Trainee Amy's favourite activity to organise is an Agility Course event. It's a great opportunity for exercise and bonding between dogs and humans, not to mention great fun for everyone involved! Amy narrates the day wonderfully in great detail and with lots of laughs:
"The day I’ve been waiting for this month at Paws and Pause was our agility day. After sneakily spying on the agility class held at Ebony stables to pick up some tips and size up the competition, I was excited to give this a go. Our ramshackle course was set up and with a trio of horses observing us with an inquisitive eye we were off.
It went far better than expected, and I must say, I think all our dogs did amazingly, with all of them giving it a go and most completing the course with excellent style and enthusiasm.
Starting off strong with Amari and Hobnob and then Buddy and I, both dogs worked so hard and seemed to love it. Shancy with Rolo, who in true spaniel style sprung through the first hoop without any prompting at all and Alfie and the feisty Stella who did an excellent job, persevering at the tricky tunnel and leaping over to
the finish line.
Wiley provided the light relief performing laps of the paddock with no inclination to do any obstacles, darting about and grinning at me goofily in a play bow before zooming off at 100MPH. In the end though, even he managed to score a respectable 6 points.
Honourable mentions must go to Porkie,
the undisputed winner (although I may have been quite generous with my scoring) who loved it so much she had to show off with a lap of honour after each obstacle, clearly very smug with herself. Pavot our resident couch potato, who usually rather regally surveys the chaos around him from his throne, surprised us all with a sudden burst of energy and was very close runner up.
Last round was the tensest, with Jodie and Grace’s dogs – Daffy and Elfie, battling it out. There was an increased pressure and expectation and much feigned nonchalance between the two owners, given away only by running to meet us at the door clamouring for the score and some mild intimidation tactics!
Unfortunately, although Daffy and Elfie had a whale of a time, the two friends were far more interested in playing with each other and exploring than doing the course and provided much laughter as they trailed into last place. They still gave it a go, with Jo hanging on to the tunnel to stop it blowing away, and Alfie and Amari filming the evidence in case of any disputes.
I can’t wait to try this again soon. It’s great exercise for people too and lots of fun. You feel so proud of the dogs' achievements. Considering none of our dogs are trained in agility they did brilliantly and considering none of our humans are trained in agility we did not bad either!"