Life

Can your dog do this?

No spectator dogs are allowed at dog trials. Only pros like this one.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 10, 2012

The Blue Ridge Agility Club of Western North Carolina will host an American Kennel Club (AKC) agility trial Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 25-27.

The event will be held at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center McGough Arena in Fletcher 8 a.m.-3 p.m. each day. Spectators are welcome to attend and admission is free. Please leave your dogs comfortably at home.

Over 300 purebred dogs, from throughout the southeast, will compete at various levels of difficulty, against each other and the clock. There will be approximately 70 AKC registered breeds competing.

Agility is a competitive team sport comprised of a handler and his or her dog. The object of agility is for the handler to navigate the dog through a timed obstacle course without the dog making a mistake. The agility course is comprised of jumps, weave poles, tunnels and climbing apparatuses. Agility rules focus on safety for the dog. The sport of agility combines control, training and drive into a challenging game for both the handler and the dog. Agility training heightens the bond between dog and handler and provides fun exercise for both. Agility is one of the fastest growing dog sports in the USA.

The FAST (Fifteen and Send Time) class will be offered on Friday. The FAST class is an additional test of strategy, accuracy, speed, timing and distance handling, to demonstrate a dog's athletic ability. The distance challenge must be completed correctly for a qualifying run; it can be attempted anytime during the run.

AKC's newest class, Time 2 Beat (T2B) will be offered on Saturday. Each dog has the chance to set the "Time to Beat" for each jump height. This class is the most interactive class with the most accurate and fastest dog setting the pace. Dogs from the novice, open and excellent classes compete against each other on the same course.

The American Kennel Club was founded in 1884 and is the nation's leading not-for-profit organization devoted to the study, breeding, exhibiting and advancement of purebred dogs.

The Blue Ridge Agility Club host several trials during the year at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher, NC. The upcoming trials will be held on December 14 - 16, 2012 and January 18 - 20, 2013.

For more information visit the web at www.blueridgeagility.com or call 828-713-3278.