UKI West Coast Cup with Banksy the amazing and happy birthday Gustavo!

So much fun! Great competition from all over, and Banksy back to jumping 20" again!

Banksy came in 2nd overall for the Masters Series, and won a bye to the US Open finals in Jacksonville Florida! That was with one bar in the Jumpers part, and a beautiful standard run.

That's a pretty long drive. And there are alligators there. We would go if not for things like work, if we had all the time the world we would drive there and find an alligator farm and see all the things on the way, I think New Orleans is near there, Georgia is near there, and Marfa is on the way. We could even visit Tallahassee and see a swamp.

Maybe someday, things like this, driving across the country for agility. In a camper!

For now, big fun events like this will do.

Banksy did not put a foot wrong all weekend, she just put her feet in front of another as fast as she could go and tried her hardest to do the things I pointed to, just like we practice, simple as that.









There were some amazing runs with amazing time, there were some bars, there were 2 handling errors on Sunday that cost me Es in 2 classes, and made me see how perfect Banksy is. She follows my every move and does exactly what I show her every single time! So I learned some things, such as use a decel at jump 5 instead of blasting her at top speed towards the wrong end of the tunnel screaming "INININININ!" in the 2nd round of Speedstakes.

I just wanted to win. Just use the decel! Maybe I would have won with it, maybe not. But the wrong side of the threadle tunnel was a popular E, so at least I was in good company.

The dabbling I did earlier this year with 1 arm threadle apparently took and caused a wrong bypass when I used that cue by mistake, costing us our Biathlon Jumpers run! Oops. I am very glad I have video to see the amazing dog that Banksy is, who does every single thing I've taught her.

She missed 1 rdw exit. But hit all the rest quite nicely!

I still make mistakes. But so many great, fast runs, Banksy is a dog of a lifetime. She's napping now. Otterpop, too. Gustavo hung out at the score table and ate treats and helped set bars. He thought that was great. I missed his birthday, I forgot it was the same day as mine and he's now 13 years old! Happy Birthday, have some pollo!

Gifts from friends.

Sunday evening, 6:30pm

Me and some other toe dragging, shuffling zombies are slowly shoving three days of agility trial back into a cargo trailer. Masters Jumpers has just ended, we just want to go home. Nobody much is talking, everyone is thinking some version of the same thing. Traffic. Thai food. Work tomorrow. Beer mixed with grapefruit soda.

Donna and I look at each other for a moment, I’m trying to gather up an armload of jump standards, she’s lugging a tunnel. I know for that instant we had the same thought of, didn’t this used to seem easier? Like arms could carry more stuff and it didn’t pull so much on my back to bend over and move the tunnel bags?

“We’re not getting any younger.”

Jinx.

We’re not even that good of friends. We don’t hang out together, I forget her husband’s name. Maybe I never knew it. But I can rattle off all of her dog’s names, and remember when they died and remember exactly what they looked like running. I know most of one of her dog’s puppies and grand puppies, and their people. I don't know what she knows about me. I take the trash to the dumpsters and make the t-shirts and used to have all those little black dogs.

That kind of friends.

Saturday morning, 6:30am

“Any day we’re vertical is a good day,” says the lady who owns the bakery, where I’m stopping for another mug of coffee, because i was awake from 2am-5am, retrieving Otterpop when she bashes into a wall, trying to stop her from climbing up something she’ll just leap off of a moment later.

“Yeah. I’m gonna remember that. Vertical.” Self righteous bitch, I think, her and her overpriced muffins. She probably has signs that say Believe in the Journey and BREATHE painted in lavender script on barn wood in her den.

Except I'm working on having a positive attitude. “Vertical!” I answer back, a little more chipper this time, and salute her with my mug. Maybe I'll scrawl be vertical on my ceiling in black glitter and dryer lint when I get home.

I’ve known the bakery lady since before she was the mayor, when she used to live in her old house that was around the corner from my old house, then she moved to her new house right before I moved to a new house around the corner from hers. I moved in 1997. We don’t ever hang out, she doesn’t seem that friendly, and I’m not really either. She threw dogs at the beach under the bus when she was the mayor. She probably likes jazz and has a cat.

