Saturday, February 16, 2013

Dog Agility in Mexico - An Awesome Day!

Our Dog Agility Club has been having fun with our own jumps and planks and tunnel, all homemade, for about a month now. In case you've wondered, my home town of Colima, Mexico, isn't a tourist or expat town, and all the members of the Club de Agilidad Canino de Colima except me are local Mexican residents.

Our converted headboard jump! See more photos here.

Today Eukanuba brought a full agility course to our town and we got to try it all out! We met as a group this morning in the parking lot where the Eukanuba course was set up. We arrived early and had the course to ourselves for almost an hour while they finished setting up.


Here's Chacho learning to walk the high plank.


Susie is a star who loves agility, even the sit at the end. We can easily make a platform like this for our home course.


A local shelter brought their adoptable dogs. This handsome boy has many talents.


In a few minutes of practice, he learned the course really well.


So well that he won first place in the time trial, earning some welcome food and a new dog bed for the shelter, and a potential new forever home for himself! Fingers crossed it all works out.


The local search and rescue dog team put on a show, and brought along an adorable puppy!
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Some of our group relaxed for a photo op with a little girl who had a million questions. 

I took a gazillion photos of how the ramps and jumps were constructed, and our group made plans to get busy building homemade, inexpensive versions of the equipment. I'll share those photos soon. Here's one idea.


No fence? Pour some concrete in a container, stick in a piece of PVC, braced. When it's dry, attach cheap plastic construction barrier with duct tape! Instant fence!

Our practice area is next to a busy street and we can't put up a permanent fence. We have to use leashes all the time, which isn't ideal for hoops and tunnels. This week we're making half a dozen of these poles, and next Saturday the dogs will have freedom to run! I wouldn't suggest leaving a dog alone in here, but with supervision the visual barrier should do the trick.

Thank you for sharing our wonderful, awesome day! Please leave a comment. We'd love to chat.




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2 comments:

  1. I love watching dog agility competitions. Its amazing what some of these dogs can do. Its a true testament to the time and effort there owners put in with them

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    1. Hi Peaches,

      What amazes me is how fast the dogs learn. Our newest chihuahua learned the whole course in one hour, with a 10 year old handler. Wow! We aren't at the level of the TV shows, but we do have a lot of fun!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

      Carole

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