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Agility |
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Photo:
Marc Gemis.
INTRODUCTION
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For
those who don't know what Agility is, I've found a nice definition on
Guy Blancke's website  :
Agility
is a sport in which a dog & handler negotiate a series of metal or
wooden objects -called obstacles- scattered around on a field -called a
course- by someone called a judge. In some cases, the team is faulted
for touching an obstacle, in other cases for not touching it.
I see Agility as
the result of perfect teamwork between dog & handler by which the
dog can understand immediately every movement or every word of the
handler and translates this in a faultless and fast course. So every
mistake of the dog is the result of a wrong movement or a bad timed word of the
handler...
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In
fact, agility is a quite young sport. The roots go back to Crufts
1978, where the first agility demonstration took place under supervision
of Peter Meanwell and John Varley. The purpose was to entertain the
audience between the Obedience Championship and the group breed judging.
The idea was based on horse jumping and the main factor they always kept
in mind was that it should be fun & spectacular without being
dangerous. Two
teams of four dogs competed against each other with such success that it
was obvious from the crowd reaction that this innovation would be seen again. Since
then, agility has been spread around the world and has known a lot of
changes although the basics are still the same: fun, speed, action and
wagging tails... |
PYR
SHEPS & AGILITY
Jonc
de l'Oustaou de Padel
Pyr
Sheps are just made for doing agility:
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Pyrenean
Shepherds were and still are selected on workability and adaptation
to the rocky and dangerous environment of the Pyrenees Mountains. So
speed, coordination
and balance are built-in. They love to run, to leap and to climb...
cause they're used to it! |
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Their
roots in the Mountains made them love heights. Their
favorite obstacles are often the contacts. |
| Even the bigger Pyr Sheps
(+43cm) who have to jump 65 cm (like
Riou) never have problems with this size cause they're minimum in
weight with a maximum of energy. |
| Due
to this maximum
of nervous energy it is important that you react quickly, otherwise you're too
late... |
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They're
passionately attached to their owner and also very sensitive to body language. A wrong movement is worse
than a wrong word. |
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Pyr
Sheps have a striking & intelligent expression. They are very smart (they can
handle a flock of 800 sheep on their
own!) and learn fast. But of course not only the good
things, also the bad! Being consequent is highly recommended. |
| They
are distrustful
to strangers, so it's important that they're used to other people on the
course. Otherwise it can happen that they start to bark to the judge in
the middle of a course... Once Riou suddenly stopped weaving
to bark against the judge who came a little to close! |
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A
Pyr Shep is a lively dog with a
great deal of energy: they just need agility! |
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More
then every other breed, they are built to overcome all kind of
obstacles... |
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Agility results
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Riou
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Timon
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Agility pix of Riou |
Agility pix of Timon |
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