My last cat lived to 19, she faded slowly away into a bag of dusty, dry bones, and died one traumatic morning on my lap. My dogs haven't vaporized slowly over time like that. They get sick, we beat back serious illness until fatal, or they get dementia just like people. Some of them it’s fairly benign, some pacing and woofing, and for some of them, they’re escaping and leaping and screaming and bashing. Otterpop, not surprisingly, is the dramatic, manic head bashing one.

When I first started agility, I could run really fast without even trying. I had slippy skateboarding shoes and tiny little shorts shorts. I didn’t need a sports bra, there wasn’t enough going on to jiggle. I thought I had a fat roll around my stomach, except now I know, that wasn’t a fat roll, that was like a piece of gum. Don’t talk to me about rolls. The Y2k had happened, we didn’t turn into exploding robots, and I found extreme pleasure in sending my dog through a tunnel. Stranger things have happened. It really seemed like just running around and pointing worked out pretty well. Although, I was out there on the fringe. Everybody else was better. We taught weave poles by dangling a hot dog through the poles, threading the dog in and out in the hopes of grabbing a bite. Contacts were sort of this thing kind of stopping but mostly vaguely pointing at the yellow calling something out. Not sure what. It changed. It was vague.

My dogs went everywhere with me. Does that count as adulting? I couldn’t breathe without my dogs. I bought little fans for them, to blow cool air over them on those long, hot days. Never got around to having a baby. Spent a lot of time getting perfect weave poles instead.

Otterpop was such a jerk. She bit. She howled. She rolled in whatever stank the worst. She grabbed a stick and off she went. She was obsessed with me, and only me. Now she spends her evenings hobbling as fast as she can go around our living room, peeing by the back door and tracking it through the house til I can capture her. Most of the time she smells like pee.

Sunday morning, 10am

That’s my friend Rob, giving a nod across the field. He taught me how to serp, he's one of those friends that is happy to talk about dogs or happy to talk about politics or happy to talk about most anything else. We like a lot of the same songs, and he used to let me run one of his dogs. Lately the topic is, retirement. We’ve been friends for fifteen years? Sixteen years? Longer? I can’t even remember now. I haven’t seen him in months, we only see each other at trials. He misses some to do other things, I miss some for work, or for when my dog’s been injured. But there he is, I sure do hope he gets to retire.

Next time I see him, I have to remember to ask him, does all this time spent at agility count as pissing our lives away, or living life to it’s fullest? He’s one of the smartest people I know. Maybe he knows the answer to that one.

Sunday morning, 3:30am

Otterpop and I go way back. She wasn’t supposed to be a friend. She was a complete asshat of a stray, just one of those dogs you collect by mistake. I took her home from the lady that owned the ranch down the road from where I worked because she looked like Ruby and played ball with me on her lawn. I tried to pawn her off on a family with a red haired devil child but before I handed her off realized, my god this dog is going to bite someone and everyone if she doesn’t die first from bolting out the door trying to chase down a truck to bite it. I liked her, she climbed on my chest and bit my face, but in a nice way. She wanted to keep me. So I kept her. Not for agility, just because something told me I had to.

We’ve been everywhere together. Literally. We are joined at the hips. She has god awful separation anxiety and was always happier in a dog tote bag than being left at home. Howling would happen either place, but much easier to just shake her out of the bag and have her do some of her party tricks. Shooting a dog with your pointy finger in the middle of an airport elicits applause from the travelers as opposed to leaving a howling dog at home that the neighbors can hear clear as a bell through the windows. So that’s what we did, for all our years. Me and Otterpop, she would have done anything for me.

Except sleep at night. She's crazy and demented, and when the sun goes down, her brain explodes till it comes back up again. Hear that? That's the sound of flailing feet where she's stuck behind the chair, bashing herself into the wall.

Sunday afternoon, 1:36pm

One of my agility friends died without warning. She lived in Canada. I only ever saw her once or twice a year, does that count as a friend, still? We would say funny things to each other on facebook sometimes, and she was a good person. Maybe the funniest person I’ve ever met, not someone that had lived enough time. Unfathomable that she could be here one day, then gone the next. Unthinkable that there could be such short time to do things with dogs.

