Posted on 02/01/2012 6:15:57 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
PITTSBURGH—Amber, a canine athlete, recently won first place in an agility competition, narrowly beating out Daisy, a Chihuahua, in the 4-inch-tall category.
The 3-year-old, four-pound Yorkshire, who wore a ribbon in her hair for the event, cleared several hurdles and tunnels, zigzagged through poles and traversed a teeter-totter at an average two yards per second in a race against the clock. Amber's owner credits her success to practice and mentoring from a family member, Tiffany, who competes in the 8-inch category and has several titles, including Teacup Agile Dog Champion.
"Amber just follows everything Tiffany does," says Phyllis Bandi, who has a scrapbook filled with awards devoted to each of the Yorkshires.
Many animals compete in agility contests, which involve creatures, directed by their owner or trainer, negotiating timed obstacle courses. Feline events feature cats, enticed by a toy or feather on a stick, who attempt to clear hurdles, stairs and jumps without knocking any down, in under four minutes and 30 seconds. Some distracted cats have taken 15 minutes. Many contests are sponsored by the Cat Fanciers' Association, which has a feline agility coordinator and training video, offering tips on coaxing reluctant cats through tunnels.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The odd thing is that when my Golden watched as his “girlfriend”, the GSD, fell off the dogwalk, it blocked him from ever doing that again, although he’d successfully navigated the dogwalk before. But, the GSD got right back on and was the star of the dogwalk thereafter.
My Golden was having none of it. Once in a while he would lose concentration and successfully navigate the dogwalk, but then it was like one of those light bulbs went off over his head, and he thought, “Wait a minute. I don’t do dog walks.” And, he would balk the next time he was asked to do it. Very annoying.
He is a cutie.
I am a little partial to Rat Terriers but JRT’s are nice as well. We recently lost our Muffy, 13 year old Rattie. It was so sudden, unexpected and sad as hell.
We just found a breeder North of Tampa who had a litter in December. She had the perfect female puppy. We pick her up on Saturday.
Wanted to post a picture of new puppy but couldn’t figure out how to post a picture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fTQhXaDOOI
Environmental Agilty starring Just Jesse! Ignore the music. Just watch the dog.
“These “dogs” are not really dogs.”
I agree. I think of them as fuzzy little lap animals but not dogs. Now, German Shepherds, Malamutes, Huskies, Dobermans, good old mutts——there are some dogs for you!
Puppy Bowl FTW!
OMG, that is hilarious!
Gotta watch out for those JRT’s or they’ll open a can of Whoop-Ass on you. (A fun-sized can, but...)
That’s funny!!!
Small dog, big heart.
Mine does that. He runs at me at a full sprint and leaps at me so I catch him.
JRTs don’t act like little dogs at all. (other than wanting to sleep in my lap when I’m at the computer)
Little dogs are not rodent like. They are small canines! lol My chihuhua, Sammy, could probably run circles around a Jack Russel Terrier. Sammy loves to pretend he is a greyhound and gallops around the apartment. He has more energy than my bigger dogs had.
Awww!
Thanks for the ping.
BTW, have you seen this show? It’s a hoot. The feline version of the “Dog Whisperer.”
http://animal.discovery.com/tv/my-cat-from-hell/
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