Page 135 - K9 News - Issue 15 - March2021

AGILITY ABILITY
If you mention dog agility to the uninitiated, most
dog owners immediately respond by saying “oh
yes I’ve seen the collies doing agility at Crufts on
the TV”.
In fact, a large range of different breeds enjoy
this sport and providing they are fit and healthy
any size of dog ranging from the Chihuahua
to the Great Dane and anything in between
can be catered for. You do not need to have a
pedigree dog to be able to enter agility shows.
Cross breeds such as the Cockerpoo and all the
other Poodle crosses enjoy the sport as indeed
do the many mongrel/Heinz 57 dogs. There is
no reason why an older dog cannot take part
providing care is taken by lowering the height of
the equipment.
Skye
You can even start introducing a puppy to agility,
but obviously you need to be very careful not to
let the youngster attempt full height equipment
until they are much older. However, there is no
reason why you cannot get a youngster to run
through a tunnel or run over the jumps with the
poles on the ground. It’s all a matter of common
sense really and the hidden bonus is that your
young dog will benefit by forming a strong bond
with you very quickly.
My husband and I acquired our first Weimaraner
in the late 1980’s closely followed by our second
in 1992. We attended weekly obedience training
and then progressed on to agility classes, which
both dogs took to like a duck to water. We
started entering a few agility shows and much
to our delight started winning rosettes, by which
time we were hooked.
All Pictures courtesy J Hudson
K9 NEWS DIGITAL / MARCH 2021
Over the years, we have been the proud owners
of eleven Weimaraners, four of which we have
today. These are our ten year old boy Skye
(Sireva Viceroy), eight year old Milly (Sireva
Pointless at Silvercotes), four-year-old Ziva
(Silvercotes Jantina) and our youngster Purdey
(Sireva Martha’s Vinyard) who will be two years
old in March.
Milly
Over the years we have had some memorable
successes at agility shows but have never taken
it too seriously and aspired to progress through
the grades to become top agility handlers. We
have just been happy to get our Weimaraners
around a course and enjoy ourselves and any
rosettes or trophies collected along the way have
always been a much appreciated bonus.
Most of the summer shows last for a weekend
and many over a full week or more. Any of these
longer shows have always been considered a
good excuse for a holiday. What better holiday
could there be staying in a caravan with four
Weimaraners competing against likeminded
people and their dogs. Over the last 26 years
or so, we have gained many new agility friends
from all walks of life and also a considerable
number of Weimaraners, some of which have
been extremely successful and given the collies
a run for their money!!
Unfortunately, most KC agility shows were
cancelled in 2020 due to the Coronavirus and at
the time of writing this article, 2021 has started
with the same problem. Hopefully things may
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