Thursday, January 30, 2014

AKC All Breed Dog Show - Tallahassee, FL - February 19-23, 2014

The Ocklocknee River Kennel Club (ORKC) is hosting the AKC All Breed Dog Show here in Tallahassee, FL on February 19 - 23, 2014! This dog show will be held at the North Florida Fairgrounds. This is a place for dogs of all breeds to compete in conformation, agility, and rally & obedience! I might end up having to work during part of the time, but to be able to go and watch my friends compete with their dogs will be fantastic! My friend Tabitha competes in agility with her two Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Baxter and Ziggy, and is on the board of directors for ORKC for 2014!

Also, check out Ziggy going through that tunnel on the flier for this dog show! These fliers can be found throughout the Tallahassee area.


This is what Corgility looks like!

Here is a video I found on YouTube of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi competing in the 2007 AKC National Agility Championship! This video really displays the types of skills both the dog and handler need to have to succeed at agility.



Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Bandit's Corgility Journey!

Corgility is what I affectionately call it when a Corgi competes or trains for dog agility. This is how wikipedia defines dog agility:
Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off-leash with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles.Consequently the handler's controls are limited to voice, movement, and various body signals, requiring exceptional training of the animal and coordination of the handler.
Bandit is my almost 5 month old female tricolor Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Here is a picture of her!
Even though Bandit is young, now is a great time to start working on some basic handling skills and exercises with her so that she can excel at dog agility in the future! A friend of mine competes with her two corgis and even was invited to the American Kennel Club National Dog Agility Championship! Anyways, this friend of mine has been working with myself and Bandit weekly on these agility skills. It is definitely much harder than you would think. It is a good thing that I am starting her early, because it takes years of training before most dogs are ready to compete. Some of the skills that Bandit has been working on (besides basic obedience training) include:

  • Go-Arounds: This is where the handler sends the dog to go around an object. In training I have been using a post or a chair.
  • Left/Right Spins: This is when the dog will spin to the left or to the right depending on the physical and verbal cues that the handler gives.
  • Touch: Using a small round target, I am teaching the dog to go and touch the object. This will help when shaping her to other obstacles and to learn some of the more difficult handling skills.
  • Flips: When executing the flip, it is when the handler turns 180 degrees and the dog stays on the same side of the handler. When the handler turns, so does the dog, but the dog "flips" away from the handler during the turn.
Well, this is about all I have for this first blog! I look forward to updating this blog as Bandit learns (and hopefully excels!) at Corgility.

-Marissa and Bandit