Monday morning, 9:30am

This new lady came the other day for a lesson. She came tearing down the drive in a forest green vintage Mercedes with peeling paint. As she flew past the parking spots, almost launching off the overhang at the bottom, which would plummet her down to a soft wood chip pile, the shady ringside tent and a huge old log, I ran out screaming, “STOP STOP STOP STOP what are you doing?!?”

She laughed maniacally. “HELLO!”

I told her she was about to get her car stuck in not one but three ways, could she just back up and park over here? I pointed to the marked parking spaces.

“Oh Sure!” she cackled. And threw the car into reverse, and flew all the way back up the drive. Somehow avoiding a water line, tree, fence, and shed.

I ran up the steep drive. “What are you DOING?” I yelled, waving my arms to get her attention. She was about to back into an electrical box in the owner’s front yard. If she hits that thing, KA is going to be beyond pissed off, I am going to be in huge effing trouble, and I am so kicked out of here, my only lifeline to agility in town.

“You said to park up here!” she called happily.

“Down here!” I call back, pointing to the parking spots. Where I’d pointed before.

She ground that Mercedes back into drive, and burned rubber back down the hill. Parked, and unleashed a doodle out of the passenger seat. Who ran over to the field and pee’ed on a tunnel bag.

I can’t say she was old, because now I’m old too. This lady’s older than me, probably the same age as my mom, who would definitely not be Evil Kneivling an old car down a hill on a mountain to run a dog around an obstacle course.

She just wants to run around on the field and point at stuff and is thrilled if her dog makes it over something. Anything. She totally made it up when she told me on the phone that she already knows how to do agility. She cackles like a 2nd grader. She’s crazy as a loon. She clearly loves this dog, a doodle who just wants to pee on stuff and chase his ball. She really just wanted him to watch me do some agility with my dog, and then for him to run around doing it all on his own.

I’m horrified, and instantly all crabby up on my high horse. It’s my mission to try and explain to you exactly how important this nose touch thing will be for getting your dog’s feet to touch the yellow, and for using the right arms to do the right things. It’s against dog code not to show you how to do it right. I stay up late after my other job to teach dog agility, I get up early on my days off to teach dog agility, I scream out of work early some days to teach dog agility. Dedication to my craft! My old agility dog doesn't sleep anymore at night and I had important agility business to attend to all weekend, running my young dog in a trial. So many ways for dog agility to make you tired. My patience is pretty much shot in this exact moment in time.

I tell her all the things she’ll have to learn before she can run the course. She’s not convinced. Foundations? Clickers? Wrapping cones and learning to put two dog feet on a box? Who has TIME for that? She only has so much time left.

That lady just wants to run feral with her dog.

Tuesday morning, 4:15am

Otterpop slams into a wall. This week I’m trying different drugs for her, a quarter tab in the evening, then get up at midnight for another one, when I carry her out the front door and down the stairs to potty. Then maybe I sleep on the couch for a while so I can hear her if she bashes into a wall if the drugs don’t kick in. Every night it’s a little different, some nights there's sleep, some nights there's not. If I could just find the right set of magic pills?

Her vet and I have a lot of talks. Quality of life, for her and me both. But every time I’m about to pick up the phone to call, to make the appointment, you know, THAT appointment, I start to cry and I can’t do it.

So I don’t sleep again, another night, just carry her back into the house, and think about all she ever did for me. Every single time she came running back with her frisbee. Every single gambler’s run she aced. How many of thousands of walks in the woods, how many walks around the pasture in the morning, putting out the horses, how many walks around the barn at night, putting on the blankets. How many bike rides, sitting in her basket up front, how many tennis balls tossed into the pond. How many times she was just right there, no matter where we were, how many time sitting on that grassy knoll in the park, where we sit in the shade on a hot day and do nothing.

Every single time she walked to the line, maybe even when she didn’t want to, and ran with me.

Because that’s what friends do.

Adventure walks for Banksy.

We're tired of walks around the neighborhood. We've done every street, every direction, for so many years. So branching out somewhere different every day. Maybe not somewhere new, but somewhere else, in a different hood.


Blocked Entrance/HomeUnilvvr/AMT Walk
How about the alley behind the taqueria? Right by where they're building the very large new motel.



