Dogs compete in agility and other sporting events at the Lost Coast Kennel Club Annual Performance Cluster

The Lost Coast Kennel Club’s Annual Performance Cluster began Thursday at the Ferndale Fairgrounds. Beverly Morgan Lewis, agility trial chair for the Lost Coast Kennel Club, spoke to Redwood News about the event.

“All of the events that we’re doing this weekend are about how the dogs perform different sports. It’s not about the confirmation ring where they’re judged against a breed standard,” said Lewis. “This weekend they’re judged against their performance in agility, barn hunt and fast cat.”

In agility, the dog does their best to complete each obstacle on the course as quick as they can. In barn hunt, the dog finds rats in piles of hay bales—but don’t worry, the rats don’t get hurt as they’re in PVC cases. Fast cat is a timed run where the dog chases a plastic bag on a wire.

And the judges have their work cut out for them, but it’s worth it.

Susan Leitner, an American Kennel Club judge, came all the way from Washington State to be in Ferndale this week.

“This weekend has two judges and we will each judge at least 250 dogs, at least, it could be more. I haven’t really seen my stats, but it’s about 250 per day,” Leitner said. “Watching that partnership between the handler and the dog and the joy that they have. And it’s almost like dancing with your dog. That’s what I like.”

An important part of agility and other dog sports is positive reinforcement and making sure the dogs have fun.

“One of the things that’s important about training a dog for agility is the manner that the dogs are trained, you don’t punish a dog to train them for dog agility,” Lewis said. “All of your training is fun, it’s upbeat, it’s highly reinforced when you get the behaviors you want. So the dogs are coming out here and playing and having a good time. They don’t know anything about ribbons or placements or prizes. All they know is that they’re out here with their person and they’re having a good time and they’re getting to jump and run and climb. And when you leave the ring in agility, your dog shouldn’t know the difference in first and last place. Because when we leave the ring, we are every one of us, leaving with the best dog here.”

The community around dog sports is alive and well.

“The dog agility community is incredible. We have people here from Sacramento, from the Bay Area, from Oregon. We have a competitor here from Hawaii. We have people from Washington and people come from all around for the opportunity to compete in it,” Lewis said. “Our local dog community is robust. We have a couple of different dog organizations and we work cooperatively together. All the organizations help each other out.”

Mike Lake, a member of the Lost Coast Kennel Club, helped run the barn hunt on Friday.

“I’ve been to a lot of community type things. And I got to say, the dog club is one of the best. This is really the nicest,” Lake said. “It’s probably the most rewarding because I get to play with my dog, which has got a lot to do with it because everybody here most likely has a dog that is really special to them. And that’s what’s fun about this. You get to do things with your dogs that you normally wouldn’t other than just walk up and down the road.”

Preparation for this event takes about a year, so planning for next year’s event starts next month. For more information, click here to visit the Lost Coast Kennel Club website.

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