Residents encouraged to bring their dogs to participate in several events
Published in the Oct. 15-28, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo courtesy USDAA
Dogs compete in a recent event. This year’s competition takes place Oct. 15-19 at the Outdoor Sports Center.
Morgan Hill will be going to the dogs — literally — when the Cynosport World Games brings in about 900 dog athletes and their human teammates from around the world to compete in agility courses at the Outdoor Sports Center Oct. 15 to 19.
“Dog agility is like the ultimate dog sport for dogs,” said Annie DeChance, communication director with the Richardson, Texas-based United States Dog Agility Association which is hosting the event. “You and your dog are a team and you’re running an obstacle course. This is a true athletic competition. I would say it’s not a beauty pageant (dog show) like you see on TV.”
The dog athletes will come from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, England, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, and Puerto Rico to compete for the grand title of Dog Agility World Champion. The USDAA invites local South Valley residents to attend with their own canine companions. Admission to the event is free but there’s a $10 parking charge.
Dog Agility
“Even though you’re going to see the best agility competition in the world all in one place, we also offer and encourage the public to come out and bring their dogs out so they can see a variety of sports that they can participate in with their dogs.”
The public events include a Splash Dogs Dock Diving pool where dogs can jump into water, a Barn Hunt in which a live rat or mouse is put into a humane tube that is hid in bales of hay and the dog has to sniff it out. Dogs and their owners can also try out an “Agility 101” obstacle course as well as a “lure course” where dogs chase a fuzzy lure around a closed course.
“It’s like fishing for dogs with a lure instead of a worm,” DeChance said. “The dogs go nuts over it. It’s like a mini obstacle course that they chase the lure around and go through hoops to try to catch the lure in the fastest time possible.”
A Canine Shopping Paradise will also be set up for dog fans to buy fun holiday items for their furry friends, she said.
“We’re encouraging the public to bring out their dogs, but we do ask that they be on a maximum length of a six-foot leash and not be on a retractable leash,” she said. “Competitors are going to be there with their dogs and getting ready to run. It’s for everyone’s safety.”
A highlight of the World Games is the steeple chase course for dogs to win a $10,000 prize. The dogs have to be fast but they can lose points if they can’t get through the course with accuracy.
Dog Agility
“It’s one thing to be super fast out there, but if you’re knocking down bars and getting faults, that’s not going to get you too far,” DeChance said. “In a steeple chase, it’s really based on speed and accuracy because the course is just a bunch of jumps and tunnels with an A-Frame obstacle that they scale and climb over and then there’s the slalom leap pole.”
Some dog athletes can run through 150 to 180 yard courses in 35 seconds or less, she said. Competitors can be mixed breed or pure-bred dogs such as Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, Jack Russell Terriers, and Welsh Corgis.
Jeff Dixon, president of the Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance which runs the OSC, said that the Cynosport World Games coming to the South Valley is “pretty prestigious” and can help bring international attention to the community of Morgan Hill. The finals on Friday and Saturday will be broadcast on ESPN, the cable sports channel. The event also shows the flexibility of the OSC facility, he said.
Dog Agility
“When you look at what the Outdoor Sports Center has meant to the community all these years, everybody calls it ‘the soccer fields,’ but it can be so much more such as concerts, festivals, other sports, and something like the Dog Agility World Championship,” Dixon said. “To me this is a unique opportunity.”