CRIDLE Walk
Or the path that used to be the big marine lab fields, now a boring leash path, but how super to have a new one! With it's own bus stop!



Props Walk
If you go back behind the winery, they even offer a chair. Now fenced for your convenience for no access to the tracks.

Just another day at the dog show.

Best dog training video there could ever be.

Dog agility, not just the new black but a lucrative lifestyle for the rich and famous.

Business plan mission statement number 4.

Red black red black red black red black. Have a weak cocktail in a plastic cup and throw your chips down.


Business plan mission statement number 5.

Dog Agility Judge: You get some airplane tickets and a modest motel paid for, usually sharing a rental car with others; traveling somewhere you probably wouldn't go otherwise, and standing in the ring for 8-12 hours for a couple of days waving arms and yelling. You have to buy your own whistle. I believe it to pay approximately $200. Oh, and they take you out to dinner. Actually fits perfect with my business plan.  Even better is the grueling course design marathon to nest courses of appropriate level with the correct amount of tunnels and the expensive a travelsome class you have to pass first located in Texas next week. Even better!

Joyfullness absorbers.

I got them to listen to all your fantastic news so I don't have to. Congratulations!

Trying to clicker train the trick "Newly Minted Billionaire."

If you don't have the knack, you just might not have the knack. Some people are better at this than others. Keep trying to shape it in small increments, perhaps in the end you'll get it. Or perhaps not.

Weepy weepy weepy.

We are not singing any of those songs anymore. No weeping around here. At least not for stuff like that.

Also, Otterpop doesn't sing anymore. I drew this a while ago.

New song titles we're working on, more EDM beats:

Hey it's not so scary to lay down in front of our corner store while I go buy ice cream at 10pm!

Wow we're brushing out a whole lot of fur during necklace time!

Don't shake Gustavo's bed!

Nobody, NOBODY can get on the couch now, ha HA!
(This one has intricate dance moves involving wrapping the x-pen around the chair while singing)

No more dog beds in the house if yer gonna shake shake shake shake them!
(More disco than EDM)

Furry pants furry pants furry pants furry pants furry pants!

Sing the star spangled whatever whatever for Banksy.

Here is Banksy's win on spot at the World Team Tryouts, held at the indoor soccer and fun with roller hockey and children games park on turf in a San Jose office park!

Many people flew and drove here from all across the country to run two standard two jumpers to try to WIN their way on to the World Team, the big cheese of dog agility, where they will all put on ugly red white and blue track suits and carry matching tote bags to fly to Finland for more dog agility in September. They will eat unusual foods that may have roasted reindeer meat tossed in and they will either win or get their asses horribly beat by Fins and Swedes and Germans and Russians and fly home. They will be extra devastated if their dogs do something weird or if they cause an off course but extra elated if they get through the run clean. Everyone will sing and dance and wave flags for them if they win a medal.

Forever after they are referred to as Former World Team members when they are gossiped about behind their backs. If they actually won a medal then hopefully are able to use this clout for things like sending in late trial entries or whatever other dog agility perks are needed for the rest of their lifetimes. It's a good time for them to go teach some seminars or start an online class because it's actually pretty hard to beat those Swedes and so forth so they have some skills if they've just won a medal and they are probably out of money from flying a dog so far and wanting to pick up some souvenirs along the way.

Usually people who win their spots on continue to make World Teams in the future. This is probably because they are actually very, very good at dog agility and work very, very hard at it. People who are just pretty good and work pretty hard at it use them as role models of how to get very, very good and take their online classes or try to move their arms about just like them but most of the time fail at this.

So probably you figured out by now we didn't win a spot on. We are in the second group.


Also this would have been really hard since Banksy was sitting at home doing things like Not Doing Anything.

This list includes:
Not running
Not walking very fast
Not walking very far
Any walking is on a leash
Not playing with toys
Not playing in the house
Not playing in the garden
Not shaking dog beds or blankets even if it's your special blanket shaking blanket
Not sitting or climbing on any furniture
Not sitting in your special window spot where you look for my car to come home
Not having any fun at all whatsoever at all.


