A Whole Different Ball Game
Dr. Karen Reed has practiced dog obedience training since she was a child, but 7 years ago, she added dog agility training to her list of hobbies, which she considers a whole different ball game.
“Obedience training is so strict,” said Dr. Reed, a pediatrician who practices in Wichita Falls, Tex., and is membership chair of the Obedience Training Club of Wichita Falls. “In agility, you can't touch the dogs when you're competing, but you can talk to them and cheer them on. It's so much fun.”
In 2002, she was “looking for something new” to do with Allye, her then 4-year-old bearded collie, so the duo enrolled in weekly dog agility classes at a training facility in Rhome, Tex., which is a 1.5-hour drive from Wichita Falls.
“Many people in our obedience club also got interested, so we carpooled down there with our dogs and went through the beginning foundation class and up to training level 5,” she recalled.
She did the same with Madeleine, a 6-year-old bearded collie she rescued from a shelter, but she and Allye, who is now 11, differ in their skill set on the agility course. She described Allye as “very focused” and Madeleine as a “wild child.”
Allye “watches me all the time and is eager to do everything just right; when she finishes, she has the biggest smile on her face,” Dr. Reed said. Madeleine, on the other hand, “is very social. During a competition if one of the club members she knows is in the ring as a steward, she's liable to go over and visit that person before completing the course. She also tends to work ahead of me, and sometimes she would rather take the A frame than go over a triple jump.”
She and her dogs have competed in shows around Texas such as in McKinney, Las Colinas, Longview, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Houston, and they've also traveled to events in North Carolina and Colorado.
“We're competing, but I don't pressure them to compete rigorously,” she said. “I'm on call almost every other weekend so I don't get to a whole lot of shows, but my goal is to get out there and have fun. I like to go to the shows and talk with the other dog lovers and watch the dogs run. I've learned a lot from how other people run their dogs.”
She recently added another bearded collie, Sterling, to her family. Not yet a year old, Sterling is progressing with obedience training but Dr. Reed will wait until his joints and muscles mature (around age 2) before starting formal agility training.
For Dr. Reed, dog agility is a form of therapy. “Dogs are so forgiving; they just want to be with you, please you, and have fun,” she explained. “My work as a pediatrician is pretty serious most of the time. I tend to worry about patients and take those worries home with me. But when I can just go out there and forget about my worries and concentrate on the dogs and how much fun they're having, it's a good bonding time with them. It's a good stress relief, as long as you're not too terribly serious about competing.”
These days Dr. Reed doesn't have to cart Allye and Madeleine too far for competitions. The Obedience Training Club of Wichita Falls launched a club that stages twice-yearly local agility events sanctioned by the American Kennel Club. The club also offers agility training for people who live in or near Wichita Falls and are unable or unwilling to travel farther for training. “Many of these students are now competing in shows with their dogs and doing very well,” she said. “It's opened up a whole new area of training possibilities in our area of Texas.”
Dr. Reed would like to “get Sterling up to [the age when] he can train and get out there and have some fun, too. Mostly, it's to enjoy and be around the people who are also crazy about their dogs. There's a wide variety of people who train and compete in the sport. I've really enjoyed them, being part of their lives as well as spending time bonding and playing with my own dogs.”
Dr. Donna Chester gives a command to Mysti, her wheaten terrier, during a run. Courtesy Dr. Donna Chester
Allye makes a jump as part of the obstacle course at a competition. Courtesy Dr. Donna Chester
