By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
CONCORD ó Pyro, a 5-year-old border collie, stood on her hind legs Saturday and pawed at Ronda Carter.
Both the dog and her handler were out of breath and bursting with excitement after registering the fastest Round 1 time in their class at the 2009 American Kennel Club National Agility Championship.
Pyro had burned the course in 28.15 seconds, and people were flocking to Carter to dish out congratulations.
“Only one word to say,” gushed a friend. “Oh, my God.”
The Cabarrus Arena & Events Center has been home since Friday to 887 dogs and close to 600 of their owners, handlers, trainers and friends.
Some 43 states are represented, and the annual event winds up today with the crowning of six national champions in each of the six jump height divisions.
Admission is free for the public (parking is $3), and today’s competition runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Some 90 breeds of dogs are among the competitors, with 228 border collies and 158 Shetland sheepdogs leading the way.
If you want to see dogs jump over, burrow through, weave around, climb up, speed down and zip across obstacles as fast as they can go, then the AKC National Agility Championship is for you.
The challenges include weave poles, tunnels, teeter-totters, A-frames, dog walks and tire jumps. On the Round 1 course Saturday, Pyro navigated 19 obstacles without a mistake.
Yes, to survive and advance in this March Madness of agility championships, things have to go perfectly.
“Both the handlers and the dogs need to be on the same page,” said Carrie DeYoung, an AKC senior agility field representative from California and co-chairperson for the championship.
DeYoung says all the pressure is on the handlers. The dogs actually look forward to their runs.
“The dogs still think it’s fun,” she adds.
That sentiment goes to the heart of the way Carter has trained Pyro and some of her older dogs, who have been past national champions.
“Make it fun, and they’ll have fun doing it,” she says.
David Millmore, an aircraft design engineer from San Antonio, Texas, explained it another way after his wife’s Shetland sheepdog, Madra, finished a clean Round 1.
“You can’t make them do it,” he said. “They’ve got to want to do it ó (but) it’s everything a dog was made for.”
Millmore took his German shepherd to the world championships in 2000. He finds the sport “very friendly, not much politics” for the simple reason that there’s no subjective judging. It’s dog and handler vs. the clock, and they must perform every task with no flaws.
“If you make a mistake, everybody can see it,” Millmore explained.
Millmore, an Englishman by birth, wishes the sport could receive more exposure in the United States. In England, he said, agility competitions make for prime time television.
The competition certainly had its favorites coming in ó dogs who have competed on the World Team in Finland, for example.
Sizzle, a five-time World Team member from Florida, posted the third fastest time in Round 1.
“He’s the good one,” owner Karen Holick said laughing and giving him a hug.
But DeYoung says fresh, previously unknown dogs also make big impressions each year on the national stage. She calls them “‘newbies.”
Jaq, a smooth border collie, wowed the crowd by posting a time of 28.38. When Jaq isn’t competing in the agility runs, she’s a sheep herder, who manages a herd of 40 on Diane Bauman’s New Jersey farm.
Jaq also competes in herding trials.
“She lives for this, other than sheep,” Bauman said after Jaq perfectly maneuvered the first obstacle course with Jessica Ajoux as her guide.
Bauman hurt a knee several weeks ago and relied on Ajoux to fill in for her.
The women are co-authors of the 2008 book, “Agility: Start to Finish.”
“She’s very excited that we’re running tonight,” Ajoux said of Jaq.
Most of the owners drive to the national event, which was held last year in Tulsa, Okla.
DeYoung said the AKC actually prefers more medium-sized venues because they tend to be less stressful for the dogs. As long as an arena has plenty of space, fixed seating and accessibility, and the community has enough hotel rooms, it can fit AKC’s needs.
For the Cabarrus arena, all the dirt for the various courses was brought in. It’s easier on the dogs’ joints and provides the best possible grip.
Animal Planet, a cable channel, is best known for televising agility challenges. It shows an invitational event in Long Beach, Calif., every year, and that’s where most casual observers have seen the sport.
A private company is taping this year’s national championship for distribution on a DVD. The event also is being streamed live on the AKC Web site.
One of the marketing promotions for the 2009 National Agility Championship has been the appearance of the Labrador retriever “Brody,” one of the dogs who played Marley in the recent movie “Marley & Me.”
Brody, a.k.a. Marley, will be in Concord again today.
Getting to the national event can be a story unto itself.
Robin Anne Swander, Kim Langley, Judy Thompson and Terri Lucas piled into one vehicle with three Shelties, a Pomeranian, a Doberman and a Chihuahua and made the drive from Michigan to Concord.
Swander, who lives in Battle Creek, Mich., was a little disappointed after Round 1 when her 6-year-old Sheltie, Suspect, missed a contact on the A-frame. But the hurt didn’t last long.
“He’s a great dog, aren’t you,” Swander told him.
The name “Suspect” comes from his AKC-registered name, “Law and Order on the Run.”
He has a little sister named “Felony.”
“This is our hobby ó it’s just for fun that we do it,” Langley said.