She is allowed to wear the stupid $300 necklace. That's what it's supposed to be doing with it's molecules and binding and growth factors. In my obsessive, frantic, wild eyed polling of every single person I know who was at the World Team Tryouts who had to hear about Banksy's weird limping and ended up ending the conversation by backing away slowly or saying, Oh I have to go get my Dog, some of them think such things are complete bullshit. And some of them think they are amazing and why didn't I think of earlier? And some of them think I should have sprung for the $600 dog bed version of this. Some of them think I should fly her across the country to a better doctor right away or at least try the one 3 hours away. Some of them think if I believe, the necklace will actually work and she will heal but it won't work if I don't believe.


We seem to be having the belief results currently as Banksy is off and on limping again. Mostly I grouch around and drive my husband crazy saying things like "Well, I would just rather she be a normal dog with a slight limp forever and get to run around the park and go to the beach than try to keep her sound for agility so I am probably going to quit agility with her forever and just be over it and blah blah blah blah blah."

Usually when I say stuff like this he just ignores me and keeps watching the basketball playoffs. If I really want to be mopey I do it at the exciting end when the Warriors are almost going to get that last basket or home run or what have you because then no one can hear my whining.

If an agility lady cries during the home run and no one hears it is she actually crying? Consider that, grasshoppers.

Gustavo is all, he's cool, let's walk slowly on leashes around the block again! He's game for anything.

Otterpop has no idea what's going on and is stuck in the orange dog car for our trip around the block. She may or may not poop in the orange dog car so it's a good day if she doesn't.

The trip around the block is usually between .78 and .85 miles and takes a variety of time depending on how long I let everyone sniff things at the vacant lot. I know the exact amount now because my bestie, a Former World Team member by the way so make sure to let her enter trials late without giving her a bad time as she does not teach seminars or hold online classes, gave me her old fitbit watch that also explodes with joy when I walk ten thousand steps in a day. Which is pretty funny because I normally walk like five million so not sure why it's so excited. I programmed it so when I put it on it says Hi BANKSY!!!! But it's perfect because I can see exactly how far Banksy can walk without limping or exactly how far she walks before she limps so that's pretty cool to have more exact scientific data to go along with the molecules. Also maybe it could talk to the necklace because it talks to my phone.

"Make Banksy better", I yell at my fitbit. It says my heart rate is 53 then the screen goes black.

Banksy is not excited. She is depressed and has no idea why I'm so mean and making her life so boring and stupid. She would like to do agility. She would like to shake her blanket. She's grouchy and paranoid and stares at me from across the floor where she has to lay on the ugly Costco throw rugs I've brought back out from the garage since god forbid her legs slip when she walks on the hardwood floors and she has no beds anymore because of the shaking.

So sing her some star spangled banner. Hit the high notes with some flair. Congrats if you made the team and give it another go next year if you didn't. Red white and blue  probably clash with my hair and skin tones, so that's cool. We'll cheer from the livestream view.

Three Hundred Dollar Electro Magnetic Dog Necklace.

photo by Sarah Hitzman from back in the day like last month when Banksy could do agility.

Banksy visited the fancy canine rehab specialist last week at the fancy pet hospital with Valet Parking. It's located in Silicon Valley. I drove there in a traffic jam. All the cars in the parking lot are clean.

We walked out with a diagnosis of hurt neck, a bunch of exercises, and a $300 electro magnetic dog necklace. Yes. A Three Hundred Dollar Electro Magnetic Dog Necklace. It looks a bit like what you'd wear to a rave, turn on the green flashing lights and off you go.

I don't know. I put it on her. We do the exercises. Her head currently doesn't turn left very well. Her regular vet had said, Neck is Fine. This vet said, Neck isn't Fine. This one is fancier. I like her other one a lot. I liked this vet pretty good. I'm honestly not convinced this is what it is but I'm going with it for now because it's better than no idea.

We'll see. Doing what we were already doing, leash walk, no jumping on the furniture, no running in the house. We had started some off leash walking NOT RUNNING BANKSY, but that had a couple slip ups of short runs, and the limp came back a little bit so we're being vigilant. On the leash. Don't play fun things. Walk, border collie, walk. The exercises are fun tricks for Banksy so we'll do more of those. We go back to the valet parking hospital in three weeks.

And now Banksy owns a really, really, really nice necklace.

Pretty high hit you got there.

