Inside Northside's June/July 2005 issue

He Chutes, He Scores!

by Karen B. Gibbs

I knew this was no ordinary group from the very beginning. Dog lovers are definitely a breed unto themselves. Add agility training to the mix, and what have you got? Interplay between man and beast that brings out the best in both.

Dog enthusiast Sharon Cooper walks confidently into the training area. Boogie, her two-year-old black Tri Aussie, is tail-wagging happy at her side. “Stay,” Sharon commands, and Boogie freezes in place, never taking his eyes off his “mama.” Advancing about eight feet, Sharon turns to the waiting dog and says, “Tunnel!” Boogie comes to life, running through the green plastic tube before him. “Over ... over ... over,” Sharon softly calls, as Boogie sails over the jumps before them. The pair moves through the course with the grace of two dancers, invisibly joined by cords of love and obedience.

This is dog agility training—a sport of discipline, fun and bonding that brings people and pets together with a delightful mixture of tunnels, jumps, teeters, dog walks, chutes, tables and tire hoops. It fosters friendship between man and beast, putting more smiles on faces and wags on tails than one could imagine. Take this peek inside two of the northshore’s dog agility training schools, and watch the fun begin.

It’s Tuesday evening and students of Tag Agility are coming together at the Covington training field of the school’s founder, Sharon Schluter. Lightning-fast Aussies, agile Border Collies, dreadlock-covered Pulik, eager Golden Retrievers and fun-loving mixed breeds all come to work with their “mamas and daddies” to master the course’s obstacles. Sharon and training partner, Shelly Spotswood, provide lessons for both the eager dogs and their humans.

Little Jazzmine, Fr. Gil Martin’s Puli, is ready to tackle the world. Looking like a white mop head with legs, Jazzmine trots onto the course, curly head held high. She breezes over the jumps and flies effortlessly through the tunnel. Next, she is to walk in and out of a line of six weave poles. It’s obvious she is not too happy with them, but she does her best, simply to please her master. “It’s not that she finds them hard,” laughs Fr. Gil. “She just knows she could get through the course much faster if she didn’t have to do them.” With dreadlocks encircling her like a sunburst, Jazzmine sails through the tire, completing her run. Then, with confidence bolstered, she struts proudly to the sidelines beside Fr. Gil, where she shares an “I did it” emotion with her best friend.

Next up is Cinda Walters. This night Cinda is working her Aussie, Jake, as well as her sister’s Aussie, good old dependable Maddie. First, Maddie is taken through the chute, then to the zigzag of the weave poles, which she masters on the first try. After Cinda’s simple “stay” command, Maddie sits and watches as Jake is introduced to the same obstacles. “Chute!” calls Cinda, and Jake dashes through the short tube, finding his way through the long yellow fabric of the chute. “Weave!” Cinda commands, and Jake stops dead in his tracks and looks up at Cinda as if to say, “Do what?” “Weave,” Cinda repeats, leading Jake to the poles.

Sharon steps in with training instructions on body position for Cinda. “Chute!” Cinda crosses in front of the chute and faces the poles. “Weave!” Jake gets the picture—almost. The reluctant Aussie weaves once and stops. “Oops, good weave, Jake. But now let’s weave through all the poles,” Cinda encourages. (All students are taught that negatives are never used in agility, because positive remarks yield the best results.) Once again the commands are given. “Chute!” and Jake goes through the chute. “Weave!” and Jake stops once again after one or two weaves. Obviously frustrated with Jake’s slow learning, canine cousin Maddie abandons her “stay” position, flies through the chute and proceeds to flawlessly maneuver through all six weave poles. She then goes up to Jake and seemingly gives him instructions in dog talk.

Resuming her “stay” position at the top of the chute, Maddie watches as Jake tries one more time. Flying through the chute, the once-reluctant canine weaves through all six poles without one mistake. “Good boy, good boy,” applauds Cinda. Then, with a smile, she turns to Maddie and says, “Good girl, Maddie!” Maddie’s paws dance up and down in a little victory celebration for Jake.
In a change of pace, Sharon and Shelly hand each student a hula-hoop with instructions for the dogs to practice their hoop jumping. Joe Lapine, with a peppermint-striped hoop held tightly between his knees, directs his black Puli, Nisi, to jump. “Good girl,” Joe affirms, as Nisi jumps back and forth on command. Then, yielding to a playful impulse, Joe puts the hula-hoop around his waist, giving it a twirl. Sharon Cooper follows suit as the group enjoys a few seconds of ’60s retro.

