In agility the dog must go over jumps and items such as a seesaw, an A-frame and go through weave poles, a tire, and a tunnel as seen here. This is a very fast competition with most dogs finishing a course in just a couple of minutes. The competition is timed and the fastest dog that completes all of the exercises wins. He qualifies as do all of the dogs that finish the entire course within the time limit set by the judge. In the entry level, called Novice, the dog must qualify three times before going to the next level called Open. After three qualifying scores there, the dog is entered in Excellent. At each level there are two separate competitions; one is Standard which uses a lot of the contact obstacles like the dog walk and the pause table and the other is Jumpers with Weaves which only uses jumps and a tunnel.

For more information, go to the American Kennel Club website atwww.akc.org. Let you mouse hover over "Shows and Trials," then hover over "Agility," and click on the topic about which you want to know more or just click on this lin

Michelle Miller,  ckcevents@yahoo.com