“It’s always a good way to ring in the new year when you can play with dogs,” Kathy Blackburn said Saturday as she fed treats to her golden retriever Lincoln, who had just run an agility course at the Clark County Fairgrounds.
Dog owners from across Washington and Oregon braved frigid temperatures and winter weather this weekend to run their dogs in the Boston Terrier Club of Western Washington’s agility trials at the Dr. Jack Giesy Equestrian Arena.
Blackburn has made the trip from Corvallis to spend the New Year’s holiday weekend at the agility trials for several years now. She was happy with 6-year-old Lincoln’s run Saturday.
In the trials, she also ran her 8-year-old golden retriever Booker, who she said takes the competition much more seriously than Lincoln does. Although Lincoln likes to play around on the course more, Blackburn said she doesn’t entirely mind.
If You Go
What: Boston Terrier Club of Western Washington dog agility trials
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today
Cost: No cost for admission
Where: Dr. Jack Giesy Equestrian Arena, Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds, 17402 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield
“It’s a good way to have a bond with your dogs,” she said of agility competitions. “If you see when people run a course, the dogs are almost always focused on the handler to see what they’re supposed to do next, but that translates to other things in your life, as far as training and just having a good connection with your dog. That’s kind of what it’s all about in life, is having them be a part of your family.”
Helen Johnson runs in agility trials with her Boston terrier, Chuckles, for the sense of companionship the sport creates between them. She is the event chair for the Boston Terrier Club of Western Washington and said agility people are used to spending their holidays at trials.
Chuckles enjoys showing off for the audience and hops around on the course when he hears people laughing at him.
“He’s a clown,” Johnson said as she fed him bits of a cheese stick. “You never know what you’re going to get.”
Two-year-old Chihuahua Javier earned giggles and claps as he ran around the course Saturday. Judges lowered the obstacles for Javier, and he got distracted once or twice by the people on the fringes of the ring.
But his owner, Lori Sage, was proud of young Javier for his run and how far he’s come since beginning training. She bundled him in a little blue coat afterward.
Sage is the trial secretary and owner of K-9 Sports, which puts on these trials locally. She was pleased with the turnout after she’d heard from some people in the Seattle area who couldn’t brave the snow-covered roads to attend.
She joked that the people who did show up on the holiday weekend were “die-hards” who would rather be at an agility trial than celebrating any other way.
She was glad to bring the trials back after putting them on hiatus due to COVID-19. It was hard on her business to shut down for months, but she knew people would come if she found a way to bring them back.
“They came out of the woodwork,” she said. “Everybody wanted to run. Everybody has to have an outlet somewhere. It’s like our extended family.”
Kevin White, from Portland, said Saturday was a good training day for his 3-year-old German shepherd, Steel. They lost some agility training time when Steel was a puppy because COVID curbed so many trials. Now, he’s working on honing her speed to be more consistent and clean on the course.
“Honestly, it’s just fun, even when the two of us don’t do well,” he said. “We look forward to the weekends.”
It was nice to again see some friends that he and his wife, Connie, have made through the trials, White said. Although the sport can be competitive, he enjoys cheering others on during their runs.
