Clean Run - July 2012 - 34

Not Your Normal Agility Dog

People often say to me, “I’ve never seen a PBGV (Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen) run agility before.” My answer always is, “There’s a reason for that!” Running a dog that isn’t as motivated or physically built for the sport of agility is a challenge. I should know because Marcel, my PBGV, has earned his MX (Master Agility Excellent) and MXJ (Master Excellent Jumpers with Weaves) titles despite at times sight-seeing, running out of the ring, sniﬃng, and visiting the ring crew. When we are successful, I’m over the moon; when we aren’t, I ask myself, why do I do this? My other dog is Kai, a very athletic and motivated Australian Shepherd that excels in agility and loves every minute in the ring. I’m sure many wonder why I continue to work with my PBGV when my Aussie is any competitors’ dream. Marcel is the reason I started in agility. He was an out-of-control puppy so I kept taking him to classes hoping he would turn into a well-behaved dog. We ran out of regular classes to attend so started taking obedience and then agility classes. Marcel liked agility better than obedience because he could run and jump. Agility seemed like the perfect sport for him, and I liked it too. When we started competing, I realized that hounds were bred to think for themselves and that’s what was happening in the ring. Marcel thought that it would be fun to design his own course, visit the ring crew and/or people and dogs outside of the ring, even if I was still in there calling in vain for his attention. I actually had to station friends outside the ring to catch him as he came flying out. My early goals were for him to stay in the ring for the whole course. Eventually he matured a bit and stopped leaving the ring, but continued to find interesting things inside the ring to visit and inspect. Often he would run over to someone, introduce himself, and then come running back to me to continue the course as if nothing had happened. Sniﬃng in the ring was a huge problem since he is a scent hound. He will still stop in the middle of the weave poles and put his nose on the ground or in the air to check out an interesting smell. Once he found a discarded hot dog wrapper in the ring, picked it up, and ran around displaying it to the delight of the

onlookers. Marcel may not have been a super agility dog but he sure was entertainment for the crowd. Then I had the opportunity to adopt a 13-month-old Australian Shepherd, Kai. As I started training with him, I realized that all dogs have a different set of problems. Kai was totally motivated to do agility and always took off like a bullet, but often not in the direction I wanted. He moved so fast that I had to learn agility all over again—it was nothing like I was used to doing. I have actually become a lot better at agility because of having two totally different kinds of dogs to run, and both dogs have benefitted from it. After Marcel earned his MX and MXJ, he seemed to lose interest in doing agility.

By Juliet Franzen Photos by Donna Hedrick
34

He was almost always clean, but not qualifying because he was over time. There was a definite lack of enthusiasm on his part. He was moving slower and slower in the ring. I almost gave up on him. After much indecision, I moved him to Preferred so instead of jumping 12", he only has to jump 8" and has 5 extra seconds to qualify in a course. PBGVs have a heavy chest and long body with short legs, making it hard to jump high with speed. We started again in Novice and worked our way up the levels in Preferred. I also started some motivating games. I fill a tug toy with food and throw it as he jumps over a hurdle and race him to it. He is like a new dog in the ring. He is suddenly running fast and in just a few months, has earned his Masters in Preferred Jumpers and Standard. Our new goal is for him to earn his PACH (Preferred Agility Champion), the Preferred version of the MACH (Masters Agility Champion). Now I call Marcel my “Rocket Dog” because he is actually flying around the ring and having a ball.
Clean Run | July 12

Clean Run - July 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - July 2012