THE National Dog Agility Championships are held every two years with competitors from all over Australia.
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This year, I took my Jack Russell/Staffordshire Terrier cross Indy, 5, to compete. As there’s no junior class, we competed against others of 20+years’ experience.
In the Agility sport, a handler parades a dog through an obstacle course in a race for time and accuracy. Dogs run off-leash with no food or toys as incentives, nor handler’s touch, whose controls are voice, movement and signals, requiring exceptional co-training.
I was 11 when I started training Indy. It has taken four years for us to reach Agility’s highest level and, out of 150 competitors, we placed 14th and 16th in heats.
Indy’s official name is Wiggles RA JDX AD GD SPD. The letters represent five Agility titles, and two for Obedience.
Indy is energetic with a lively personality. He loves to play games and go for walks and runs. He thinks I should have frequent study breaks and says so by loud barking and tugging on my trousers.
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