Otterpop, blurry.

I found this photo, I have thousands of photos of Otterpop. Otterpop who would stand anywhere like a statue, balancing on whatever it was I needed her to balance on. This is 5 yrs ago, Otterpop on a tennis chair, I drove by it, thought she'd look nice there, popped out of the car, climbed her up this tall chair on a bleary morning, shot the photo and off we went.


She's not doing well. There's definitely no balancing or standing still watching the camera lens. She wakes up like a bomb went off between her ears at 2am, manic and crazy and ready to run around the house, flinging herself off furniture, into walls, barking and screaming if she's contained behind a door or in a pen or a crate.


Her front feet paddle fast, her hind feet drag slow, she looks like hell but then decides to play with the other dogs or chase a ball across the yard. She falls down sometimes. I'm going to try sedation for anxiety, to see if the manic can wear off in the middle of the night. She said she wanted to go on a walk this morning, then two houses down the row said she can't walk. She's all over the place, yes she is. She can't make it down a stair, but at 3am can fling herself up on the couch and launch off the side and across the house at speeding bullet trajectory.


I don't even know how to find the thousands of photos, of drawings of Otterpop. Tens of thousands? So many. They're somewhere, maybe in an old computer, maybe a box under the bed. Her vet talks about quality of life, I walked out with a bottle of trazadone. She comes to work and sleeps in the car, she sleeps on the couch, I carry her around. I throw a handful of food down and watch her go, like a little machine. I see her normal Otterpop self, just really old. It's in there, along with the demon self that maybe the trazadone can tamp down just enough for some quiet more days.

Yelp Reviews for Dog Agility

Dog agility is actually fairly casual, but could work for a special date night or other special occasion as well. Sometimes the dogs were slow and sometimes they were fast. Prefer the fast kind myself. Found some of the social interactions with others a bit awkward, they kept wanting to tell me about their dog’s run and I was not always interested to hear this yet they did not stop talking until I disengaged eye contact and said, “Oh shoot, I have to go get my dog,” which seemed to work quite well.
****
Steve C, Houston

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Have been going to dog agility for years. Feel treated like family, the runs are amazing and the atmosphere is wonderful. If you want a somewhat dirty yet amazing experience with your dogs, this is it, totally worth the wait even if it's more than 20 minutes. Make sure to apply sunscreen first, though. I always look forward to dog agility, if you enjoy dog agility, this place is for you!
*****
Lizzie S, Salt Lake City

Dog Agility Response:
Thanks so much for your review. We are so glad you enjoy Dog Agility and look forward to seeing you again.

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My experience at Dog Agility lasted just a few minutes.
First of all, the parking was not convenient and there was quite a lot of mud surrounding my vehicle.
Nextly, there were a lot of dogs everywhere and this made my dog way too excited and being a rescue, she can’t help this and it was not very easy to get from the muddy car parking to the dog agility.
Ambiance was somewhat rustic, the restroom was a porta potty which was located quite far from the parking area, while reasonably sanitary, there was a can of spider spray on the floor which really did not help me feel welcome. Not sure if the classic rock being played over a loud speaker near the competition rings was appropriate, but I was willing to still give it a try. One of the songs was Aqualung and I find the flute work in that song to be excessive. I just played my Zumba playlist from my phone to drown it out.
I would say not to be avoided at all costs but but you should just know experience may not be as authentic as at some other Dog Agility locales.
**
Paige N, Springfield

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Spent a weekend at dog agility recently and found it somewhat bland. Probably won’t go back, seems to be overrated. Did not bring a dog however, do not recommend for cats.
*
Eric H, Laramie

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We had to drive quite far from the freeway to a large covered arena in an agricultural locale, various cows and horses were located nearby. The dirt was soft in some places and hard in some places, prefer my dirt a bit more juicy. Meh. It would seem with all the tractors in such a homespun environment one could be driven over the dirt to make it more fluffy? Many people there were older adults. It is my belief that even if one is old, they should be helping out in the rings. I had to keep going in and setting bars and have you ever set bars with a bunch of old people out there? The ring steward would yell out “Sixteen INCHES!” and nobody could hear him and they would just shamble around out there like a bunch of zombies and set things at the wrong height and then look up and be all, “WHAT?” and someone would yell, “ Sixteen INCHES!” again and this just kept happening over and over and it took way too long to set the bars. It was brought to my attention that the payment was in raffle tickets to win prizes such as bully sticks, however, so that may explain the slow pace. Two stars.
**
Cliff P, Brooklyn

