RIDGEFIELD — Roughly 175 dogs vaulted over poles, weaved through obstacles, traversed down a teeter-totter and maneuvered through an obstacle course with speed and agility Saturday at the Dr. Jack Giesy Equestrian Arena at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds.
To succeed, dogs have to be both fast and accurate.
Handlers like Lori Sage — the owner of K-9 Sports, which rents out equipment and puts on trials locally like the one Saturday — say it’s addicting. She got hooked the second time she saw an agility trial.
When Sage and her Shetland sheepdog first entered in 2000, there were only about five events a year that she knew about and could reasonably go to.
“I was so addicted, five wasn’t nearly enough,” she said.
After six years of competing, Sage got the idea to rent out agility equipment to clubs, followed by doing secretary work at competitions, becoming a judge and, starting in 2008, organizing agility trials.
Although Sage has a background in managing horse shows, organizing agility trials proved to be challenging, especially at the start. She focused a lot on outreach in the beginning, but she had no way to prove that she could put on a good event.
When the construction company that Sage worked for went out of business, she decided to make K-9 Sports her full-time job. Looking back, she doesn’t think she would have done so if the construction company had stayed in business.
“I think I would have been too afraid to just give up the security on a chance,” she explained.
Sage now has three dogs who compete: Crinkle, a sheltie who loves to work and will nip at her own tail if she’s not busy enough; Blip, a sweet Chinese crested who gets stressed if she does too many agility trials; and Javier, a spunky Chihuahua who can make Sage laugh. She learned from her first sheltie the importance of not overtraining; she trains her current dogs for only about 10 to 20 minutes three or four times a week.
‘She was brilliant’
In her more than 20 years of competing, judging and organizing, Sage’s favorite moment came in 2013 at the American Kennel Club national agility championship. Her sheltie Blister was one of the most challenging dogs Sage had ever trained — but also her best dog.
Only four dogs move to the final round, with the three fastest going automatically and a challenger running for the final spot. Blister was the fourth fastest, placing her in the challenger run.
Sage was nervous. In competitions, Blister had a tendency to sniff the dirt, searching for morsels of food. Often, bits of dirt would get in her nose, causing her to sneeze and make a mistake, like knocking over a bar.
Sage held Blister as they waited their turn. As they went to line up, Sage took the dog’s leash off, and Blister put her snout to the ground immediately.
Just as they were about to go, Blister sneezed.
Luckily for Sage, that was the only one, and they quickly took off.
“She was brilliant,” Sage said. “She ran the whole thing amazingly, and we won it and got to go to the finals.”
