The agility rings buzz with excitement. The competition is tight, and the dogs are on their game today. All manner of dogs and people mill about, watching the rings, performing reconnaissance missions at the vendor booths or warming up. But wait, something is amiss! In ring one, the dog running for the top time is shaped like the lunch special at Subs ’R’ Us. He races about the course, his sausage-shaped body propelled by four vertical hot dogs moving frantically to get over jumps and through tunnels at breakneck speed.

In the other ring is an equally disarming sight. The handler is fit and tanned as she runs with her dog, a white ball of hair with bright black eyes. They negotiate the obstacles in a smooth fluid display. When they finish, the handler glides out of the ring with her dog, and a spectator whispers that the athlete you just watched is three months shy of her 80th birthday.

Too many of us think of competitive agility as the exclusive domain of speedy herding breeds with handlers to match. Unfortunately, this assumption leads some owners to quit before they even begin. Far from being the proprietary sport of Border Collies and Shelties, this is a game that every dog can love, and every handler can enjoy. Let’s meet six unusual dogs and their owners who decided to get in on the action.

Maja Hurd grew up with Cardigan Welsh Corgis. Now, Corgis don’t exactly embody the essence of athleticism at first glance. Tending more toward Danny DeVito than Michael Jordan, they stand no more than a foot high while their bodies can span twice that in length. Corgis were bred as farm dogs, aiding ranchers in driving cattle. With that in mind, it shouldn’t surprise you that they can be tough, stubborn, competitive little dogs that love to work.

In the Hurd household, Wednesday night is agility night, and by late afternoon, ‘Monti’ and ‘Seren’ are whinnying at the door, ready to go to class. Clever dogs, they get bored quickly with repetition. For Maja, this means varied training in obedience (both have titles in Rally-O), showing (both have their Canadian championship) and tracking. Monti loves his agility, however, and placed second in his class at the Cardigan nationals in the United States last year. Monti and Seren will be debuting in Canada this year, hoping to make success a family habit.

To say that Karen Moore loves agility is a bit like saying that Sidney Crosby enjoys the occasional game of shinny. Karen and her dog have received some of the most prestigious awards agility has to offer. Last year, Normandy’s China Doll – ‘China’ to her friends – earned The Canadian Kennel Club title of Agility Master Champion, and the Agility Association of Canada’s Agility Trial Champion and Silver Award of Merit, awards with arduous requirements that few can reach.

What makes this even more significant is that China was 11-1/2 years old when she achieved it. This means that she was older in years than she is tall in inches, and that is the final piece of this incredible picture. China is a Bichon Frisé, a breed known for being a companion dog to the rich and famous.

Bichons are small, non-shedding and loaded with personality. At first glance they resemble tiny mobile shag carpets, although they don’t come in avocado. This is the Henry Ford version of a dog; you can have any colour you want as long as it’s white. Therein lies one reason why Karen thinks we don’t see more of them on the agility fields. “Because agility is often played in dirt or inclement weather, they don’t want to deal with the constant grooming of the white Bichon coat,” she surmises of other owners. Karen admits that she has thought twice about going out there on a wet Saturday morning, but China’s love of the game gives her little choice. China will be back competing in 2009, a 13-year-old pro with skills to match. And they say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks!

Watching Lisa Martin and her Dalmatian ‘Holly’ run a course together, one thing is made conspicuous by its absence. Sound. Lisa doesn’t call to Holly like the other handlers. In fact, when Lisa runs, the entire ring goes quiet. Observers are hushed watching the silent pair negotiate the course with ease. Holly is deaf, and runs agility relying on darting glances and Lisa’s hand signals to find her next obstacle.

There are no allowances for hearing-challenged dogs in agility, and Holly has to compete by the same standards and rules as every other dog. Compete she does, and by 2007, she stood atop the breed rankings of the AAC as the number one Dalmatian in Canada.

When Lisa got Holly, she knew that Dalmatians were active dogs, and not being able to hear didn’t change Holly’s attitude about wanting to have fun and get into trouble. Lisa knew she’d better direct that energy somewhere positive in a hurry, and an agility champion was in the making. She is now teaching her newest addition, another deaf dog, named ‘Dodger.’ With Holly as an exmple, success is sure to follow.

Shirley McRitchie peers out of her pup tent. She’s been camping out at the site of a weekend trial, and the morning is cool and damp, sending the less hardy scurrying to the local Tim Hortons. When the tent flaps open, a shock of white hair appears. It could be Shirley, it could be her American Eskimo Dog ‘Caity,’ who really knows? It’s not until you see the lipstick, perfectly applied and ready for action that you can tell for sure.

They make a notable pair on the agility course for a doggy bag of reasons. First, American Eskimos, while they can make wonderful friends and even better bath mats, aren’t exactly known as being team players. They enjoy their independence, and tend to handle authority about as well as Ché on a good day.

Second, Shirley is one of the more agile handlers in the sport. In great shape, she runs well enough to keep pace with her dogs and this allows her to keep up with Caity and her younger girl, ‘Carly,’ resulting in higher scores and better accuracy. Third, Shirley will celebrate her 80th birthday this year, making her one of the most seasoned of all the agility competitors in North America.

Fellow competitors are in awe of the training acumen and athletic prowess that combined to make Caity the first American Eskimo to win her division at both the provincial and national championships in 2001. Carly, is now following in Caity’s pawprints, and has an impressive collection of titles.

Marilyn Corbett and Deborah Dedrick both run with dogs not commonly seen in or out of the agility ring. Marilyn runs ‘Crackers,’ a Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen. Their name defines them: petite is French for “small,” basset means “low to the ground,” griffon means “rough coated” and Vendeen is the region of France in which the breed originated. They are hunters, using scent to track their quarry, and once on a trail, these doughty workers are indefatigable.

Deborah’s dog ‘Skye’ is a Puli, the oldest of the Hungarian herding breeds. Most commonly found in black or white, the coat is corded into dreadlocks that closely resemble car-wash brushes at break time. When they run, the cords fly out to the sides; visualize the car wash turned on and you pretty much have it. Sheep herders, Pulis possess the unique skill of being able to run across the sheep’s backs to get from one side of the herd to the other, and can repatriate runaways by riding atop them until they tire. Both women face challenges in working with their breeds. Marilyn has watched with dismay as Crackers, released at the start of the run, promptly put her nose to the ground and diligently followed the course – by retracing the judges’ footprints in the grass! Deaf to Marilyn’s entreaties, her head never left the ground until Marilyn gave up and escorted Crackers out of the ring. Deborah’s Skye is a flying mop who loves to hang off her arm, tugging on her sleeve at the end of a great run. Along the way, Skye has amassed more than 20 titles in agility, while Crackers is closing in on becoming the number one PBGV in flyball as well as a top agility dog.

The moral of these stories is to not let assumptions stand in the way of possibilities. Taught properly and safely, all dogs can play agility. It’s a wonderful sport; whether you end up on the Canadian National Agility Team, or play in your backyard, you’re guaranteed to have fun. You’ll be amazed at what you and your dog can achieve together.