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Hope they improve the footing. I helped set bars even though I got there late.
****
Shannon F, Canada

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It’s official, I will never go to this dog agility again. A lot of people there were young and sporty, I think this is called hipsters? Since when are hipsters allowed at agility trials? Many of the females were wearing tights or yoga style trousers, hate seeing their long lanky legs running around so fast. Snack table served snacks from Costco containing hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup, even in the so called “healthy snacks” which were dry and unappetizing. I did notice that the ribbons were colorful, with bountiful, flowing streamers, especially the ones used for champion titles when the person getting one ran around on a long lap after their run with their dog, waving a jump bar over their head. Unfortunately this took quite a long time and held up the trial. It’s a pity, weather was great and grass was stunning. Won’t return.
**
Pat R, Las Vegas

Dog Agility Response:
Thanks so much for your review. We hope you will come back again and give Dog Agility another try.

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There was a coffee truck that served espresso drinks ALL DAY LONG! My dog loved it! Hope to come every week. Five stars.
*****
Laura H, Santa Cruz

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This place is a joke. Gritty locals were lurking nearby at the trial, they may be pleasant people but seemed off putting with all their eyes watching us. Judge did nothing to chase them off. Did not get any Qs as my dog was scared of judge and the so called spectators. Not a good value, as each run cost $13 and we spent $78 and did not receive a ribbon.
**
CJ, Jacksonville

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Pros: The judge is one of the best judges around. He wore festive cool outfits and helped build courses.
Cons: I did not Q in Jumpers, did not like how he set numbers 2-17 on the course.
****
Jenny T., San Diego

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Not great, only tried this place because it was in my neighborhood, so close by. Hated the lady judging. Wore the ugliest sweater without irony. Will not trial under her again. Unless she’s judging nearby. Challenging course, way too open with backsides that were difficult, there were little flowers mixed in with the grass and very distracting. I have been to a lot of dog agility previously and did find the score table staff to be more helpful here than at some of the other places, (shout out to YOU, Karey and Raymond!) so three stars.
***
Maria C., Columbus

Dog Agility Response:
Thanks so much for your review. We hope you will come back again and give Dog Agility another try.

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Found it not flavorful. My dog is distracted by the trees nearby, I believe there to be squirrels residing in them. Would try it again if squirrels could be removed. Feels unprofessional, as if staffed by a team of all volunteers who only work on weekends. Service quite slow.
**
Greg A, Auburn

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My son hit a large pot hole on the way to dog agility while delivering pizzas for them at dinner time. Since this time he has not been able to use his car for delivering pizzas, going to his college classes, or anything else. We have left messages for dog agility and no one is returning the calls. He has also tried and no one has gotten back to him. Do not go here for dog agility!
*
Courtney W, San Jose

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I came to this class with the simple request to do dog agility. Teacher wanted us to use a clicker and feed our dogs treats to do things like hop on boxes with back feet and stay. If I wanted my dog to learn to stay, I would take a dog training class. Did not let us climb up on the teeter totter thing or let the dogs play together on the field at the end. Probably won’t return.
**
Sarah Z, Latrobe

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Teacher had a large bag of toys. I think that there may have been some pornographic things in there. We were supposed to “Play with our dog?” Certainly never going back there, seems to be a hotbed of unhealthy perversion. Do not recommend.
*
Jose R, Phoenix

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Brought my dog to a class called Foundations Agility, teacher talked quite a lot and very fast. However we were allowed to let our dogs run through the “Tunnel” and give them a “Treat” and my dog found this to be very enriching so we will return, am buying a “Clicker” on the instructor’s recommendation and will cut up a hot dog into smaller pieces next time. My dog gives it 5 stars.
*****
Elizabeth P, Moorpark

Dog Agility Response:
Thanks so much for your review. String cheese also works well. We look forward to seeing you again.