Celebration of another type is part of every TAG Agility lesson. Each week, Sharon and Shelly begin the class with a welcome and “brags.” That’s when the proud humans cite their dogs’ latest accomplishments and awards. The “Yeahs!” that follow each announcement demonstrate the family-like atmosphere that has developed among those in the group. There seems to be little sense of competition between owners. This is because, in agility training, each dog competes against himself earning points for speed and execution.

Such group pride is also obvious in another facility, Fido Finishing School in Mandeville. While initially focused on obedience training, the school added agility training to its curriculum four years ago. Founded by Julie Hill, the northshore-based doggie school provides training tools similar to those at TAG Agility. Explains Julie, “The AKC has a thick rule book. Equipment has to be built to certain specifications, and how the dog performs on the equipment is also specified.” This unity of design and execution puts dogs at ease no matter where they are competing, and levels the playing field.
The agility course at Fido Finishing School is located in the sun-dappled yard of Julie’s assistant trainer, Tommie Skrintney. Joining them as assistant trainer is Donna Rock, who had originally brought her Doberman, Annie, to the school for obedience training in 2000. She began agility training with Julie and Tommie, and is currently working on Annie’s Master Agility championship title. To achieve this level of expertise as a handler is impressive in itself, but to do it with a severe handicap, as Donna does, is even more remarkable.

Donna was born without arms, but has not let this get in the way of training Annie. “You don’t use your arms in agility training,” she says matter-of-factly. Continuing her explanation, Donna says that the dogs take cues from the direction of their handlers’ shoulders. Too much hand movement is actually distracting for dogs, causing them to watch the trainer’s hands instead of focusing on their shoulders and voice commands.

Both TAG Agility and Fido Finishing School welcome all ages of humans and canines to their courses. Eleven-year-old Taylor Guillet and her chocolate Lab, Wonder, train at Fido Finishing School. Taylor chose agility training two years ago. “My mom wanted me to do a sport, and I always liked doing tricks with my dog,” she relates. Not fond of traditional contact sports, Taylor felt that agility training would allow her to combine her love of dogs with the exercise her mom requested. An unexpected benefit has been an increase in confidence for Taylor. “Taylor wouldn’t get in front of class to talk before beginning dog training. Now, she’s confident,” says her mother, Rosalind Guillet.

After watching her daughter practice with Wonder for nine months, Rosalind decided to join the fun. She and her chocolate Lab, Gabby, now train and compete, as well. “I just think it’s a lot of fun going to the trials. It’s good mother-daughter bonding, and also a wholesome activity,” she says. Coincidentally, this is a mother-daughter duo in more ways than one. The Guillet’s chocolate Labs, Gabby and Wonder, also share the same relationship.

It is reasonable to expect that dog aficionados such as those at TAG Agility and Fido Finishing School would not be content with once-a-week practice sessions. To provide extracurricular training, some of them have set up agility courses in their own yards. The Aussie trio from TAG Agility—Sharon Cooper, Linda Lynch and Cinda Walters—frequent the two courses at Sharon and Linda’s homes. Containing jumps, dog walks, tires, teeters, tunnels and tables, these practice courses give Boogie, Maddie and Jake the opportunity to “play” agility every day.

It is nothing short of inspirational to watch these high-energy Aussies enjoy the buffet of obstacles before them. If the jumps and weave poles are the meat and potatoes of the course, then the tunnel is definitely the dessert. As the dogs run into it, the pounding of their racing paws telegraphs their progress. Exiting the tunnel, their wide eyes and tongue-draped open mouths proclaim the awakening of primal instincts shared by canine forebears from time immemorial. How good to witness such ancestral reveille on this sunny South Louisiana morning.