Dog Agility

Dog Agility's president and lone competitor travels all over the world, competing for individual points in hopes of qualifying for the world championships.  For more information email mlm26@stmarys-ca.edu.

February 2023 update

By  McKenzie Minto

In the Fall of 2022, my border collie Safari and I competed at two national dog agility competitions in the hopes of earning a spot onto the 2023 Team USA that would compete at the World Agility Open in the Netherlands this coming May. Dog Agility is a sport where a dog navigates through a unique obstacle course with the help of its human handler. Results are based on accuracy and speed on a given course. 

In September we attended the UKI West Coast Open in Paso Robles, California. Throughout four days of competing, we progressed through a number of preliminary rounds to earn a spot into the Finals for all four of the different tournaments at the event. We finished the weekend with a gold medal in Games Challenge, silver in Speedstakes Challenge and UKI Stakes, and a bronze medal in the Pentathlon. 

One month later we attended the UKI US Open in Jacksonville Florida, which was attended by around 700 competitors and dogs. Despite a hurricane affecting the competition, we ran a number of courses through the five days of competition, and found ourselves in three National Finals. In one of those, we earned the silver medal for the Masters Series tournament.

By the end of the week in Florida, Safari was ranked 3rd on the tryouts list for Team USA. Over the following two weeks, our performance and scores from the West Coast Open and the US Open were reviewed by the team coaches. We were then selected to represent the United States at the World Agility Open (WAO)  which will take place in Ermelo, Netherlands this May 17-23. About 35 countries will be represented at the WAO by some of their best dogs and handlers.  This will be our second consecutive year attending this international competition. Last year, we finished in 10th place in Pentathlon which consists of five courses that are cumulatively scored together. 

I was proud to represent Saint Mary’s Club Athletics as a member of the Dog Agility Club at the college. I hope to see my sport grow in strength and representation at the collegiate level, and I’m grateful for the support of my school so that I may compete while I pursue my degree in Accounting. Saint Mary’s is one of five universities that are part of the Intercollegiate Dog Agility League.

Links

• Video of WCO/USO highlights: https://youtu.be/dItpWpkMcO4