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My dog is perfectly trained as long as she is wearing a pinch collar. Came to this class, said No Pinch Collars allowed on the sign up sheet but assumed they would make an exception for my dog as she’s perfectly trained. First thing was they did not let us lead our dogs over the blue rubbery bridge thing. My dog knows perfectly well how to use a bridge as I’ve seen this on tv! Also wanted us to give treats to our dogs, which I would never do as she’s already quite fat.
*
Theresa J, Perry

Dog Agility Response:
Thanks so much for your review. Shaping behavior without a pinch collar helps your dog learn that they can control their circumstance with purpose and enthusiasm, we hope you will come back again and give Dog Agility another try.

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I wish I could give zero stars. I emailed them about my dog and they emailed back about joining a class. I didn’t want to join a class, I wanted advice about dog agility that I could do on my own. They did email back several times with some ideas but I wasn’t able to get my dog to do the agility with their advice, also we need to use the course equipment. Kept suggesting to try a class. I am flabbergasted! Tried to call the number but the teacher did not pick up after our first phone conversation. I have now tried to call and email several times a day for TWO SOLID WEEKS to get more advice to do the agility and NO RESPONSE! Totally unprofessional.
*
Hanna F, Murfeesboro

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Shout out to my dog agility teacher, forget her name but she is AWESOME! She does tell me I’m quite late on occasion but she showed me how to get my dog to run really fast with a special start line and a toy. I’m supposed to use more quiet voice when I say tunneltunneltunnel (sort of weird, but it works) and my dog can now run whole courses really fast and stop on all the contacts. Five stars.
*****
Richard D, Scotts Valley

Dog Agility Response:
Thanks so much for your review. We are so glad you enjoy Dog Agility and look forward to seeing you again.

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This may appear to be your average dog agility, but it is even better as the lunch was macaroni and cheese with really big pasta, not the little tiny macaronis! WOWEE! Also it would seem that there were several types of cheese used as opposed to just orange cheese from a box. Getting this lunch was a wonderfully refreshing and thrilling surprise! Thanks Roger for making this lunch! Other dog agility lunches pale in comparison, dare I say pathetic? Also very green, soft grass for my dog to run in and I enjoyed the courses, except for Snooker. The heck with Snooker. Will go back.
*****
Trudy M., Jacksonville

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Worst dog agility. Gate person was rude, hoping they did not get paid for that performance, running all over, shouting my name, acted as if she was “worried” I would miss my run. Hoping they notify corporate to get things more on track, that will certainly be my next email! Avoid this dog agility til they clean up their act.
*
Rick B, Indianapolis

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Makes me tired.
*****
Rob M, Salinas

Dog Agility Response:
Thanks so much for your review. We hope you’re less tired soon, Dog Agility looks forward to seeing you again.

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What a happy experience! Dog agility is the best kept secret around, looks and smells GREAT! My favorite toy is a round bungee with a ball on it, and it’s BLUE! We like ALL THE THINGS. We will definitely be coming back. Thanks, Dog Agility, you’re the best!
*****
Banksy, Santa Cruz

Dog Agility Response:
Thanks so much for your review. We are so glad you enjoy Dog Agility and look forward to seeing you again.

A dog song for easter.

Not just one but two, count em two, Otterpops. Because, Otterpop.

Positive punishment.

Pink shoes, for spring.

A lot of places to have a nice rest.

Crate rest vs. road trip.

Silly left front leg.

Old friend teeter just a couple weeks ago.

The good news is that Banksy can put weight on her left front! The bad news is she's still lame on it. She did go to the vet, and the vet's new office and it's slippery floors and different things were much more upsetting than any leg pulling her vet did.

Prognosis is maybe shoulder/biceps maybe somewhere strained, inflamed, somewhat pained. No MRI or ultrasound for now, keep her in the pen, keep shoveling in the meds, keep her from doing anything at all fun. Stay in the x-pen, Banksy!

Banksy is definitely feeling better and this plan totally sucks. She wanted to be on the van to Utah this morning and instead she went to a fancy new hospital with slippery floors, at least her old friend dr. Tammy was there waiting for her.

So same old Banksy story, weird injury, not sure, don't bring her back to early, keep her quiet, keep her resting, let it heal, and then back to fun at some later date in the future.

We're used to it. Life goes on.