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Welcome to a blog about my experience as a dog owner. While I intend to focus on agility, that will by no means be the only topic!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Agility At The Olympics

My company has given its employees the ability to watch a live news feed of the Olympics on our computers. I’ve been enjoying watching the water polo, swimming, and other such sports of personal interest while I work.

I’ve also learned about some of the lesser-known sports. Did you know that pairs white-water canoeing is a sport? Neither did I. But it was incredible to watch. Fast-paced motion down the rapids, following a numbered course, threading themselves between posts, struggling to complete obstacles (“gates”) in both up- and down-stream directions… Wait a minute, this sounds like agility!



As I watched the teams power through the course, I felt more and more strongly that I was watching some long-lost step-sister of agility. Imagine how in-tune the two paddlers must be? How instinctively they need to be able to read each others’ cues, mostly non-verbal?

The people in the canoe must be attuned to the movements of each other. The person in back has to read the slightest cues from their partner, like a head-turn, much like a dog read their handler (and visa versa!). While the two humans don’t actually make all the same motions, they need to work together towards a common goal. An agility dog and handler also need that strong working relationship and drive through the course. What happens if something goes wrong? Well, in both cases the team must adjust on the fly without losing connection, momentum, or drive.
Who knew the Olympics had agility?!

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