this opinion with them. But, regardless of how we feel about obedience training, we have to understand that it is the foundation on which we build everything else.
We would like to recommend that the folks that had control issues, go home and work on some of those boring old obedience exercises. Practice your heeling and recall as well as sits, downs and stays.
With so much natural ability present that day, just a little work in these areas could have easily doubled the number of qualifiers.
Everyone who competed in agility at the ABC is to be commended for his or her hard work and many hours of training spent to produce the wonderful Agility Boxers that we got to see at the ABC.
If you are looking to purchase agility equipment or would like to build your own, a great place to go is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Agility-Products-Equipment
There are tons of links to many vendors that sell equipment or the parts to build your own.
Another good place is:
Click on Special Fitting Suppliers. They have the four-way PVC fitting that is great for making jumps.
Isn’t
it time you and your Boxer had some fun? Try Agility!
Copyright
2003
Semper
Fi Boxers
Michael
& Claudia Clifton
All
Rights Reserved
Not
to be reprinted or copied in any format without express written approval.