Agility Trials Bring Out the Dogs

With the temperature somewhere in the chilly 20s, hundreds of men, women, children and dogs poured into the Star Hill Family Athletic Center early Saturday morning.

More than 300 dogs and their owners will make their way Tolland to participate in a two-day dog agility trial sponsored by the Leap Agility Club of Central Massachusetts.

Sally King, trial chair, shared some information about the club; "Leap Agility is about ten years old, we're a 501(c)(3) non-profit, we run three of these trials a year."

King said dates for the trials are fixed by the American Kennel Club (AKC) with one held the last weekend in March, one on Memorial Day weekend in Granby, Massachusetts, and a co-sponsored four-day trial at the Big-E in West Springfield after Thanksgiving.

Leap Agility was drawn to the Star Hill facility because of it's size and temperature controlled indoor fields.  King describes the past, "Normally, we have this trial in a horse barn.  Think about the temperature outside, think of us outside all day in that with no heat.  This sure beats that."

Plans have already been confirmed for another club to hold an agility trial at Star Hill in June.  King considers this event to be a warmup for potential future events with other clubs

"Clubs are interested in being in a facility where in the hot weather you can have air conditioning, in the cold weather you can have heat, and where the rain doesn't matter.  We're rain or shine, so if you're outside you get thunderstorms, you get torrents of rain...you're still out there.  So, this is very nice," she said.

The show features 660 different runs each day on two courses, set up at various times for the different levels of competition.

Both young and old could be seen bringing their four-legged friends to compete. 

Tamara Lazarus, 16, brought her Scottish Terrier, Axel, for the event.  Genie Franklin of Glastonbury said she has been breeding Jack Russell terriers and coming to trials for 25 years. 

Genie lists off her current dog count. "My husband and I have eleven Jack Russell's, plus four puppies (more Jack Russell's), plus one border collie."

The event attracted dog owners from all around southern New England.  Louise Traska of East Hartford came with her cute Border Terrier, Lizzy. 

Boots Gibson arrived from Cape Cod with her dog Kite, a beautiful Shetland Sheep Dog. 

More of the same will take place Sunday, March 27.  The small dogs will get things started around 8 a.m., followed by more of the large dogs later in the day.  The event is scheduled to end around 4:30 p.m., depending on the flow of dogs through the courses. 

Admission to the agility trial is free.  Bleachers have been positioned along one edge of the agility courses to provide seating for those interested in coming out and enjoying the fun.

Thanks to Noreen Bennett (trial secretary) of PawPrint Trials for providing information about this event.

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